Experience is the Foundation: What Colombia Taught Me About the Future of Transformation

Written by Adam Scott, Experience Foundation.

A decade ago, I was standing atop Sydney’s first skyscraper, overlooking the Opera House, about to give a talk to a roomful of business leaders at a conference called Amplify. I was worried they wouldn’t understand what I was trying to say - that experience is not just a design discipline, not just the icing on the cake, but the very beginning of all meaningful transformation.

To help them imagine the primal power of experience, I brought music, film, even a DJ. I wanted to take them back to the beginning of time - when rhythms and rituals weren’t optional, they were essential - bonding the tribe, enabling survival, and shaping behaviour. I left the stage unsure whether they understood, but I knew the beat had landed.

Fast forward to Bogotá, Colombia, just a few weeks ago. Another city. Another skyscraper. Another room of movers and shakers - but this time, something had changed.

This time, they already understood.

The Rise of the Experience Disciplines

In Bogotá, I joined 250 leaders from across Latin America. Their job titles spoke volumes: Heads of CX, TX, UX, PX, SX, DX. CTOs focused on tech experiences. HR leads reshaping employee journeys. Designers mapping workplace moments. Strategists advocating for human-centric systems.

This wasn’t novelty. This was maturity.

There was a shared understanding in the room: whether we’re helping people move better, learn better, produce better, connect better or live better - the common denominator is experience. And it is no longer a secondary concern. It’s central.

But as we discovered together during a lively and thought-provoking day of discussion, debate, and reflection - with my sincere thanks to my fellow speakers, our thoughtful audience, and generous hosts - this isn’t the full picture.

Because while “experience” is everywhere, it’s also becoming dangerously fragmented.

The Silo Problem: When Specialisation Becomes Fragmentation

Each department has embraced its own version of experience. And in doing so, a powerful unifying concept has begun to fracture. CX is separate from UX, which is separate from DX, and so on. Everyone is advocating for experience - but not necessarily together.

This is the hidden downside of specialisation. As Annette Franz articulates in her brilliant article, silos restrict collaboration and distort focus. Teams end up chasing internal efficiencies instead of real-world outcomes. They start with the system, not the human.

We say “workplace experience,” when what we actually mean - and need - is a better work experience. That difference matters. It’s the gap between surface and substance.

A Common Beginning: An Experience Foundation

What I shared in Bogotá - and what became clearer through our discussions - is that to the person on the receiving end (the citizen, customer, colleague, student), experience is singular. They don’t differentiate between the service from marketing, operations, tech or HR. They only experience the whole.

So our design process must start from the same whole: from the lived experience of real people in real situations. That’s where all effective transformation begins.

We need to build from an experience foundation.

This isn’t another buzzword or a new model - it’s a mindset. A shared methodology. It’s about starting with a universal understanding of who we are here to serve, and how they think, feel, and act - and then building systems, places, platforms and cultures from that shared base.

With this kind of foundation, we can co-create future-ready environments and systems that are more human, more coherent, and more effective - because they’re grounded in a shared truth.

A Call to the Experience Community

We are still in the early years of the experience era.

But instead of moving closer together, we’ve allowed our disciplines to pull us apart. CX versus UX versus DX versus TX. We're dividing around language, tools and techniques - just when we need integration most.

It's time to reconnect.

To build a true community of practice - one that shares examples, learns from each other, and works fluidly across boundaries. One that focuses not on defending departments, but on improving lives.

So here’s the provocation: Let’s stop defining ourselves by our specialisms. Let’s begin, together, from a single, shared method. We are all experience makers.

Where We Begin

Whatever you’re shaping - buildings, brands, systems, services or cities - begin with experience. Not with the process. Not the platform. Not the org chart.

This is our common beginning.

And from here, we can build better cities, stronger institutions, and deeper human connections - for generations to come!

Many thanks to my fellow speakers: Carolina Astaiza, Regan Donoghue, Dan Strode, Víctor Feingold, Ingrid Wobst, Gloriana Casasola Calderón and Santiago Fernandez Escobar.

Image credit: Adam Scott