Customer experience (CX) professionals want to grow and transform their businesses by fostering empathy for their customers, quickly adapting to challenges, and creating effective and compelling experiences. To do that, they turn to design methods that are already familiar to digital and product teams, including design thinking, Lean, and Agile methodologies. But it's very difficult to walk the walk until you can talk the talk. This report breaks down the main principles behind current design practices as the first step to building a cohesive and effective CX program that's optimized for customers, markets, capabilities, and goals.