Summary
For a rapidly-growing company like Wayfair, scaling in all functions and optimizing at both micro and macro levels, a constant state of change is normal. Wayfair’s hiring landscape has exploded in the past two years with new offices in CA, Austin, Toronto and Berlin, requiring new ways of working, across disciplines, timezone and borders to be effective. In order to ensure connections and best practices across disciplines (product design, user research, content strategy) and end-user teams, strategic ways of working must be put in place to successfully serve our customers, and each other. We not only instituted ceremonies and best practices that have proven to successfully accelerate shared learnings in the last 2 years, we continually optimize those practices, as changes inevitably present themselves. In this talk, we’ll take a closer look at the practices in Wayfair’s Supplier space (also known as Partners), which has 50+ team members.
Key Insights
-
•
Wayfair’s Global Experience Design team stretches across six locations and speaks 27 languages, requiring mindful and inclusive collaboration strategies.
-
•
Traditional in-office rituals like sticky notes and whiteboard sessions did not translate well to remote work, prompting new collaboration methods.
-
•
The team intentionally designed rituals to avoid screen fatigue and to be inclusive across time zones and cultures.
-
•
Collectives, or communities of practice, allow individuals with shared interests to deepen skills and support each other organically.
-
•
Formal growth programs, like a nine-week UI growth course and the Research Empowerment Program, provide structured skill development and build confidence.
-
•
Informal 'coffee chat' bots pair team members randomly every two weeks to recreate spontaneous in-person connections and cross-team knowledge sharing.
-
•
Biweekly show and tell sessions encourage sharing work-in-progress to foster alignment and build presentation confidence without critique pressure.
-
•
Small design review sessions (XD Collabs) create tighter networks offering deeper, ongoing feedback among peers.
-
•
Global meetings (GXT quarterly all-hands, mentorship programs, and internal mobility initiatives) strengthen company unity and career growth.
-
•
Intentional experimentation, feedback collection, and willingness to scrap ineffective rituals are key to balancing connection and deep work in a distributed team.
Notable Quotes
"I love analog as much as I love digital—physical analog and digital coexist for me."
"One day we were in the office, the next day suddenly remote—there was no choice but to adapt."
"Sticky notes and whiteboards just wouldn’t translate online, so our collaboration rituals had to change."
"We were like islands with no bridges, trying to connect while remote, but it wasn’t so easy."
"Sharing unbaked pots and showing vulnerability is central to our process—it helps us collaborate through uncertainty."
"The coffee chat bot pairs two people every two weeks with no agenda, just like a kitchen chat that wouldn’t happen in remote life."
"Show and tells are not critiques, they’re chances to share progress and practice presentation without pressure."
"We broke those islands; now everyone’s connected, which deepens empathy for our suppliers and their journeys."
"Wayfair’s design team is design thinking led, inspiring other functions to form communities and grow together."
"We’re not afraid to scrap rituals that don’t work anymore to protect time for deep work and be mindful of team energy."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Diversity is beyond just the right thing to do. Our teams must reflect the world we’re designing for."
Doug PowellClosing Keynote: Design at Scale
November 8, 2018
"Middle schoolers might ask you tough questions about release forms and how their data will be used."
Mila Kuznetsova Lucy DentonHow Lessons Learned from Our Youngest Users Can Help Us Evolve our Practices
March 9, 2022
"Artifacts of the future help us envision and grasp the change that we’re hoping to have—it’s not just bullet points or vision statements."
Sarah GallimoreInspire Progress with Artifacts from the Future
November 18, 2022
"The ultimate measure is bringing value so people invite you back to work with them again and again."
Lada Gorlenko Sharbani Dhar Sébastien Malo Rob Mitzel Ivana Ng Michal Anne RogondinoTheme 1: Discussion
January 8, 2024
"AI is just a better version of the tools you’re already using to refine ideas and express thoughts."
Alnie FigueroaThe Future of Design Operations: Transforming Our Craft
September 10, 2025
"You shouldn’t send another survey unless you’ve implemented changes and allowed time for behavior to adapt."
Landon BarnesAre My Research Findings Actually Meaningful?
March 10, 2022
"Every workaround is a mini story of somebody overcoming an obstacle."
Emily EagleCan't Rewind: Radio and Retail
June 3, 2019
"Legacy applications linger because changing them is risk-ridden and a major undertaking."
Malini RaoLessons Learned from a 4-year Product Re-platforming Journey
June 9, 2021
"Designers are often seen as bottlenecks because our work is harder to estimate and track than engineering’s."
Asia HoePartnering with Product: A Journey from Junior to Senior Design
November 29, 2023
