Summary
When design teams start to grow within hyper-growth startups, there is often a natural fear that the design culture will change as a result. It doesn’t have to. By encouraging best practices on recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and interviewing for “culture fit” you can benefit from a more diverse and culture rich team. Join Meredith Black for a talk on the vision and values of scaling the design culture at Pinterest while also designing for 175 million users.
Key Insights
-
•
Creating a strong design culture starting from the core values of the company is essential.
-
•
Collaboration among design, product management, and engineering is key to decision-making at Pinterest.
-
•
Hiring for culture fit is as important as hiring for design skills in a rapidly growing team.
-
•
Promoting diversity within the design team enhances creativity and reflects a global user base.
-
•
Innovative team-building events like NITCON and workshops help inspire creativity and maintain team morale.
-
•
Regular feedback and open communication foster a culture of continuous improvement and learning.
-
•
Designers should be familiar with both the strengths and weaknesses of the products they work on.
-
•
Encouraging ongoing education and inspiration is critical to prevent designer burnout.
-
•
Understanding and adapting to team dynamics is essential as team size expands.
-
•
Hiring carefully and deliberately is crucial to preserving the team's established culture.
Notable Quotes
"Design always has a seat at the table at Pinterest because our co-founder is a designer."
"At Pinterest, we call our collaborative decision-making process 'knitting.'"
"One in three designers on our team is from another country, promoting diverse perspectives."
"Burnout isn't a result of working too much; it stems from a lack of stimulation."
"We created Bash Bingo Days to make updating our legacy design fun."
"The Yarn Ball Speaker Series allows designers to share their unique stories in intimate settings."
"We have a tradition called Fika, or tea time, for designers to bond over coffee and dessert."
"It's easier to hire someone than it is to let go of someone who disrupts team culture."
"The right hire can contribute significantly to user experience and team dynamics."
"We want candidates to join for the right reasons, not just because we are a trendy workplace."
More Videos
"We are still figuring out how to measure the value of design."
Kristin Skinner Kamdyn MooreGroup Activity: A Deep Dive Into Value and Outcomes
October 23, 2019
"When we use this word note, we are talking oftentimes about things that can be very different."
Jorge ArangoThe Best of Both Worlds: How to Integrate Paper and Digital Notes (1st of 3 seminars) (Videoconference)
April 5, 2024
"Our job isn't to do video editing all day, it's to work with meaning."
Prabhas Pokharel Mayo NissenOrder and Chaos: New Ways of Collaborating on Synthesis and Storytelling
March 10, 2022
"Mobile offers greater customizability, allowing users to adapt the device to their specific needs."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
March 10, 2022
"Keep stakeholders engaged by providing them with small updates throughout the research process."
Roberta Dombrowski Sam Duong WoloszynskiMaking Research a Team Sport
March 11, 2022
"This view is not anywhere in the system. No one can see all of this."
Josina VinkNavigating the pitfalls of systems thinking in service design
December 4, 2024
"Most tech layoffs are a result of social contagion—companies mimic the actions of others."
Angelos ArnisNavigating the Rapid Shifts in Tech's Turbulent Terrain
October 2, 2023
"We need to support all functions of the business to keep it running."
Ted NewardTheme 4: Enterprise Organizational Journey
June 4, 2019
"We don’t have anyone whose job it is to tell us when to be scrappy again, but I think it's everyone's job to challenge norms."
Maria SkaadenPanel Discussion: Methodologies and Work Environments
November 8, 2018
