Summary
In enterprise organizations, product development work, and therefore, design work, typically happens within a specific business unit or organization. Dedicated and embedded squads means there is a close and tight feedback loop between team members. But what happens when your company kicks off an initiative that spans across business units? How do you resource and run a design project with no dedicated designers? This case study will cover how we set out a vision, structured communications, built up an ad-hoc design team, shipped our first cross-organization product and all the lessons we learned along the way.
Key Insights
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A clear, technology-agnostic experience vision can unify multiple siloed stakeholders around a common goal.
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Forming a small, empowered core team with cross-functional representatives enables rapid iteration and decision-making.
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Leveraging embedded designers from business units as an ad hoc design team allows scaling design resources flexibly.
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Rapid iterative usability testing, including microcopy and terminology testing, helps catch blockers early.
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Trust is critical when collaborating with embedded designers who report to different leadership.
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Relying too heavily on a single content strategist creates a risk of a single point of failure.
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Lack of a formal project kickoff leads to misalignment, confusion over roles, and changing expectations.
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Service blueprints can effectively reveal backend complexities and clarify responsibilities across units.
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Investing time in relationships and collaboration pays off more than cutting those efforts for short-term speed.
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The hardest challenges often lie in cultural team alignment rather than purely technical or design problems.
Notable Quotes
"What’s so difficult about designing a login? On the surface, it’s simple, but the real challenge was cultural alignment across business units."
"There is no design team responsible for the overarching experience across the entire company."
"Experience vision is a powerful tool because it gives everyone a tangible goal to work towards."
"Consistency over business unit efficiency was a design principle to ensure unified interface and language."
"We formed a small core task force empowered to make decisions to avoid delays from formal reviews."
"Trust is often underestimated but is critical when designers face public critique and feedback."
"Relying on a single content strategist was a strategic mistake that created a single point of failure."
"No official kickoff was held, which meant shifting expectations and lack of alignment."
"Service blueprints would have helped business units understand backend impacts and responsibilities."
"Investing in people and fostering collaboration always pays off in stronger teams and better user experiences."
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