THE METHODOLOGY
The Employee Experience Design (EXD) Framework
A systematic approach to diagnosing and removing workplace friction. Seven phases. Thirteen tools. Built from 30 years of live practice.
THE PROBLEM
Most organisations treat EX as a collection of HR initiatives.
Engagement surveys. Onboarding programmes. Culture workshops. These address the symptoms. They rarely address the cause.
The cause is friction. Specific, identifiable conditions that make work harder than it needs to be. The EXD Framework starts there.
THE FRAMEWORK
Seven Phases. One Arc.
Each phase has dedicated tools and a specific output. The arc takes an organisation from first awareness of friction all the way through to sustained, measurable change.
Why it is an arc, not a circle
Most frameworks show a loop. We show an arc because organisational change is not cyclical – it is progressive. You do not return to Phase 1 after Phase 7. You go deeper into Phase 2 with better data.
THE SIGNATURE TOOL
The Friction Mapping Canvas
The most distinctive tool in the framework. It maps friction across seven dimensions simultaneously, revealing patterns no engagement survey can surface.
No other EX framework has this tool. It requires spatial intelligence to run properly. It cannot be faked with sticky notes.
The framework uses two levels of friction taxonomy. For leaders, friction is mapped across five organisational dimensions: People, Place, Process, Technology, and Culture. These are the strategic categories that make sense at a leadership level and are used throughout the IIT Hyderabad programme and the in-company workshops.
For trained EXD Auditors, the Friction Mapping Canvas maps friction across seven diagnostic dimensions: Spatial, Digital, Process, Relational, Organisational, AI-remediable, and Neurodiverse. These are the precision cuts that the consulting-grade tool uses to surface patterns that broader categories would miss. The five dimensions are what leaders see; the seven are how the audit is conducted.
Both are part of the same framework. The five are the entry-level lens. The seven are the practitioner’s diagnostic tool.
THE MEASUREMENT INSTRUMENT
A perception-based measurement instrument that tracks how employees experience work across four dimensions. Run every quarter. Compare over time. Link to business outcomes.
The data visualisation helps you see exactly where friction concentrated before the EXD engagement, and where it reduced after.
IN PRACTICE
The tools in the framework have been run with real leaders in real organisations. The IIT Hyderabad programme is where practitioners learn to use the tools on their own organisations.
