Closing Keynote: Getting giants to dance - what can we learn from designing large and complex public infrastructure?
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Design practice has evolved from creating buildings to delivering national visions and economic investments.
-
•
Collaborating with economists, planners, and specialists enriches design strategy and execution.
-
•
Heathrow Airport’s financial model heavily influences design constraints and decisions, notably the flat landing charges.
-
•
Designers must go beyond execution and influence organizational strategy and economics.
-
•
Organizational culture and explicit value alignment are critical success factors in large-scale design delivery.
-
•
The transition from open partnerships to structured program management and business case gateways redefines design roles.
-
•
Design ops is emerging as a central discipline for ensuring quality and value in complex projects.
-
•
Early informal experiences and relationships shape perspectives that influence professional design thinking.
-
•
Pre-booking carry-on baggage into overhead lockers illustrates innovative thinking in future airport design.
-
•
Active engagement in strategy conversations allows designers to contribute meaningfully to business outcomes.
Notable Quotes
"Can we just hang out, get on the tube, and hang out at Heathrow? He looked at me very strangely."
"We’ve moved from simply delivering the design that’s in front of us to influencing the strategy itself."
"The landing charge is the key thing airlines look at and that needs to stay flat."
"Organizational culture and values have been essential to ensuring successful delivery."
"Design ops is at the heart of how we can achieve outstanding quality and value in design."
"This client project is very deliberate and explicit in focusing on culture and values."
"If you could pre-book your carry on baggage into the overhead locker, wouldn’t that be great?"
"We must talk like business people, not just designers."
"There’s been a steady evolution starting with delivering buildings to delivering national economic visions."
"I am so glad to be part of this new design ops community and wish you all the best of success."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"We need to reclaim the value and importance of facilitation as strategically critical work."
Matt LeMayYou Don’t “Get” Anyone to Do Anything
December 6, 2022
"The Austin studio’s walls can be put up and taken down by a 90-pound person on a Home Depot shopping cart."
Phil GilbertA Consistent Culture of Design
May 14, 2015
"Enterprise UX is about delivering strong experiences in an enterprise setting, which ain’t easy."
Louis RosenfeldWelcome / Housekeeping
June 6, 2023
"Minimizing harm protects institutions, not people."
Rachael Dietkus, LCSWThe power to heal and harm
March 13, 2025
"Prioritizing insights helps pull together top reports aligned with what leadership is focused on next."
Jake BurghardtFinding More Inroads into Research Impact
February 20, 2026
"No one sees the end-to-end metrics of research impact, so the work remains invisible at the corporate level."
Fatimah RichmondThe Future of ReOps as a Strategic Function: A Roadmap for Getting There
March 25, 2024
"Progress and innovation happen when you create unrealistic goals, but it goes too far when it's impossible."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Managing Ludicrous Requests at Work (Part 3 of 3)
May 12, 2025
"If a security camera were recording, what would they see? Focus on facts, not stories."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Navigating Conversations with Your Boss (Part 1 of 3)
April 14, 2025
"If we could do everything that was important, we would just do it."
Harry MaxPriority Zero: Some Things are More Equal than Others
June 9, 2016
