Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

Handling Complexity: Framing a Scale of Design
Gold
Wednesday, June 9, 2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Share the love for this talk
Handling Complexity: Framing a Scale of Design
Speakers: Cornelius Rachieru
Link:

Summary

Designing "at scale" assumes conceptual consensus on what the particular levels of that 'scale' actually are. In the last few years, UX professionals have specialized into UX researchers, product designers, service designers design strategists, etc. Nowadays, we're also witnessing the debut of a new term: "system designers". But do we really understand how these job titles and subthemes of UX fit within that scale of complexity in design? In this presentation, we'll introduce the basic levels of a scale of design, articulate how common UX job titles fit on the scale, and map how the work we commonly tackle in both research and design should also be informed by the scale of the problem we're addressing. We're also going to critique the (somewhat misguided) ways the current world of UX is handling the widespread growth in the complexity of our work.

Key Insights

  • Design complexity is best understood as a scale with multiple layers, from foundational theory to societal impact.

  • Traditional design scale models do not fully address the granularity required by modern design challenges.

  • Lower layers of design focus on artifact creation and micro-interactions, exemplified by practitioners like Aaron Draplin.

  • Product design is discipline-led and emphasizes precise, polished deliverables, while service design is multidisciplinary and tolerates imprecision.

  • Research quality decreases substantially at higher levels of the scale due to ambiguity and systemic complexity.

  • Designers must consider secondary users and the potential harm their designs may inflict beyond primary users.

  • Service design projects often span years and require broad organizational collaboration, including policy, business, and HR perspectives.

  • Systemic and ecosystem thinking is crucial for ethical design and to avoid commoditization of design and designers.

  • Organizational adoption of ecosystem-focused roles is increasing as companies recognize the need for system-level insights.

  • Operationalizing design at scale requires awareness of these layers, multidisciplinary teamwork, and evolving research approaches.

Notable Quotes

"While the majority of design happens in the lower half of this scale, we create gaps at the higher, systemic levels that we must address."

"Design projects in product design are led by designers, but in service design they are facilitated or co-facilitated by designers among many perspectives."

"If you see a system, you cannot unsee it — systemic awareness changes how you approach design."

"On lower layers, research spaces are limited and focused, while at higher layers, problem spaces are ambiguous and require holistic approaches."

"We tend to put the end user first, but we must also ask who we might be doing harm to beyond primary users."

"In product design, we answer questions to design; in service design, we ask the right questions to design."

"Many big companies now have roles related to ecosystem design like VP or senior managers of ecosystem."

"Service design projects often last two to three years and necessitate ongoing stakeholder collaboration."

"Focusing exclusively on design systems, sprints, and agile commoditizes design and reduces it to cookie-cutter processes."

"Being aware of the systemic lens is a big first step that changes how teams operate and design."

Wyatt Hayman
Global Research Panels
2020 • DesignOps Community
Meredith Black
Scaling Design Culture
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Megan Clegg
Space for Everyone: Reframing Accessibility Through a Wider Lens
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Sarah Brooks
Fireside chat with Sarah Brooks and Jen Pahlka
2021 • Civic Design Community
Lija Hogan
Contexts of Use: A Framework for Connection
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Neema Mahdavi
Operationalizing DesignOps
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Abby Covert
Stuck? Diagrams Help
2022 • DesignOps Community
Lisa Welchman
Cleaning Up Our Mess: Digital Governance for Designers
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Tim Parmee
Changing Our Design Pressure Points
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Sofia Quintero
Beyond Tools: The Messy Business of Implementing Research Repositories
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Sarah Coyle
Design and Analytics with Sarah Coyle
2020 • DesignOps Community
Cassini Nazir
The Dangers of Empathy: Toward More Responsible Design Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Emily DiLeo
Stronger Together: Lessons Learned from UX Research Ops
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Tatyana Mamut
Opening Keynote: Breaking Conway's Law--or How to Work Differently and Not Ship Your Org Chart
2019 • Enterprise Experience 2019
Gold
Sarah Sgarlato Pierini
From Passion to Execution: A Story of Evolving Research Maturity at LinkedIn
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Steve Portigal
War Stories LIVE! Steve Portigal
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold

More Videos

Jon Fukuda

"Design teams face challenges because inputs live in PDFs, Figma files, Slack messages, spreadsheets, and more."

Jon Fukuda Ellie Krysl

Design Planning and Management Support

October 3, 2023

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"Who works here anyways? I knew about immediate teams but beyond that, it was a fog."

Saara Kamppari-Miller

Cartography for Design Communities

September 10, 2025

Kevin Bethune

"No matter the spaces that we navigate, who’s at the table absolutely matters."

Kevin Bethune

Reimagining Design: Unlocking Strategic Innovation

June 8, 2022

Daniel Orbach

"One-on-ones aren’t just reflective of a point in time but are a journey you go on together."

Daniel Orbach

Zero to One: Co-Creating Operating Models with your Team

September 23, 2024

Marc Fonteijn

"The community is an ongoing prototype; members have a strong, frequent voice in shaping what good looks like."

Marc Fonteijn Ru Butler

Increase your confidence, influence, and impact (through a Professional Community)

December 3, 2024

Clara Kliman-Silver

"AI is valuable in design when it extrapolates away mundane work."

Clara Kliman-Silver

UX Futures: The Role of Artificial Intelligence in Design

June 7, 2023

Robin Beers

"Persistence is about beating the drum over and over, even if it feels annoying."

Robin Beers Nalini Kotamraju Andy Warr

Panel: Excellence in Communicating Insights

March 26, 2024

Ana Maria Montero Barrantes

"Research in science fiction helps make research real and creative all the time."

Ana Maria Montero Barrantes Aditi Dhar Michelle Kaplan Nate Osborne Matt Laurence

The Authentic UX Talent Show

January 8, 2024

Kristen Honey

"We had to build the plane while we were flying it."

Kristen Honey

"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design

November 18, 2021