Growing a Conversation Design Practice: The Invisible Work Behind Successful AI | With Grace Hughes

In this episode of the CDI Expert Series: Unprompted, we sit down with Grace Hughes, Conversation Design Director at Accenture Song, to explore what it really takes to grow, scale, and sustain a conversation design practice inside complex organizations. Drawing on her experience across multidisciplinary teams, Grace shares insights into how the role has evolved from scripting flows to shaping product behaviour in AI-driven systems.The episode highlights how large language models are changing the work of conversation designers, from controlling dialogue to defining principles, guardrails, and trust across non-deterministic interactions. The conversation also highlights the systems thinking, collaboration, and governance required to maintain quality, consistency, and user confidence at scale, while keeping conversation design human-centered and resilient in enterprise environments.This episode explores:How the conversation designer role has changed in the age of LLMsBuilding and operating a Conversation Design Center of ExcellenceMaintaining quality and consistency at scaleDesigning for trust, transparency, and user confidenceThe realities of shipping conversational AI in complex enterprise environmentsThe often invisible work behind successful conversational productsPrinciples for scaling practices while preserving human-centered designThis episode is about how conversation design is maturing as a discipline and what it takes to build a practice that can scale without losing its soul. So after listening, the question becomes: how do you grow a conversation design practice that scales effectively, remains resilient, and builds trust - without losing its human-centered soul?Contact UsThanks for tuning in to Unprompted, for more practical lessons, and behind-the-scenes stories, exclusive events, and candid insights, visit our website or follow us on your favorite social platform.Follow us on social media:X (formerly Twitter): https://x.com/CDInstitute_Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Conversation_Design_Institute/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConversationDesignInstitute/Find out more:Website: https://www.conversationdesigninstitute.comConnect with us:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/conversation-design-instituteGrace HughesConversation Design Directorhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-hughes-a13a591b/