Design at Scale is People!
Summary
Key Insights
-
•
Design at scale requires three goals: consistent quality, velocity, and coherence to avoid siloed experiences.
-
•
Design systems raise quality and speed floors but inherently lack soul and can inhibit innovation if relied on solely.
-
•
Culture in design teams must be explicit and tangible, including shared purpose, values, norms, and artifacts like t-shirts and postcards.
-
•
Singular design leadership reporting close to the CEO signals design’s strategic importance in a company.
-
•
Team leads, not just VPs or directors, are critical as they coach teams, uphold quality standards, manage cross-functional relationships, and protect teams from executive disruptions.
-
•
Organizing design teams by user experience journeys (discovery, purchase, post-purchase) supports coherence across complex systems.
-
•
Super senior individual contributors like design architects and principal designers play a vital role in strategic and creative bridging across product, service, and ecosystems.
-
•
Maintaining coherence and soul in design at scale demands focusing on people and culture as much as processes and systems.
-
•
Diplomacy and standing firm on design principles are essential skills for team leads navigating cross-functional tensions.
-
•
Executive commitment and investment are necessary for embedding design deeply into organizational practices, as shown by IBM’s example under Ginny Rometti.
Notable Quotes
"Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that expresses itself in the outer layers of the product or service."
"Design systems raise the floor for quality and speed but on their own they have no soul and risk inhibiting innovation."
"Without a shared purpose, a team is simply a collection of individuals."
"You need to have a strong sense of values and norms to guide how you behave and interact within design teams."
"The team lead is the most important role in a scaling design organization because they uphold quality and culture daily."
"Team leads manage down by coaching their teams, manage across by diplomacy, and manage up by protecting their teams from executive distractions."
"Organizing design teams by user journey rather than by product better supports a coherent end-to-end experience."
"Super senior individual contributors can focus on strategic and creative work that design directors and VPs often don’t have time for."
"Elevation of design leadership to no more than two levels below the CEO signals that design is important company-wide."
"Executive commitment, like IBM’s hundred million dollar investment, is essential to building design as a deep organizational practice."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"In the wickedness of enterprise UX, craft keeps you grounded amidst competing perspectives and political eddies."
Uday GajendarThe Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX
May 13, 2015
"Cities are not at the heart of global climate discussions, yet they hold tremendous opportunity for change."
Jayne Engle Tanya Chung-Tiam-FookCivic Design for the Next Seven Generations—A Discussion on Sacred Civics
August 25, 2022
"A small, dedicated design ops team has incredible leverage and impact."
Kristin SkinnerOpening Keynote: Org Design for Design Orgs
November 6, 2017
"Consequences scanning helps detect unintended harms and risks before launching AI features."
Dan SafferWhy AI projects fail (and what we can do about it)
May 14, 2025
"Our sponsors make this conference and programming possible, so thank you all so, so much."
Bria AlexanderDay 2 Welcome
September 24, 2024
"Mobile users gave Amazon a higher Net Promoter Score than desktop users, indicating a better mobile experience."
Daniela Magaña Flores Ariane Rahn Jeff Ephraim BanderAhead of Competition: Learn What UX Benchmarking Can Do for Your Business Today
March 10, 2022
"Preparation is critical to set up new practitioners for success, including equipment, access, expectations, and introductions."
Laine Riley Prokay Lisa GordonCarving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners
September 9, 2022
"Expanding empathy beyond humans to other intelligences like nature is a promising direction for design."
Luke Roberts Christian Bason, Ph.D. Amanda Woolley Ben ReasonPanel Discussion
December 4, 2024
"Nearly 30 years into my career, I’m doing the most rewarding work of my life helping modernize military space systems."
Michal Anne RogondinoSaving Outer Space: The First UX Design System for Our Nation’s Satellites
January 8, 2024
