Design at Scale is People!
Summary
Design at scale is perhaps the most interesting challenge facing the design industry right now. How do you maintain quality and not get bogged down as your team grows? Much of the discussion focuses on systems and processes, but that starting with systems runs exactly contrary to the true value that design brings to companies, which is a humanistic and creative problem-framing and problem-solving approach. In other words, this focus on systems could ironically undercut design’s potential within organizations. In this talk, I stress how “Design at Scale” is humanism at scale, and share what’s needed to keep people at the center of this work.
Key Insights
-
•
Design at scale requires three goals: consistent quality, velocity, and coherence to avoid siloed experiences.
-
•
Design systems raise quality and speed floors but inherently lack soul and can inhibit innovation if relied on solely.
-
•
Culture in design teams must be explicit and tangible, including shared purpose, values, norms, and artifacts like t-shirts and postcards.
-
•
Singular design leadership reporting close to the CEO signals design’s strategic importance in a company.
-
•
Team leads, not just VPs or directors, are critical as they coach teams, uphold quality standards, manage cross-functional relationships, and protect teams from executive disruptions.
-
•
Organizing design teams by user experience journeys (discovery, purchase, post-purchase) supports coherence across complex systems.
-
•
Super senior individual contributors like design architects and principal designers play a vital role in strategic and creative bridging across product, service, and ecosystems.
-
•
Maintaining coherence and soul in design at scale demands focusing on people and culture as much as processes and systems.
-
•
Diplomacy and standing firm on design principles are essential skills for team leads navigating cross-functional tensions.
-
•
Executive commitment and investment are necessary for embedding design deeply into organizational practices, as shown by IBM’s example under Ginny Rometti.
Notable Quotes
"Design is the fundamental soul of a human-made creation that expresses itself in the outer layers of the product or service."
"Design systems raise the floor for quality and speed but on their own they have no soul and risk inhibiting innovation."
"Without a shared purpose, a team is simply a collection of individuals."
"You need to have a strong sense of values and norms to guide how you behave and interact within design teams."
"The team lead is the most important role in a scaling design organization because they uphold quality and culture daily."
"Team leads manage down by coaching their teams, manage across by diplomacy, and manage up by protecting their teams from executive distractions."
"Organizing design teams by user journey rather than by product better supports a coherent end-to-end experience."
"Super senior individual contributors can focus on strategic and creative work that design directors and VPs often don’t have time for."
"Elevation of design leadership to no more than two levels below the CEO signals that design is important company-wide."
"Executive commitment, like IBM’s hundred million dollar investment, is essential to building design as a deep organizational practice."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"One of the amazing things about becoming very successful leaders is eventually becoming obsolete."
Anna Avrekh Dr. John Pagonis Klara Pelcl Sina SchreiberExpert Panel: Leading in and with Research
March 10, 2022
"Sometimes we have to do a bait and switch—meet organizational demands but turn that into opportunities to learn."
Taylor KlassmanShaping the Next Era of UX Research: Collaborative Forum
March 11, 2025
"The pandemic is a message from the universe to pause and rethink who we hire and how we train."
Dr. Jamika D. Burge Steve Portigal Alba Villamil Sam LadnerThe Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps
July 29, 2021
"During testing sensitive subjects, have relevant resources at the ready, like shelter beds for participants in need."
Marisa BernsteinIt Takes GRIT: Lessons from the Small, but Mighty World of Civic Usability Testing
December 9, 2021
"Sometimes you need to connect the people before you can connect the parts in a design system."
Dan Mall“Ask Me Anything” with Dan Mall, Author of Upcoming Rosenfeld Title, Design that Scales
October 2, 2023
"The researchers I know aspire to do lofty work, but we have a long way to go to get there."
Chris GeisonTheme 1 Intro
March 9, 2022
"If someone only reads the first few paragraphs or attends the first 10 minutes, they should still get the key takeaways."
Bruce GillespieLearning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling
March 13, 2025
"If you put garbage in, garbage comes out – AI reflects the biases in its training data."
Nancy DouyonWe'll Figure That Out in the Next Launch: Enterprise Tech's Nobility Complex
June 15, 2018
"The tensions between host and refugee communities are more than poor service design; they point to chronic systemic issues rooted in resource allocation and social justice."
Liz EbengoThe Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
December 4, 2024
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What are practical strategies to build influence for research insights across multiple dispersed teams?
How do I handle credibility challenges and emotional barriers when working with medical professionals?
How did puzzles specifically help engineers collaborate more effectively in Feyi’s case study?