Summary
All organizations have a design operating model. But not all organizations are intentional about creating it. It gets established by accident. Design gets fitted around other priorities of business or technology. As a result, organizations struggle to create valuable experiences for customers. This is why organizations need to design their design operating model.
Key Insights
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Many organizations have design operating models established accidentally without deliberate intention, leading to reactive design work and inefficiencies.
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Design must be positioned on equal footing with business and technology to create valuable, seamless customer experiences.
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A successful design operating model has four dimensions: customers/users/market, organizational context, product teams, and communities of practice.
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Three key levers drive change in the design operating model: people (mindsets and incentives), processes (rituals and tools like design systems), and structures (team and physical environments).
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Leading by strategy with shared goals and governance is more effective than leading by structure focused on power and departmental silos.
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The 'true start' scenario shows the benefit of early, lightweight integration of design within agile teams, supported by rituals like prioritization meetings and design critiques.
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Design systems serve as a crucial single source of truth that fosters collaboration between designers and developers, reduces redundancy, and maintains consistency.
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Scaling design teams requires flexible structures like design pods and guilds to balance workload and support strengths while maintaining alignment.
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The 'false start' scenario reveals challenges of fragmented, output-driven domains with weak collaboration, lacking end-to-end ownership, transparency, and timely design involvement.
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Intentional, continuous evolution of the design operating model and clear communication of its value across the organization are essential for lasting impact.
Notable Quotes
"Design ends up being a means to fix what development has already delivered."
"Bringing design on an equal eye level with technology and with business is the starting point."
"Design is not about one brilliant idea but about collaboration between different roles and expertise."
"Customer value outcomes should drive empowered product teams rather than technical outputs or budgets."
"Leading by strategy with common goals and governance enables better alignment than leading by structure."
"Design systems act as a single source of truth facilitating collaboration among design and technology."
"A false start means design is not considered first, leading to rework, cost loss, and product failure."
"The hackathon gave design the ability to produce coded components quickly, showing executives the value of design investment."
"A strong, consistent design voice is critical so the organization understands what design really is."
"Creating space and mechanisms for creativity protects design time and cognitive load, enabling quality work."
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