Building an In-House
Design Powerhouse.
STEPHEN GATES
@ SDGATES
STEPHEN
GATES
HEAD DESIGN EVANGELIST,
INVISION
@SDGATES
We are going to cover
4 things today:
CURRENT DEFINE EMBRACE START
What’s the current
state of in-house
design teams?
OUR OPPORTUNITY
In-house teams can affect
business in ways we
haven’t seen since the
Industrial Revolution.
OUR REALITY
We are trying to take
advantage of this moment,
but are struggling to
breakthrough.
We have proof.
NEW STUDY FROM INVISION:
The new
design
frontier
The world’s
largest study of
organizational
design maturity
and business
impact.
WE STUDIED:
2,200 companies
ACROSS
23 industries
IN
77 countries
We asked about
HEAD COUNT ORGANIZATION OPERATIONS
Number of employees Executive behaviors Design roles
Number of designers Company employee behaviors Design process
Number of engineers Collaboration behavior with key partners Design operations
Number of product managers Design systems
Design metrics
TEAM STRUCTURE GENERAL Frequency of design
Influence of design
Design org structure Industry Benefits from design
Design reporting lines Location
Number of design teams Annual Revenue
Most senior design leader
PRACTICES
3
PEOPLE
LENSES OF
MATURITY
PLATFORMS
5
LEVELS OF
MATURITY
Level 1
Producers
Design
Team
Level 1 UI Key
Producers
Design Partners
Design makes
it look good. Testing &
Learning
Executives &
Employees
Design focus:
Pixels
User Design
Average number Research Operations
of designers:
30 Design Design
Strategy Systems
Level 2
Connectors
Design
Team
Level 2 UI Key
Connectors
Design Partners
The workplace
becomes a Testing &
Learning
Executives &
Employees
workshop.
Design focus:
Collaboration User Design
Research Operations
Average number
of designers:
12 Design
Strategy
Design
Systems
Level 3
Architects
Design
Team
Level 3 UI Key
Architects
Design Partners
Design is a
scalable Testing &
Learning
Executives &
Employees
operation.
Design focus:
Infrastructure
and operations User
Research
Design
Operations
Average number
of designers:
Design Design
54 Strategy Systems
Level 4
Scientists
Design
Team
Level 4 UI Key
Scientists
Design Partners
Hypotheses
and Testing &
Learning
Executives &
Employees
experimentation.
Design focus:
Testing and learning User Design
Research Operations
Average number
of designers:
Design Design
13 Strategy Systems
Level 5
Visionaries
Design
Team
Level 5 UI Key
Visionaries
Design Partners
Design means
business. Testing &
Learning
Executives &
Employees
Design focus:
Business strategy
Average number User Design
Research
of designers: Operations
15
Design Design
Strategy Systems
Some of the most
interesting insights
from the study.
3/4
STUDY INSIGHT:
Design is
driving results.
Nearly three-quarters of companies have
improved product quality with design.
2/3
STUDY INSIGHT:
Design is transcending
team borders.
Design is well integrated into product
decision making and evolution at
two-thirds of companies.
size
STUDY INSIGHT:
Design maturity DOES
NOT correspond to
team size.
54.3
30.4
13.3 15.3
11.9
PRODUCER CONNECTOR ARCHITECT SCIENTIST VISIONARY
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Level 4 Level 5
$$$
STUDY INSIGHT:
Design maturity
DOES correlate to
business results.
4x
92%
5x 6x
85% 84%
26x
52%
22%
16%
14% 2%
REVENUE COST SAVINGS TIME TO MARKET VALUATION
HIGH MATURITY COMPANIES LOW MATURITY COMPANIES
Where’s
the lift
off?
Level 5 : Visionaries
Level 4 : Scientists
Level 3 : Architects
Level 2 : Connectors
Level 1 : Producers
Benefits of design 5% Level 5
12% Level 4
21% Level 3
83%
21% Level 2
41% Level 1
Adoption of design
Download the full
report at
[Link]
CURRENT DEFINE EMBRACE START
What are the critical
things your team
needs to define?
Define your
team’s value.
Design team Company
Design as
an external
resource.
Design as
part of the
organization.
Design as
core of the
organization.
Design as
integral to the
organization.
EXTERNAL PART CORE INTEGRAL
SERVICE PROVIDER STRATEGIC PARTNER
EXTERNAL PART CORE INTEGRAL
COMMODITY ASSET
Define your team’s
real product.
DESIGN VS. CREATIVITY
DESIGN
+
CREATIVITY
VISUAL DESIGN CREATIVITY PROBLEM
EXPRESSION SOLVING
VERY FEW DESIGN CREATIVITY EVERY
ONE
VERY FEW EVERY
COMPANIES DESIGN CREATIVITY COMPANY
SEE VALUE SEES VALUE
COMMODITY DESIGN CREATIVITY ASSET
Start defining key
team behaviors.
PROCESS CULTURE
Going through
the motions
with no PROCESS CULTURE
feeling of
connection to
the mission.
Connected to
the mission
PROCESS CULTURE but without
structure there
is no impact.
PROCESS CULTURE
BEHAVIORS
OPTION ONE
Simple version
3-5 behaviors
Invite diverse
perspectives to
every project.
OPTION TWO
Advanced version
Multiple categories with
multiple behaviors.
Learn
Collaborate
Ideate
Craft
Lead
LEARN
Be the customer.
We immerse ourselves in our customers
world so we can create thoughtful,
human and elegant experiences that
affect everyone.
COLLABORATE
Everyone is creative.
Creativity is a quality everyone posses.
It’s not something that is found in just a
title or team so we help bring it out of
everyone.
LEAD
Respectful and
confident, not delicate.
Creative breakthroughs happen when we
take risks, trust our instincts and speak our
mind in a good, passionate discussions
about an ideas, not when they spend
weeks tiptoeing around each other.
CURRENT DEFINE EMBRACE START
What behaviors
do your team
need to embrace?
Embrace what you
need to be successful.
Process.
Start with problems to
be solved not solutions
to be vetted.
Embrace
imposter syndrome.
ART COMMERCE
VISUAL PRODUCT
DESIGN DESIGN
RESEARCH
INCLUSIVE AND
DESIGN METRICS CUSTOMER BUSINESS
PROCESS AND KPI’S INSIGHTS STRATEGY
VISUAL PRODUCT
DESIGN DESIGN
SELF-DOUBT
There are 5 types of
design imposters.
You are one or more
of them.
IMPOSTER 1:
THE
PERFECTIONIST
PERFECTIONISTS set excessively high
goals for themselves, and fear failing to
reach them because they have major
self-doubt about if they measure up.
DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?
You have difficulty
delegating and then feel
frustrated and disappointed
in the results.
IMPOSTER 2:
THE
SUPERWOMAN
OR MAN
SUPERWOMAN/MAN feel they are
phonies working along side real
talent and fear being exposed so they
push themselves to work harder and
harder to measure up.
DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?
You stay later at the office
than the rest of your team,
even when you’ve
completed that day’s work.
IMPOSTER 3:
THE
GENIUS
GENIUS’ feel their success is based
on their abilities rather than their
efforts and fear having to work hard
at something because they think it
means they must be bad at it.
DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?
You hate the idea of having
a mentor, because you can
handle things on your own.
IMPOSTER 4:
THE
INDIVIDUALIST
INDIVIDUALISTS feel that asking for
help reveals that they are imposters
and fear assistance so that you can
prove their worth.
DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?
You frame requests in
terms of the requirements
of the project, rather than
your needs as a person.
IMPOSTER 5:
THE
EXPERT
EXPERTS feel like they somehow
tricked their employer into hiring
them and fear being exposed as
inexperienced or
unknowledgeable.
DOES THIS DESCRIBE YOU?
You constantly seek out
trainings because you
think you need to improve
your skills.
Identify and own
your imposters.
SUPERMAN PERFECTIONIST GENIUS
Embrace a ‘build to
think’ mentality.
THINKING
LOW PROTOTYPE HI
CREATING
THINKING
LOW THINK LEARN REFINE LAUNCH HI
CREATING
Built to think:
1 Concept testing where work to
understand boundaries, patterns
and unique pain points.
Built to learn:
2 Rapid prototyping to test
an initial hypothesis.
Built to refine:
3 Functional prototyping to
examine interaction patterns
and the product fit in the market.
Built to launch:
4 Alpha testing to validate the
solution at scale on real code
and with real data.
CURRENT DEFINE EMBRACE START
CURRENT DEFINE EMBRACE START
How do you start to
create change for
you and your team?
Avoid the thought trap.
The way most
companies approach
their work is a trap.
You have to start
thinking beyond the
project in front of you.
Start taking on cultural
pink elephants.
“Welcome to
(company name)”
Start with a clear
source of truth for
your work.
DESIGN TECH PRODUCT CLIENT
OPINION VS OPINION VS OPINION VS OPINION
Align the source of
truth for your work to
data, research and
real consumers.
Start thinking about
the words you use.
Lightbulbs are
bullsh*t.
Start getting some
support.
Creative Unicorns
Anxiety Club
Start demanding
originality.
I don’t understand
why everyone keeps
trying to stand out
by being the same.
A cover band
never changed the world.
Final throughs
Creating change is
like falling in love.
You create change
through a lot of little
things that add up to
something big.
This isn’t going
to easy.
The change and
innovation your
companies needs
will probably not be
authorized.
It’s up to us to partner,
teach and help lead
the change to truly
break through.
BEST PRACTICES
COMMUNITY
AVAILABLE ON ALL MAJOR PODCAST PLATFORMS
OR
THE [Link]
Questions?
stephengates@[Link]
@sdgates