Org Design for Design Orgs

Table of contents

1. Foreword
2. Preface
   1. Why We Wrote This Book
   2. The Authors
   3. How This Book Is Structured
   4. Acknowledgments
      1. Peter
      2. Kristin
3. 1. Why Design? Why Now?
   1. “The Power of Design”
   2. “Software Is Eating the World”
   3. The Consumerization of All Software
   4. Everything-as-a-Service
   5. Double-Edged Sword of User Empowerment
   6. Design Can Be So Much More Than “Problem Solving”
4. 2. Realizing the Potential of Design
   1. All Design Is Service Design
   2. The Double Diamond
      1. Design Defines
      2. Design Makes Strategy Concrete
      3. Customer-Centered Planning
      4. The Bulk of Design Is Execution
   3. Bringing Design In-House
   4. The Three-Legged Stool
      1. The Expanded Role of Design
5. 3. 12 Qualities of Effective Design Organizations
   1. Foundation
      1. 1. Shared Sense of Purpose
      2. 2. Focused, Empowered Leadership
         1. Focused leadership
         2. Autonomy
         3. Executive access
      3. 3. Authentic User Empathy
      4. 4. Understand, Articulate, and Create Value
   2. Output
      1. 5. Support the Entire Journey
         1. Facilitation: the non-craft design skill
      2. 6. Deliver at All Levels of Scale
      3. 7. Establish and Uphold Standards of Quality
      4. 8. Value Delivery Over Perfection
   3. Management
      1. 9. Teams Are Made of People, Not Resources
         1. Are team members respected as individuals?
         2. Do team members work reasonable hours?
         3. Are team members encouraged to grow?
      2. 10. Diversity of Perspective and Background
      3. 11. Foster a Collaborative Environment
      4. 12. Manage Operations Effectively
   4. Our Humanistic Agenda
6. 4. The Centralized Partnership
   1. Organizational Models for Design Teams
      1. Centralized Internal Services
         1. Benefits of centralization
         2. Drawbacks of centralization
      2. Decentralized and Embedded
         1. Benefits of decentralized design teams
         2. Drawbacks of decentralized organization
   2. Centralized Partnership: The Best of Both Worlds
      1. The Makeup of a Design Team
         1. Team leads for centralized partnerships
      2. Organizing Your Teams
         1. How this could work
         2. Organize by the customer’s journey
         3. Commitment is key
         4. Design operations must be made explicit
   3. Where Does the Design Organization Report?
      1. New Problems Warrant New Organizational Models
7. 5. Roles and Team Composition
   1. Individual Contributors
      1. Product Designer
      2. Communication Designer
      3. User Experience (UX) Researcher
      4. Design Program Manager
         1. Design Program Management skillset
      5. Content Strategist
      6. Service Designer
      7. Creative Technologist
   2. Design Leadership
      1. Head of Design
      2. Design Manager/Design Director
      3. Creative Director
      4. Director of Design Program Management
   3. Five Stages of Design Organization Evolution
      1. Stage 1: The Initial Pair
      2. Stage 2: A Full Team
      3. Stage 3: From Design Team to Design Organization
      4. Stage 4: Coordination to Manage Complexity
      5. Stage 5: Distributed Leadership
      6. Where to Go from Here
8. 6. Recruiting and Hiring
   1. Establishing Headcount
   2. Recruiting
      1. Recruiting Is the Whole Team’s Responsibility
      2. Sourcing Candidates
         1. Schools and training programs
            1. Which schools?
            2. Training programs
         2. Career fairs
         3. Internships
      3. Crafting the Job Posting
      4. Online Services
         1. Reaching out to prospective candidate
      5. External Recruiters
      6. Networking
      7. Reviewing Portfolios
   3. The Candidate Review Process
      1. Initial Screens (by Phone or In-Person)
      2. Day of Interviews
         1. Portfolio presentation
         2. The interviews
         3. Coordinating feedback
      3. Reference Checks
   4. Making the Hire Decision
      1. Contract-to-Hire
   5. Extending the Offer
   6. It’s Not a Sprint, It’s a Marathon
9. 7. Developing the Team: Professional Growth and Managing People
   1. Levels Framework for Designers
      1. Levels and Career Paths
      2. Core Design Skills
      3. Level 1: Becoming a Design Professional
         1. Core skills
         2. Soft skills
         3. Responsibilities
      4. Level 2: The Solid Contributor
         1. Core skills
         2. Soft skills
         3. Responsibilities
      5. Level 3: Stepping Up—from Doer to Leader
         1. Core skills
         2. Soft skills
         3. Leadership skills
         4. Responsibilities
      6. Level 4: Taking Charge
         1. Core skills
         2. Soft skills
         3. Leadership skills
         4. Responsibilities
      7. Level 5: The Complete Design Leader
         1. Core skills
         2. Leadership skills
         3. Responsibilities
   2. The Manager Path
      1. Rules of Thumb for Managing Designers
         1. Set clear expectations
         2. Support, don’t manage
         3. Help remove obstacles
         4. Go to the mat when necessary
         5. Frequent feedback
         6. It’s not about design
         7. Get to know them as people
      2. The Personal Professional Mission
   3. Design Community Participation and Leadership
   4. Investing in Professional Development
   5. Growth Through the Organization
   6. Climbing the Corporate Trellis
10. 8. Creating a Design Culture
    1. The Elements of Culture
    2. Values
       1. There Is No One Best Design Culture
       2. That Said...
       3. Articulate Your Charter
    3. Environment
       1. Physical Environments
       2. Stuff on Shelves and Walls
       3. Where Do People Sit?
       4. Virtual Environments
    4. Activities
       1. Onboarding
       2. Meetings
       3. Doing the Work
       4. Providing Critique
       5. Exposure to Customers
       6. Cross-Team Collaboration
       7. Design Community Involvement
    5. Spreading Culture
11. 9. Successful Interaction with Other Disciplines
    1. Phase 1: Achievable
       1. Clear Decision Making
       2. Design Team as Gating Function
       3. Maintaining Quality
       4. Defined Roles and Expectations
    2. Phase 2: Sustainable
       1. Protecting Maker Time
       2. Operating Agreements
       3. Communication
    3. Phase 3: Impactful
    4. Conclusion
12. 10. Parting Thoughts
    1. The Untapped Opportunity for Design
    2. Keep Design Weird
    3. Beyond Features and into a World of Experience
13. A. About the Authors
14. B. O’Reilly: Org Design for Design Orgs
15. Index
16. About the Authors
17. Colophon
18. Copyright