Design as an Agent of Digital Transformation at JPMC
Summary
Join us for a wide-ranging conversation on how we are building a thriving team of designers empowered to drive digital transformation at scale. Hear about our challenges and lessons learned. We will talk about team building, employee engagement, design thinking, and design maturity.
Key Insights
-
•
JP Morgan Chase’s digital transformation is accelerated by the pandemic and requires culture change alongside technology and design evolution.
-
•
Esther’s team manages 'Access,' a treasury management portal used by clients representing about one-sixth of the US economy.
-
•
Ruthless prioritization is critical for impactful design leadership, as highlighted by Esther’s mentor Deborah Danielson.
-
•
Successful digital transformation requires cross-team collaboration between design, product, and tech, including shared KPIs and goals.
-
•
Maintaining design quality despite increased demand is a core challenge due to pressure to scale rapidly without diluting outputs.
-
•
Behavioral change is difficult; training alone does not make teams collaborative or innovative without ongoing coaching and support.
-
•
New joiners benefit from buddy systems and small study pods to accelerate domain learning and foster interpersonal connection.
-
•
A growth mindset and resilience are essential designer qualities given constant change and complexity in the banking context.
-
•
Design leadership involves humility, stakeholder mapping, and knowing when to drive and when to collaborate in a large firm.
-
•
Design is not here to save the day but to help organizations progress steadily toward better client experiences and innovation.
Notable Quotes
"Ruthless prioritization is really the outcome of conversations that helped me focus on where I can make the most impact."
"Banks have 144 years of tech baggage making digital-first mindsets hard, and culture change is just as important as technology."
"We’re paddling in the same boat, aligned with product and tech, sharing goals and KPIs to deliver great client experiences."
"Behavior change doesn’t happen after two days of training; it takes ongoing support, coaching, and modeling."
"The pandemic collapsed many roles onto fewer shoulders without the usual context switches, amplifying burnout risk."
"A new joiner meeting someone 10 months in who’s still meeting new people shows the scale and complexity of JP Morgan."
"Design thinking works best with executive sponsorship combined with grassroots enthusiasm to set organizational expectations."
"Empathy and imagination combined with collaboration behaviors can help us live together more peacefully and improve the world."
"Design isn’t here to save the day but to see things through to the next day."
"Having a designated buddy for new hires proactively soliciting questions creates a supported partnership and eases onboarding."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Building ecosystems of interconnected tools that work seamlessly is crucial for modern, fast-moving organizations."
Kate Towsey Basel Fakhoury Oren Friedman Graham GardnerParticipant Recruitment and Management Tools
March 12, 2026
"Documentation is important for liability and useful for patient handoffs, so notes must be concise yet detailed."
Jennifer KongJourneying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
June 5, 2024
"Designers want more time to prototype and really ensure what ships is successful, but we just don’t have enough people or time."
Kevin M. HoffmanTheme 2: Enterprise Team Journey
June 3, 2019
"Investment is attention: If the business funds you, it means they believe in what you do."
Amy MarquezINVEST: Discussion
June 15, 2018
"Designers can be really paranoid and very precious."
Gretchen AndersonScaling the Human Center
June 8, 2017
"Design ops professionals are already futurists in disguise because they constantly manage risks and plan capacity."
April ReaganLook, Think, Act: The Futures-Smart Design Organization
October 1, 2021
"The pandemic flipped the equation, and IBM became the place that design talent left."
Dante GuintuHow to Crush the Talent Crunch
September 8, 2022
"Respect your design system rules to ensure consistent experiences across your product and teams."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"I like adding content to wireframes because they’re the best place for content design."
Billy CarlsonPrinciples of Team Wireframing
October 2, 2023
