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

by Peter Merholz

This is an area where what works for the rest of the organization pretty much works for design. Interviewers need to submit feedback in a timely fashion (i.e., within 24 hours), making clear what they discussed, what their impressions were, and how strongly they feel about hiring or not hiring the candidate. Even if the company does not otherwise conduct debriefs, where the interview panel meets in person to discuss their interviews, do so for design candidates. The newness of design as a corporate function comes into particular play in the hiring process. Many people, especially those outside of design, will not have interviewed designers before. Everyone benefits from understanding each other’s assessments. It helps the whole organization as it figures out how to hire for these roles. The debrief should also be timely, ideally the following day, but no more than three days after the interview. The panel should read one another’s feedback before the debrief, or if they haven’t had time, at the beginning of the debrief. Most debriefs will be straightforward — across the board thumbs up or thumbs down. Be careful of tepid approvals, though — if there are no strong advocates for a person’s hire, that’s a sign of something being off, even if none of the feedback is negative. A challenge arises when a candidate splits the panel, where some are strongly positive, and others are inclined not to hire. Navigating this is among the most heightened and sensitive tasks for a design l...