The four pillars for building a successful design team
I was recently having a conversation with a company about design teams. Specifically how to build and scale them. This is a topic I’m passionate about. I’ve had the opportunity to do this several times at different organizations and have had success. Building design orgs can transform how a company builds product, goes to market, and relates to their users. And a really good design team has the ability to unite Product, Engineering, Data Science, Marketing, and a host of other departments to a common purpose and alignment.
A design team assembled well, is greater than the sum of its parts*. They support each other, encourage, and learn from each other. They grow their talents and capabilities. They also form a stronger, nuanced, and more comprehensive POV on the design aesthetic and user experience for the products they design. And in turn they can take that POV and more clearly articulate it to others — product, engineering, executive leadership.
* I should note that when I refer to the talent on a design team, I mean the full spectrum of roles: designer, researcher, content strategist, UX, design ops, everyone.
In building teams, I focus on 4 pillars that form the foundation of a strong, vibrant design team. They are:
Strengthen design team culture
Drive design integration
Elevate design execution
Establish a design thinking mindset.
Done correctly, this allows a design team to scale quickly and make a meaningful impact on the company.