Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams

by Peter Merholz

Their voices cannot be dismissed, because they’re as accountable as any other team member.

Being involved throughout the lifecycle means developing a real sense of ownership, and with that comes pride at wanting to do the job right.

The sense of ownership, deeper understanding of trade-offs, and close collaboration across functions leads to a better product than had been possible before.

they find most of their time is spent with people who don’t really understand them, their craft, or their motivations.

Designers are not sure how they should or could enhance their skills, and such efforts are discouraged by their team’s leadership, because there’s not enough time for those extracurricular activities.

Design leads must present clear arguments, delivered without frustration, that demonstrate how their work ties into the larger goals and objectives of the business.

designers should be obsessed with their entire user experience.

When a design team focuses on a type of user, it can go very deep in understanding them, and that empathy leads to stronger designs that fit the users’ contexts and abilities.

Organizing by the journey allows each team to shift focus from features (search, browse, booking) to the overall experience, and the design work on those features will fit within the broader whole.

While all of these smaller teams mostly operate independently, it’s important that they remain in contact, even if it’s just a weekly meeting to share out what each is working on.

The strength of the partnership relies on dedication to seeing designers as members of that business/product team, to developing deep relationships across functions, and to understanding the business’s goals, objectives, and challenges.

The Centralized Partnership complicates this, as the design organization likely does not map directly to the rest of the company, and members of specific design teams feel beholden to two sets of stakeholders: their business counterparts and their design leadership.

It turns out that more important than reporting lines is that the design team: Is a single operating entity Has a mandate to infuse their work through the entire customer experience Has leadership empowered to shape the team and its activities to deliver on that mandate

In reality, just because two people have the same title doesn’t mean they are interchangeable. Nor does any title describe the totality of what any person does.

“UX Design” is not appropriate because it’s too vague, and user experience should be everyone’s responsibility.

Developing a dedicated user experience research function does not absolve others from taking part in research.

the UX research team should remain small, highly leveraged, and supportive of everyone else’s ability to engage with users directly.

using the more general Content Strategist label instead of specific roles of Copywriter and UI Writer. As it is with product designers, some content strategists will lean more toward the systems-level structural challenges, and others will be more comfortable writing the final copy.

These team members integrate efforts across product teams into a coherent whole.

Whereas product designers typically work within Surface and Structure, service designers operate within Structure and Strategy, specifying the design of a system that will deliver a great service experience.

the service designer works hard to connect with all the frontline people who will b...

A Head of Design not only establishes the team’s cultural values, but demonstrates them every day through his or her actions.

Developing a “north star” for the company is not a one-time act, but an ongoing process of refinement and evolution.

This requires a balance of compassion when providing career guidance, and candor when critiquing their work and exhorting them to improve.

To earn credibility and their team’s trust, they show that they can bring it when it comes to design delivery.

Levels and career paths should be made explicit during the recruiting and hiring process.

leadership and management are not the same, and someone can drive the efforts of a team, even a bunch of teams, without being responsible for their team’s day-to-day management.

The Myth of the Design Unicorn In Silicon Valley, there’s fetishization of the “full-stack” or “unicorn” designer, typically someone delivering interaction design, visual design, and frontend development. This is unfortunate, as no designer can be truly great across these skills, and this emphasis on technical execution serves to minimize design’s potential. The less technical skills are more strategic, and set design up for greater impact.

The first is the ability to engage in strategy, no longer just executing the “how,” but articulating the “what” and “why” for a product and service.

To conduct strategy is to make clear the trade-offs and positioning within business, technical, and customer contexts.

They are now responsible for developing the process and approach for solving the problem, and leading others toward that solution.

team members should continue their mastery, but the reality is that in order for them to excel, it’s less about how well they practice their skills, and more about how they lead others through the delivery of great design work.

One more leadership skill is necessary to adopt at this level: vision. This is the ability to create a narrative and representation that makes strategy concrete, and provides a “north star” and inspiration for the teams building toward it.

Their success is instead shown in how the vision catalyzes action, inspiring the people within a company to charge forward because they want to live in a world where that vision is made a reality.

For more junior members, whose work is farthest from direct impact, set expectations around improving their craft and learning processes, and developing the people skills necessary in a professional context.

Because each team member is on their own journey, it’s important to manage expectations person by person, and resist the temptation to set middle-of-the-road standards everyone can meet.

Avoid telling people how to do their work

Instead, encourage the team member’s autonomy, and help them develop their own plan to achieve those expectations.

Whatever the issue, it’s important that the team member be encouraged to resolve the situation themselves;

The goal is not for the company to deliver great design, but to deliver a great product and service experience in a profitable manner.