Implementing an AI feature
Navigating the complexities of post-acquisition integration to align product visions and launch unified AI-driven experiences.
- Feature:
Social Listening AI tool - Role:
Product Design Manager - Time:
11 months Company:
Genesys
Overview:
Genesys acquired a strategic social listenting AI tool.- Team Size
18 people (designers, engineers, product managers, product owner, researchers)
Problem:
Only selected features from the acquired product needed to be integrated into our core platform – on a tight timeline. The PM and lead engineers, coming from the acquired company, were unfamiliar with our development workflow, cross-team dependencies, and release planning practices, creating onboarding and alignment challenges early in the project.
Challenges
The PM was still onboarding while the project advanced rapidly, leaving no clear strategic or operational lead during a critical phase.
Due to the acquisition timeline, it wasn’t clear which product managers or engineers were responsible for which parts – we were building a new workstream from scratch, with overlapping roles.
We needed timely decisions on MVP scope, but it was unclear who held that authority, which caused delays in prioritization and alignment.
Our internal teams had to adapt quickly to collaborating with a newly acquired team operating from a different timezone, with no prior exposure to our processes or culture.
We had to map the journey of an standalone AI tool into an integrated SaaS ecosystem, ensuring that the legacy users didn't lose functionality while new users felt a seamless experience.
What I did
Launched weekly syncs with stakeholders, PMs, and engineers to clarify ownership, unblock decisions, and align expectations for each sprint.
Co-created a rough project timeline with the backend lead and project owner to ground our design efforts in realistic delivery goals.
Since the new tool impacted multiple product areas, I coordinated closely with design teams across domains – using shared channels, Miro boards, and Confluence to ensure visibility and cohesion
Organized a UX playback session with the full design org and senior leadership to showcase outcomes, share challenges, and align on next steps.
Collaborated in-person with Product and Engineering leadership in Galway, Ireland, to synchronize roadmaps and unify goals for the AI integration.
Results
Organizational Impact:
Created documented workflows and recorded UX playbacks, now used by over 100+ designers as a reference for future feature integrations involving social listening.
Product Impact:
Successfully launched social listening as a strategic differentiator in 2025. The feature is already contributing to customer acquisition across three continents, with more than 50 customers using it.
Team Impact:
Ensured full integration of all design teams during the project, with continuous communication throughout. This increased team visibility and recognition across the org once the feature launched.
Customers
Designers impacted
Want to know more and see some screens?
This project is currently under NDA – for this reason, I can’t share here any visuals, wireframes or prototypes.
Contact me on rick@rocharca.com to see some live results of this case study!