Org Design for Design Orgs

Book description

Design has become the key link between users and today’s complex and rapidly evolving digital experiences, and designers are starting to be included in strategic conversations about the products and services that enterprises ultimately deliver. This has led to companies building in-house digital/experience design teams at unprecedented rates, but many of them don’t understand how to get the most out of their investment. This practical guide provides guidelines for creating and leading design teams within your organization, and explores ways to use design as part of broader strategic planning.

You’ll discover:

  • Why design’s role has evolved in the digital age
  • How to infuse design into every product and service experience
  • The 12 qualities of effective design organizations
  • How to structure your design team through a Centralized Partnership
  • Design team roles and evolution
  • The process of recruiting and hiring designers
  • How to manage your design team and promote professional growth

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Table of contents

  1. Foreword
  2. Preface
    1. Why We Wrote This Book
    2. The Authors
    3. How This Book Is Structured
    4. Acknowledgments
      1. Peter
      2. Kristin
  3. 1. Why Design? Why Now?
    1. “The Power of Design”
    2. “Software Is Eating the World”
    3. The Consumerization of All Software
    4. Everything-as-a-Service
    5. Double-Edged Sword of User Empowerment
    6. Design Can Be So Much More Than “Problem Solving”
  4. 2. Realizing the Potential of Design
    1. All Design Is Service Design
    2. The Double Diamond
      1. Design Defines
      2. Design Makes Strategy Concrete
      3. Customer-Centered Planning
      4. The Bulk of Design Is Execution
    3. Bringing Design In-House
    4. The Three-Legged Stool
      1. The Expanded Role of Design
  5. 3. 12 Qualities of Effective Design Organizations
    1. Foundation
      1. 1. Shared Sense of Purpose
      2. 2. Focused, Empowered Leadership
        1. Focused leadership
        2. Autonomy
        3. Executive access
      3. 3. Authentic User Empathy
      4. 4. Understand, Articulate, and Create Value
    2. Output
      1. 5. Support the Entire Journey
        1. Facilitation: the non-craft design skill
      2. 6. Deliver at All Levels of Scale
      3. 7. Establish and Uphold Standards of Quality
      4. 8. Value Delivery Over Perfection
    3. Management
      1. 9. Teams Are Made of People, Not Resources
        1. Are team members respected as individuals?
        2. Do team members work reasonable hours?
        3. Are team members encouraged to grow?
      2. 10. Diversity of Perspective and Background
      3. 11. Foster a Collaborative Environment
      4. 12. Manage Operations Effectively
    4. Our Humanistic Agenda
  6. 4. The Centralized Partnership
    1. Organizational Models for Design Teams
      1. Centralized Internal Services
        1. Benefits of centralization
        2. Drawbacks of centralization
      2. Decentralized and Embedded
        1. Benefits of decentralized design teams
        2. Drawbacks of decentralized organization
    2. Centralized Partnership: The Best of Both Worlds
      1. The Makeup of a Design Team
        1. Team leads for centralized partnerships
      2. Organizing Your Teams
        1. How this could work
        2. Organize by the customer’s journey
        3. Commitment is key
        4. Design operations must be made explicit
    3. Where Does the Design Organization Report?
      1. New Problems Warrant New Organizational Models
  7. 5. Roles and Team Composition
    1. Individual Contributors
      1. Product Designer
      2. Communication Designer
      3. User Experience (UX) Researcher
      4. Design Program Manager
        1. Design Program Management skillset
      5. Content Strategist
      6. Service Designer
      7. Creative Technologist
    2. Design Leadership
      1. Head of Design
      2. Design Manager/Design Director
      3. Creative Director
      4. Director of Design Program Management
    3. Five Stages of Design Organization Evolution
      1. Stage 1: The Initial Pair
      2. Stage 2: A Full Team
      3. Stage 3: From Design Team to Design Organization
      4. Stage 4: Coordination to Manage Complexity
      5. Stage 5: Distributed Leadership
      6. Where to Go from Here
  8. 6. Recruiting and Hiring
    1. Establishing Headcount
    2. Recruiting
      1. Recruiting Is the Whole Team’s Responsibility
      2. Sourcing Candidates
        1. Schools and training programs
          1. Which schools?
          2. Training programs
        2. Career fairs
        3. Internships
      3. Crafting the Job Posting
      4. Online Services
        1. Reaching out to prospective candidate
      5. External Recruiters
      6. Networking
      7. Reviewing Portfolios
    3. The Candidate Review Process
      1. Initial Screens (by Phone or In-Person)
      2. Day of Interviews
        1. Portfolio presentation
        2. The interviews
        3. Coordinating feedback
      3. Reference Checks
    4. Making the Hire Decision
      1. Contract-to-Hire
    5. Extending the Offer
    6. It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon
  9. 7. Developing the Team: Professional Growth and Managing People
    1. Levels Framework for Designers
      1. Levels and Career Paths
      2. Core Design Skills
      3. Level 1: Becoming a Design Professional
        1. Core skills
        2. Soft skills
        3. Responsibilities
      4. Level 2: The Solid Contributor
        1. Core skills
        2. Soft skills
        3. Responsibilities
      5. Level 3: Stepping Up—from Doer to Leader
        1. Core skills
        2. Soft skills
        3. Leadership skills
        4. Responsibilities
      6. Level 4: Taking Charge
        1. Core skills
        2. Soft skills
        3. Leadership skills
        4. Responsibilities
      7. Level 5: The Complete Design Leader
        1. Core skills
        2. Leadership skills
        3. Responsibilities
    2. The Manager Path
      1. Rules of Thumb for Managing Designers
        1. Set clear expectations
        2. Support, don’t manage
        3. Help remove obstacles
        4. Go to the mat when necessary
        5. Frequent feedback
        6. It’s not about design
        7. Get to know them as people
      2. The Personal Professional Mission
    3. Design Community Participation and Leadership
    4. Investing in Professional Development
    5. Growth Through the Organization
    6. Climbing the Corporate Trellis
  10. 8. Creating a Design Culture
    1. The Elements of Culture
    2. Values
      1. There Is No One Best Design Culture
      2. That Said...
      3. Articulate Your Charter
    3. Environment
      1. Physical Environments
      2. Stuff on Shelves and Walls
      3. Where Do People Sit?
      4. Virtual Environments
    4. Activities
      1. Onboarding
      2. Meetings
      3. Doing the Work
      4. Providing Critique
      5. Exposure to Customers
      6. Cross-Team Collaboration
      7. Design Community Involvement
    5. Spreading Culture
  11. 9. Successful Interaction with Other Disciplines
    1. Phase 1: Achievable
      1. Clear Decision Making
      2. Design Team as Gating Function
      3. Maintaining Quality
      4. Defined Roles and Expectations
    2. Phase 2: Sustainable
      1. Protecting Maker Time
      2. Operating Agreements
      3. Communication
    3. Phase 3: Impactful
    4. Conclusion
  12. 10. Parting Thoughts
    1. The Untapped Opportunity for Design
    2. Keep Design Weird
    3. Beyond Features and into a World of Experience
  13. A. About the Authors
  14. B. O’Reilly: Org Design for Design Orgs
  15. Index
  16. About the Authors
  17. Colophon
  18. Copyright

Product information

  • Title: Org Design for Design Orgs
  • Author(s): Peter Merholz, Kristin Skinner
  • Release date: August 2016
  • Publisher(s): O'Reilly Media, Inc.
  • ISBN: 9781491938409