{"id":15898,"date":"2017-09-05T17:37:20","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T00:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/?p=15898"},"modified":"2024-06-12T20:44:40","modified_gmt":"2024-06-13T03:44:40","slug":"scaling-ux-4-step-framework-design-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/blog\/scaling-ux-4-step-framework-design-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"Scaling UX: A 4-Step Framework for Design Leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because it\u2019s part science and part art, UX just doesn\u2019t scale as cleanly as engineering. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">All design processes eventually break. The trick to scaling UX is creating a flexible framework that adapts to size and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nngroup.com\/articles\/usability-maturity-stages-1-4\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">design maturity<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on research that our friend <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jasonculbertson\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jason Culbertson<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (Design Manager at Airbnb) conducted with product design leaders at Airbnb, Gusto, and other companies, the framework he created explores the following areas of a UX practice: \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Tools &amp; Systems \u2013 <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What core criteria should be used by UX leaders and their teams to evaluate tools? How can design eventually become a system rather than individual practice? <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/b><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Team Structure <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> How can UX teams evolve their structure over time to support more projects? <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Collaboration <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What processes and rituals help prevent siloed design? <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Culture <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> How can UX leaders create a design-first culture in the company? How can they create a UX vision that inspires and guides their team in the long term?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>In this article, we remove the mystery around scaling design by explaining each of the four steps above.<\/p>\n<p><em>For more best practices, register for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/ux-at-scale-virtual-summit-2017\">UX at Scale Virtual Summit 2017<\/a>. Get advice on scaling UX from 15 design leaders at Atlassian, Salesforce, Autodesk, Linkedin, Airbnb, and more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools &amp; Systems<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools and systems form the base of the pyramid. They enable quality and consistency of the experience across products.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Tools<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Cloud-based tools facilitate scaling because they help you preserve a single version of the truth. As design teams grow, so too does the risk of \u201cdesign fragmentation\u201d with desktop tools. Version control just becomes more difficult. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When evaluating design tools, consider the following criteria: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Collaboration<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> How does the platform facilitate communication with other teams in different offices and time zones?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Consistency<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Can different people update and reuse \u201capproved\u201d design patterns to create a consistent look and feel in all projects? <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Control<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> What interactive and visual fidelity does the platform support? How does it manage versioning and permissions across members of different teams? <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ultimate goal, of course, is a standard toolkit used by product development teams to fulfill: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Project management<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Requirements management<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collaboration<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Usability testing<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Prototyping<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Visual Design <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Asset Control<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Development Handoff <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you use multiple tools, check that they transition well into each other\u2019s workflows. For example, if your team uses a static lo-fi wireframing tool and a separate prototyping tool, they will lose efficiency when rebuilding their designs (assuming the two don\u2019t integrate).<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Systems<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Once your UX team grows beyond 15 designers and your organization expands beyond 500 employees, you\u2019ll probably need to build a design system. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15900\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image2-1.png\" alt=\"Building a design system with UXPin\" width=\"735\" height=\"469\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image2-1.png 1190w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image2-1-470x300.png 470w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image2-1-768x490.png 768w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image2-1-1024x653.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 735px) 100vw, 735px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At scale, product teams require reusable patterns and code components for creation and maintenance. Your design system, then, becomes the final component in your design toolkit. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here\u2019s some useful examples of sustainable design systems (more <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/styleguides.io\/examples.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">): <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/developer.salesforce.com\/lightning\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Salesforce Lightning <\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/airbnb.design\/tag\/dls\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Airbnb DLS <\/span><\/a><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Intuit Harmony \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One noticeable challenge in using a design system is referencing the right components on an everyday basis. If the design system only exists as a site, developers still need to spend time browsing through documentation to find the code snippet they need for a particular component. One solution, however, is embedding your snippets and other documentation in the design itself so that the metadata follows the elements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Another challenge of using a design system lies in the long-term maintenance. As Nathan Curtis mentions, prepare <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@nathanacurtis\/team-models-for-scaling-a-design-system-2cf9d03be6a0\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">to evolve your governance structure over time<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With smaller design teams, an \u201coverlord\u201d structure can suffice. One person publicizes their own personal design system. They also own the responsibility for updating the system. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As the design team grows to dozens of designers, you may move to either a \u201ccentralized\u201d or \u201cfederated\u201d structure. In the former situation, one person or team updates a democratized design system. In the latter situation, multiple teams contribute towards creating and evolving the design system. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You can also follow a hybrid \u201ccyclical\u201d structure <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/salesforce-ux\/the-salesforce-team-model-for-scaling-a-design-system-d89c2a2d404b#.92w7e3y6l\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">like Salesforce<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/airbnb.design\/the-way-we-build\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Airbnb<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> in which individual product design influences the system, and vice versa. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The UXPin product team has seen customers be especially successful with the cyclical system. A design system isn\u2019t one way <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you need to evolve it based on new learnings from individual projects. At scale, a dedicated designer (or team of designers) certainly helps to facilitate the two-way balance between consistency and innovation across the organization. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15903\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image5.png\" alt=\"Balancing ideas across an organization\" width=\"750\" height=\"500\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image5.png 750w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image5-450x300.png 450w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An interactive <\/span><\/i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/products\/uxpin-systems\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">design system in UXPin<\/span><\/i><\/a><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> imported from Sketch. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Team Structure<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">With the right tools and systems in place, you\u2019re ready to start growing your team and evolving its structure. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Roles\/skills (T-shaped)<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Satyam Kantamneni (former Managing Director of UX at Citrix) \u00a0suggests in his webinar <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/webinars\/master-class#satyam-kantamneni\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Building and Sustaining Successful UX Teams<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, unicorns are simply too rare, unaffordable, and usually suffer from a \u201cdiva mentality\u201d. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Instead, design leaders need to be more realistic with hiring needs. Seek out T-shaped designers with deep expertise in one area but enough general competency to fill in other roles as needed. As the team grows over time, you\u2019ll experience less of a knowledge gap thanks to the overlap between all members. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15906\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image8-1.png\" alt=\"Bridging the knowledge gap\" width=\"517\" height=\"484\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image8-1.png 517w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image8-1-320x300.png 320w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 517px) 100vw, 517px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A desired T-shaped skillset for a user researcher. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ratios <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ratios between designers and developers (and even PMs) will evolve over time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">At any size, however, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jjg\/status\/565613568314572801\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jesse James Garrett states<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that research suggests maintaining a minimum of 1 designer: 12 developers and a best-case scenario of 1 designer: 4 developers. In fact, as John Maeda points out in his <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.kpcb.com\/blog\/design-in-tech-report-2015\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2015 Design in Tech report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, the ratio for startups is usually 1 designer: 4-5 developers. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Organization<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.smashingmagazine.com\/2011\/10\/how-to-build-an-agile-ux-team-culture\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jeff Gothelf suggests<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, most teams progress from the \u201cinternal agency\u201d team model to the scalable \u201chub and spoke model\u201d as more people join. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, Airbnb\u2019s current design organization of 70+ designers reflects a highly specialized \u201chub and spoke model\u201d of designers embedded in other teams but reporting into one central design organization: <\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Design Language Team<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Innovates and updates the design language affecting all Airbnb products. Responsible for the \u201cfuture version\u201d of Airbnb. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Outcome Teams<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Designers embedded in respective product teams. Jason Culbertson, for instance, is part of the \u201cBusiness Travel\u201d outcome team responsible for that side of the product. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Production Design Team<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013 <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creates tools and iconography for designs. Ensures all designs meet Airbnb standards for quality and consistency.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15904\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image6-1.png\" alt=\"Meeting the standards of the product with design system\" width=\"822\" height=\"440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image6-1.png 1127w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image6-1-561x300.png 561w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image6-1-768x411.png 768w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image6-1-1024x548.png 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 822px) 100vw, 822px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As Jason Culbertson (Design Manager at Airbnb) mentioned in his webinar <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/webinars\/scaling-ux-organizations\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Scaling UX in Organizations<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, here are the most common inflection points you\u2019ll experience as a UX team grows: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>1-10 <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Small enough to where designers may work on different features of a single product, or multiple products simultaneously. UX manager funnels projects through an \u201cinternal agency\u201d model. Roles are more general with UI designers, UX designers, and UX researchers. Responsibilities overlap between designers.<br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>11-25<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Specialization increases among the team as it transitions to a \u201chub and spoke\u201d model. One or two designers may be responsible (part-time) for building and evolving a design system. Designers embed into specific product teams. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>26-50<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> The design systems team grows in size from 1-2 part-time to perhaps 3-4 full-time. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>51-100<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> At this size and scale, separate teams may form to fulfill responsibilities for owning the design system, everyday product design, and overall consistency of assets.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Collaboration <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A scalable team structure also needs the right collaborative process to sustain its success. There\u2019s no getting around it <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> as more designers join your team, you\u2019ll need to formalize the collaborative process sooner or later.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Creating and adapting rituals<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While it never hurts to formalize a process from day one, we\u2019ve seen that a standardized process becomes mandatory once you\u2019ve grown beyond 10 designers. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Treat creating a standard UX process as its own design problem: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">1. Hold a 30-minute session or conference call with senior members of the team to learn their current processes. Diagram each person\u2019s process, then compare for similarities and differences. Note any gaps or redundancies. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">2.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Create the new standardized process for an upcoming project as the pilot experiment. Choose a bite-sized project (e.g. a feature update rather than a product redesign). \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">3. Show the first iteration of your the process back to the people who filled in the spreadsheet and participated in the interviews. Take note of any patterns in feedback for your next iteration. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">4. After sharing your finalized version with everyone, review on a weekly basis how the process performs in the pilot experiment. Where do roadblocks still occur? Who\u2019s experiencing issues with collaboration? Continue iterating until the team falls into a natural rhythm and you notice a decrease in questions about the process. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">5.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As people become comfortable with the process, you\u2019ll want to revisit your tool suite. Create a spreadsheet for everyone on the product team to write down their set of tools. Review the document, then see where you can eliminate redundant tools or add new ones. Now you have an efficient process and the right tools for execution. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, Sunita Reddy (VP of Product at UXPin) uses the below process for all her Scrum teams.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-15905\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image7-1.png\" alt=\"Scrum process diagram\" width=\"774\" height=\"734\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image7-1.png 855w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image7-1-316x300.png 316w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image7-1-768x728.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 774px) 100vw, 774px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You probably won\u2019t follow the process to the letter <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and that\u2019s totally fine. The goal is to create a baseline to work with. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Working meetings<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">To keep iterating your collaborative process, we recommend a few recurring working sessions. During his interviews, Jason Culbertson uncovered a common set of efficient meetings: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Standup<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (daily) &#8211; Review progress, blockers, and tasks. To improve scalability, hold standup with individual Scrum teams instead of the entire design team. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Outcome managers<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (weekly) &#8211; Product manager, engineering lead or manager, and design lead or manager in an outcome team will discuss progress, learnings, and pending tasks. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Outcome design crits <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(weekly) &#8211; Designers in an outcome team will share all their work with engineering and product management.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Demo retro with engineering<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (weekly) &#8211; Designers review the week\u2019s releases with developers to discuss successes and areas for improvement. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Design team share<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (biweekly) &#8211; Designers in an outcome team shows off all their work to each other in a rapid slides format.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>1:1s<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (biweekly) &#8211; Design manager in an outcome team reviews career development<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>Design management<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (monthly) &#8211; All design leads or managers for all outcome teams will discuss progress, learnings, and pending tasks. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of course, your team may not need all these sessions. Below, you can see how the sessions scale to the different inflection points.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-15902\" src=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image4.png\" alt=\"Culture\" width=\"654\" height=\"704\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image4.png 654w, https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/image4-279x300.png 279w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 654px) 100vw, 654px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Culture <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Aside from tools, teams, and processes, you also need to build a sustainable design culture across the organization and within your team. Otherwise, your processes won\u2019t survive past the initial push for change. <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across the organization<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your current company is not design-focused, you need to earn buy-in through a slow and measured approach. Ambitious UX roadmaps and back-to-back workshops will simply overwhelm the team. Instead, consider a system of \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/webinars\/surviving-hype-experimental-model-scaling-design-thinking\/\">design nudges<\/a>\u201d along the path of least resistance. <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>At the executive level <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Position yourself as a business leader who specializes in profitable design. Explain that you\u2019d like to try some new processes for a small pilot project (less than 3 months), then outline the KPI goals. Ask for support just for the pilot. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>At the project level <\/b><b>\u2013<\/b> <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In parallel to your executive efforts, seek out pressing problems within different Scrum teams. Explain to the PM or engineering lead that you\u2019d like to try a few problem-solving exercises that require minimal involvement. Conduct informal and brief stakeholder interviews, review all existing data, then propose a new solution rooted in design thinking. As people\u2019s interests pique, only then start explaining the details of design thinking (and offering more in-depth sessions). <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As you start getting quick wins, circulate your success with project members and executives. Summarize the processes and metrics achieved, then highlight how non-designers helped contribute. You\u2019ll win more executive buy-in for UX while also making others look good in front of their managers (winning you even more supporters). <\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Across your own team<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, create a <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.uxmatters.com\/mt\/archives\/2011\/03\/a-ux-visions-purpose-and-benefits-cultures-that-foster-great-design.php\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">UX vision<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that should remain relevant in 1-3 years time (or longer). <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The vision rallies the team and also communicates its value to external stakeholders. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For example, at UXPin, the vision is \u201cunifying design and development for faster and better products\u201d. A vision describes an ideal future state without prescribing a set solution. While tactics, quarterly strategies, and processes may change as teams grow, the vision usually prevails unless the company undergoes a significant pivot. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It usually helps to create the vision as a quick slide deck so that the team can share with stakeholders: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Explain how your vision adds user value and business value, while including relevant research on market opportunities.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Describe the methods you\u2019ll use and how they help to improve the product experience. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Show where design fits into the organization and who the team will collaborate with on a daily basis (and how). <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Outline the KPIs used to measure UX performance (e.g. NPS scores, conversion rates, etc). \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Secondly, encourage designers to seek inspiration from products unrelated to your industry. Meet weekly to discuss these different sources of inspiration and how they may apply to different projects. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When you\u2019ve built cross-functional support for UX while also defining your team\u2019s culture, the business value of \u201cgood design\u201d becomes far more tangible.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Conclusion <\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Growing a UX practice is a journey in itself. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The 4-step framework we\u2019ve explored should serve you well as a playbook for scaling UX. Remember that it\u2019s just a framework <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2013<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> tweak and adapt it to fit your needs as they change over time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em>To learn more about how to create a design system to scale design, download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uxpin.com\/studio\/ebooks\/create-design-system-guide-checklist\/\">Creating a Design System: The 100-Point Process Checklist<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A set of best practices created by Jason Culbertson (Design Manager at Airbnb) based on extensive interviews and experience. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,183,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15898","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-design-leadership","category-process"],"yoast_title":"","yoast_metadesc":"Because it\u2019s part science and part art, UX just doesn\u2019t scale as cleanly as engineering.","acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.4 (Yoast SEO v27.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Scaling UX: A 4-Step Framework for Design Leaders | UXPin<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Because it\u2019s part science and part art, UX just doesn\u2019t scale as cleanly as engineering.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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