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
"Maturity is not linear; the tanker company had a lot to learn from the speedboat, and vice versa."
John CutlerOxbows, Rivers, and Estuaries: How to navigate the currents of change (without burning out)
December 3, 2024
"Taking responsibility for our behaviors starts with an apology and continues with regular feedback and action."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"You don’t have to sit through two hours a day; we’ll spend about 15 minutes on setup then you’ll pair up and do the exercise."
Dave GrayGroup Activity: Making Sense of DesignOps
November 7, 2017
"The subtle art of taking care of yourself and giving a f in ways that generally encourage coherent behaviors."
John CutlerThe Alignment Trap
November 29, 2023
"Diagrams allow us to emotionally hit pause and come back ready to dig further."
Abby CovertStuck? Diagrams Help
October 27, 2022
"Small micro changes every week add up — ask your team what tiny improvements they’ve made recently."
Mark InterranteCollaboration Flows in Product Development
June 9, 2017
"Too often, futures imaginaries want to erase or align difference rather than reckon with it."
Devon PowersImagining Better Futures
March 9, 2022
"Your primary function as a research team is to build a culture of research, not just react to project requests."
Prayag NarulaHow to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To
June 10, 2022
"Despite the worst user interface ever, cloud code is the most popular and successful agent that exists today."
Peter Van DijckHands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people
October 22, 2025
