Summary
Design at scale is perhaps the most interesting challenge facing the design industry right now. How do you maintain quality and not get bogged down as your team grows? Much of the discussion focuses on systems and processes, but that starting with systems runs exactly contrary to the true value that design brings to companies, which is a humanistic and creative problem-framing and problem-solving approach. In other words, this focus on systems could ironically undercut design’s potential within organizations. In this talk, I stress how “Design at Scale” is humanism at scale, and share what’s needed to keep people at the center of this work.
Key Insights
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Design at scale involves maintaining quality, coherence, and velocity.
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Design systems help manage coordination but may lack the human aspect.
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Service-oriented design requires considering the entire customer experience across touchpoints.
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Culture within design teams must be explicit and shared to ensure alignment and purpose.
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Strong design leadership is essential for scaling design culture company-wide.
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The most important role in a scalable design organization is the team lead, not just management roles.
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Team leads need to uphold quality and foster relationships within and outside their teams.
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Organizing design teams by the customer journey enhances coherence across experiences.
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Creating tangible artifacts can help reinforce design culture within teams.
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The increasing importance of human-centered design principles highlights the need for executive commitment.
Notable Quotes
"Design is the fundamental soul of a man-made creation that ends up expressing itself in successive outer layers of the product or service."
"As a design team grows, you cannot manage culture informally."
"Without a purpose, a team is simply a collection of individuals."
"You need to have everything tangible to connect team members to something larger than themselves."
"Design needs to be a set of activities that anyone can embrace, not just something that designers do."
"The team lead is the one who makes sure that quality is upheld and that the team is focused."
"Design leadership needs to be recognized at the executive level to elevate its importance in the company."
"We need to figure out for ourselves what makes sense in terms of our organization."
"Maintaining the soul of design at scale requires a foundation of humanism and executive investment."
"Design is evolving into a service model, where coherence across teams is vital."
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