To build a successful design team, I believe you need to first find great people. While this is an incredibly important and perhaps obvious step, it is just one part of the equation: what comes after you find them will determine how successful you are. You need to then empower them, give them support, and enable them to all act in the same strategic direction. Having a solid design team strategy is key to this alignment. If there is no design strategy or strong design leadership, there is a danger that design will be merely a delivery function in an organisation rather than a strategic driver.

My favorite piece of leadership inspiration is the video below, adapted from a talk by leadership coach and former nuclear submarine commander David Marquet, on bringing authority to the people that have the best information (usually those closest to the customers). Building a design team can be hard enough, but when you add the need to do it at an enterprise scale, everything can get much more complicated. This video has helped me find the right approach, though I admittedly still catch myself daily not quite matching my target behaviors to fully achieve this intent-based approach. It’s just another part of my long learning curve towards great leadership!

My current team at BT, EE, and Plusnet is around 180 designers. At that size, effective and efficient communication as well as good design leadership is difficult. To deal with this, I’ve had to learn to create the best possible creative environment that supports constant feedback and continuous improvement. I’m still a designer, but as the phrase goes, now “I design the design”. Thus, I’ve learned to design my team just as we do with our products: iteratively. It also helps when you have the incredible team that I have, to help me with this goal.

Behind the scenes: An example of a design team structure

In order to create a harmonious and productive design team, at scale, we follow a decentralized model for designers. Everyone is embedded in their cross-functional product squads, supported by a centralized Design Enablement team, which looks after the management of everything.

Following this decentralized model, my design team is split into four capability areas:

• Product Design: Led by Rich Chong, this team is made up of 75+ product designers (multi-skilled designers looking after how users interact with our products and experiences via UX design, interaction design, visual design, user journey mapping, analytics etc). They work hand in hand with the content designers in a handover-free process.
• Content Design: Led by Rebecca Hales, this team is made up of 75+ content designers, content editors, and SEO specialists (again, multi-skilled designers who create and collate the content that users come to us for in the first place, using many skills across copywriting, CMS editing, video production, user journey mapping, content strategy, pair writing, analytics etc).
• Inclusive Design: Led by Jeanette Clement, this team is currently made up of 11 people, covering user researchers, accessibility specialists, and service designers. They ensure everyone can use our products, considering the end-to-end experience across our large operating model structure, along with the front-to-back optimization of how we create our user-facing services.
• DesignOps: Led by Matt Gottschalk, this team is currently made up of 7 people, covering DesignOps managers, ResearchOps, ContentOps, and the design system squad. They help our design team work in the best way with the best tools, processes, methods, and the best environment possible to create the best work of their lives.

Putting it all together: Exploring new ways of working

Finding the best way to collaborate in this decentralized model is a trial-and-error process, and we’re never afraid to try new things to help people do their best work together. Every product squad, for example, has a basic makeup of at least one product designer and one content designer. These two roles work hand-in-hand, ensuring there are no silos of work across the squad. Rather than being handed a brief or list of requirements, squads use preferred collaborative tools like our internal “Build, Measure, Learn” canvas, working together in Miro to identify user needs, business goals and hypotheses to test. Then they continue to use this tool by user journey mapping, working in the open for all to see at all times including any stakeholders. These activities create a culture of user centred design that ripples outwards to the rest of the organisation.

From this abstract point, they jump into their product design/content design tool together to start creating collaboratively. Gone are the days of a requirement doc being produced; followed by a copywriter creating content in a Word doc; followed by a UX designer creating wireframes; and then a visual designer pulling everything together into a beautiful design before getting sign-off via a slide deck presentation to stakeholders; and then, finally, passing everything to a developer. Phew!

Instead, now, everyone is able to work in a single cloud-based tool, together (a godsend for remote collaboration in these current times!) creating the minimum amount of output with the minimum amount of effort, for the maximum outcome of value to the user and therefore the business. There is transparency across teams at all stages; all squad members work together, at all times. Heaven!

Managing a distributed team during COVID-19

Managing a remote team requires flexibility and adaptability. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, forcing most workplaces to shift to remote work, these skills have been tested in new ways. For us, that has meant embracing the unique challenges of the day — if someone needs to work one hour on/one hour off throughout the day because they’re sharing childcare with their partner, so be it. Whatever works.

To deal with this, we’re also intentionally over-communicating with each other. Our Slack channel usage, communication style, ways of working, and meetings have all taken a pivot towards new levels of openness, with short bursts of lots of communication and breaks (and the removal or reduction of any unnecessary meetings). These little reach-out moments, to those who might otherwise disappear behind the video-chat extroverts, really make a difference across the team. We also ensure that we always leave space for little personal chats, catch-ups, and fun interactions that would normally happen face-to-face (including the odd remote pub quiz).

We’ve also had 11 people join the design team in the last month, and thanks to our DesignOps function, managed to onboard them entirely remotely, something we’ve never done before. Plus running our monthly all-hands and daily workshops & remote usability testing all remotely, pivoting to this within days, so we’re learning and adapting to our situation and environment very quickly.

Systemizing creativity with design systems

There is some truth in the idea that design systems can kill creativity; if done badly. It all depends on how you create and optimize your system and the governance around it. You can focus on operational efficiency as the ultimate goal, or you can work towards a loftier goal of systematizing creativity. We are in the very early days of our new design system, which covers three brands from a single code base — one of the tools we’re employing to ensure creativity is a link between brand guidelines and the design system is something that we’re calling the “Digital Design Language.”

This isn’t a set of rules to abide by (we have clear rules via our brand guidelines). This also isn’t a set of component descriptions or atomic elements (those will exist in our design system). Rather, the Digital Design Language is a foundational abstract world described by metaphor and visual expression, covering the thinking behind three main areas:

• Physical theory: shape, space, depth, tactility, texture
• Movement theory: behavior, choreography, personality, attitude
• Relationship theory: interactions, arrangement

These three theories encourage designers to explore concepts utilizing a breadth of rediscovery each time a new interaction or experience challenge occurs, rather than feeling like they always need to either reuse an existing pattern from a set pattern library, or face breaking brand guidelines with a new one. This definition of the digital manifestation of our brands via widely defined boundaries of shape, space, depth, arrangement, and choreography will ensure not only creativity but inspiration to continually reinvent our experiences.

We also have a light touch governance structure in place that is built to not only allow but also encourage deviation from existing approaches, while ensuring efficiency is also tightly measured, which means a hypothesis-driven continuous design culture is welcomed and expected. With this, we’ve managed to achieve a consistency that is constantly changing.

There are of course many challenges and constraints in the way of a perfect team, a perfect way of working, and a perfect product experience regardless of what company you work for, but that’s half the fun of being a designer, isn’t it? Constraints drive innovation. So we identify them, challenge them, and never accept the status quo or the first easy answer. As a design leadership team, we work hard to have the right intent and transparency with our people. If we’re trying to do the right thing for the right reasons, normally there’s a way to keep moving forwards.

Our huge ambition for design is based around embedding user centred design throughout the business as a proven way of developing products that genuinely improve tens of millions of people’s lives. We aim not for perfection or the right answer, but instead to continually get ‘less wrong’. If every day we get a little ‘less wrong’, then we’re doing something right.

The golden period of design leadership

Design leadership is really in a golden period right now, where the value of designhas never been more visible and recognised. Design leaders are having to speak business language, be peers of executive colleagues, and operate as business leaders themselves rather than managers of a design team. They are having to take responsibilities that didn’t sit with design before, and share accountability with other areas in a way that really opens up new ways of thinking about design. Instead of having to evangelise about how great design is, they are expected to prove it. The world is changing fast and senior executives have business problems they need solved yesterday.

Now is the time where the companies that have:

• The best understanding of their users’ needs,
• The capability to learn the fastest about their customers’ behaviours,
• And the ability to utilise the right methods to rapidly adapt and respond to meet those needs better, are the companies that will survive, succeed, and flourish. Design can clearly offer a key role in this capability.

You can read more about our journey on our BT Design team blog.

Visit XD Ideas for more unique insights and authentic points of view on the practice, business and impact of design.

Join a free Daily Creative Challenge to sharpen you UI/UX design skills

Learn about Adobe XD, the powerful platform where teams collaborate to create designs for websites, mobile apps, voice interfaces and more.

Originally published at https://xd.adobe.com.

How to Build a Successful Design Team — Part 3: Structure & Strategy was originally published in Thinking Design on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

The design team at BT Consumer is a large group of like-minded people who believe that, at its core, all great design must be human-centred. We’re a new team and we want to share what we learn and work in the open wherever possible because it makes things better.

In this introductory post, Conor Ward, our Director of Design, explains that to create the best digital products, loved by our customers, we involve the human perspective in all steps of the problem-solving process.

Putting users at the heart of what we do

We define design as ‘human insight-based creativity’.

‘Human’ means we consider the 30m+ people we’re creating for, as well as those who do the creating. Customer experience and user needs inform our decisions and that stems from a great employee experience for those who work here.

‘Insight-based’ means we evidence all things. We focus on a problem, embrace uncertainty, and test hypotheses. We run experiments constantly and act on what we learn.

‘Creativity’ means we go beyond with big, bold thinking that pushes the boundaries. We follow our Experience Principles (more on those in a future post) but aren’t limited by them. Instead, we use them to strive for better and move innovative ideas.

Building on a great history

We’re working on one of the largest digital transformations in the UK right now, with 170 designers involved across four sites. This means we spend a lot of time looking ahead and thinking of improved ways to solve problems. But our background is user-centred too. In 1846 we were the world’s first public telegraph company. To connect people effectively we had to understand what they needed from that service. With digital design, we’re doing the same thing but in new ways to meet today’s expectations and prepare for tomorrow.

As a design team, we are driven by user needs and all that we do is based on evidence. We trust each other and have the freedom to try, fail, and keep learning in all that we do. Challenge is always expected and welcomed: we don’t accept the status quo. Our focus is on learning fast and continuous improvement. Our bias for action means we prefer to run practical experiments, rather than merely talk about ideas. It’s how we get better, and our products will too.

User-centred design (UCD) means that everything we create is meeting a validated user need and we keep users continuously involved in our process at all stages. Why does this matter? Because we know if we meet user needs — providing value to our customers and exceeding their expectations — business value will follow.

What’s the design process like?

We’ve learnt that standard design thinking and the Double Diamond model can be slow in large organisations. Sometimes following a step-by-step process means you forget to return to the discovery phase to re-think problems and the customer needs (or external pressures mean you can’t return, even if you’d like to do so). Instead, you get wrapped up in tweaking current solutions.

So, we’ve decided to take a simple UCD approach to how we work and what we work on. We call the process ‘Build, measure, learn’.

‘Build, measure, learn’ acknowledges the value of being agile — iterating and learning fast. There’s a range of activities you might do during each phase. The variety of design and research methods (whether that’s contextual analysis to find out how users behave in real life, or journey mapping to understand where people interact with our services and products) means we’ve been describing the process internally as ‘choose your own adventure’ for design.

Now we’re really getting started, you can expect a weekly blog post from a variety of authors on the BT design team and we’ll share more about our design methods soon.

Introducing the BT design team was originally published in EE Design Team on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

“Hold the phone Jack… What the heck is a UX Unicorn?!” — you might find yourself exclaiming at this point. Especially if Jack’s on the phone.

Don’t worry, incredulous friend of Jack, let’s quickly jump back a few steps and explain the ‘UX Unicorn’ concept first before breaking down the skills needed to be one. (If you’re thinking that Unicorns can’t or even shouldn’t exist, thats fine too — stick with me…)

- What the Unicorn?

In case you’re not au-fait with Unicorn mythology, etymology and modern day usage, then this Wall Street Journal quote should bring you up to speed:

“The myth of the unicorn, the pure steed with the single spiralling horn, goes back to antiquity, with legends of unicorn hunts memorialised in medieval tapestries… now a “unicorn” often refers to someone or something exceedingly special and worth seeking.”
— Ben Zimmer, Wall Street Journal

- From T-Shaped to Square-Shaped!

So, it appears we are talking about experience design, but of course the term unicorn is also à la mode in the venture capitalist world of unstable silicone valley startups, meaning confusion thus ensues; so let’s be clear that The UX Unicorn we seek is that elusive Square-Shaped User Experience Designer that has multiple skills and expertise in the main areas required for innovative digital product design. This square shaped person goes a few large strides beyond a previously equally elusive T-shaped individuals as discussed in Agile & Scrum.

“What’s better than knowing a little about a lot and a lot about a little? …
Knowing a lot about a lot.” — Mike Arauz

- The Birth of a Unicorn

So what are these important multiple areas of expertise?
Well, first lets start by explaining that the idea of a UX Unicorn certainly isn’t a creation of my own, however I have been a very strong advocate of it ever since I heard my UX Guru Mr Jared M. Spool talk about it at “An Event Apart” in Austin, USA in 2013 where he detailed why “It’s a Great Time To Be A UX Designer.”

Jared spoke about all of the layers that it takes to really call yourself a designer for experience (not a designer of experiences, which of course is pretty impossible). He even opened a school called the Unicorn Institute to teach UX Designers these broad skill sets. (He later changed the name to Center Centre a play on words from UCD land). Basically, what Jared doesn’t know about UX Unicorns could fit on the back of a postage stamp.

The basic principle of a UX Unicorn is that the old world of working in a silo of specialism within a single area and then passing work over to another specialist has so many pitfalls and inherent complexity that why wouldn’t we all (if we could) just do all of the steps involved in creating a digital product ourselves using our holistic skill sets.

- UX is not UI (or usability, etc..)

As I have heard first hand recently, both from Peter Merholz (Adaptive Path, Jawbone, Groupon) and also Louise Downe (Head of Design at the inspirational GDS): “All Design is Service Design”.
So if the discipline of UX is not about improving how things LOOK, but instead how they WORK, then of course UX Design includes a multitude of varied deep specialisms and expertise. How could it not?

Well, thats where the mythical part of this discussion comes in, many UX designers out there still believe very strongly (and for good reason) that this multi skilled ‘specialist-generalist’ cannot exist.
They could well be correct in their current circumstances. For example if their company does not work like this, then how could they? Especially if their company is an agency, and their access to users is limited or non-existent.

- My own ‘Blessing’ of Unicorns

My own experience is that we must strive towards unicorn-ism.
I have created and curated a fantastic team of UX Unicorns (yes a group of unicorns is called a blessing, Google says so) and more importantly together with my colleagues and bosses we have created the environment for them to survive and thrive.

Ideally this environment is a Lean, Agile, User Centric, Product-led one where speedy failure is actively encouraged and celebrated in the pursuit of constant experimentation and learning. This of course needs buy in from everyone else that you will be working with too. Which is no small thing.

There are two key specifics about my UX Unicorns compared to other UX Unicorn definitions:

Firstly, they are not expected to be active developers. This is a common mistake I think people make when talking about UX Unicorns. I believe that in a large business environment, they should not code, but instead actively collaborate with their co-located developers on a daily basis and understand in good detail how things are made.
Secondly, they are expected to excel in visual design while at the same time being a top notch researcher, testing moderator, data analyst, information architect and interaction designer all while actively driving hypothesis-led Product Management towards providing measurable business value through true User Centred Design. Sounds easy right?

This is my working definition of a UX Unicorn.
And I have to say it’s working a treat for us.

Also, creating an “everyone is a designer” environment of Design Thinking through design studios, design sprints, full product-team user testing involvement, transparency of data, information radiators and true open collaboration are all basic expectations of the unicorn role.

Up-skilling of UX related skills (like usability testing moderation) for other non-UX product team members is a great added benefit from this too.

Clearly these unique and talented people are notoriously difficult to find, however not impossible. It is also possible to grow them in-house, as long as you find the right people with a genuinely open mind, a thirst for learning, a passion for innovation, a desire for balancing science with art and a stubbornness for always doing the right thing for our users. I have somehow been lucky enough to do both with my team.

- The Ten UX Unicorn Skills

So, now that you’re down with the lingo of what the heck a UX Unicorn is, lets get back to the meat of this article: I believe there are ten prime cuts that make up a UX Unicorn… (I know, this metaphor is already starting to stretch…and I’m not sure if they allow poor puns like this on Medium either).

These ten skill areas should be all be exercised by the UX Designer during every month’s work as a basic expectation. There are of course many moments of crossover within these ten skill areas:

1. Evidence: (What)

[Data analytics, Behavioural Insights]
This area of expertise focuses on discovering what is happening with your product on a regular and granular basis yourself, through analysing usage facts and turning this into meaningful insight and hypothesis to experiment around.

2. Empathy: (Why)

[User Research, Usability Testing]
This area focuses on trying to understand the attitudinal reasons behind users behavioural actions. Crafting new conceptual models from observed cognitive models and mental models. Understanding cognitive load and emotional response while also measuring behavioural response and effect. Qualitative research and testing is essential and invaluable in the UX toolbox. If you’re not regularly talking to your users, you ain’t UX-ing. Simples.

3. Exploration: (Who, When, Where)

[User Journey Mapping, Experience Mapping, Task & Process Analysis]
Before Moving into any UI discussions, these skills should be applied. Mapping out the current ‘as-is’ journeys and then crafting proposed abstract ‘to-be’ experiences. Visualising these as conversation provoking assets hugely help with Frank Lloyd Wright’s vision of understanding and agreeing before building. Having these artefacts (not deliverable assets) on walls as ever-changing discussion guides to constantly point at with your team is an invaluable part of the design process.

“You can use an eraser on the drafting table or a sledge hammer on the construction site”. — FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

4. Psychology

[Conversion Optimisation, UCD Strategy, Persuasive Design]
“Psychology-the science of the mind or of mental states and processes”.
This is where we match the business return with human behavioural understanding, running A/B tests, coming up with specific behaviour analysis assumptions and experiments to prove/disprove bold hypotheses.

5. Experimentation (How)

[Interactive Prototyping, Development Collaboration]
The meat of what used to be an Interaction Designer’s job, we keep these prototypes as lean as possible. Sometimes they need to be created to do user testing, but if a conversation will suffice with a developer, then a deliverable is not needed. Outcomes over output, conversations over deliverables. And many other similar things listed in the Agile Manifesto..

6. Creativity

[Sketching, Wireframing, Interaction Design, Micro-Interaction Design]
Sketching, sketching, sketching. The three S’s of rapid creativity. Throw away ideas are much easier to actually throw away if you spend less time on them. Micro-interaction design is growing more and more important, especially in the areas of UI delight and Motion Choreography as detailed by Rebecca Ussai.

7. Finesse

[Visual Design, Creativity, UI Detail & Delight]
As previously mentioned, the UI finesse is not to be farmed out to a “UI” designer. Thats why I don’t like seeing job ads for “UX/UI designers”. To me thats like hiring a “Secretary/Typist”. UI Design is just one of the skills of a modern UX Designer. And creativity isn’t a talent for the artistic few. Creativity can be learned and practiced. You may never be Leonardo Da Vinci, but anyone can certainly learn design principles and continue to practice them and over the years that will be more than enough to create beautiful digital products. (If you don’t believe me, read this book and then we’ll talk: http://austinkleon.com/steal/).

8. Philosophy

[Information Architecture, Accessibility, Security]
“Philosophy — the rational investigation of the truths and principles”.
Yes the role of an IA (Information Architect) is certainly alive and well, it is just another skill of the UX Unicorn. Understanding, findability, clarity of information, labeling, taxonomy and content strategy are clearly super important and ensuring this information is both usable and accessible to all while still being secured correctly is not something to be palmed off to another person either.

9. Collaboration

[Workshop Facilitation, Design Collaboration, Concept Presentation & Justification]
Pretty self explanatory here. Agile Co-located Product Team setups are the best place for this type of activity to thrive.

10. Execution

[Enough Coding & Technical Knowledge To Design For Feasibility]
As mentioned, knowledge is needed but not daily practice. Understanding how an engine works is essential to being able to craft a car and premium driving experience. Building that engine is best left to the expert engineers.

These skills are not in any particular order because we have found that the old waterfall style method of Discover, Define, Develop, Deliver (that would encourage you to move step by step) has been replaced by short Diverge & Converge Double Diamond cycles towards Valuable MVP’s within a team setup to excel working in a Design Thinking framework.

These rapid cycles can take any of these 10 stages into account at any time depending on the purpose of the upcoming sprints, with research and testing running in series or parallel.
I’m not saying this way is the only way to do things, however if the set up is right, I can tell you that in my own experience it can be amazing to watch…

Well, that was my 2 cents on UX Unicorns. I hope it was interesting.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the subject if you want to share?
Drop me a line on twitter.
Or follow me for more like this: Conor Ward — UX Much?™
Cheers

The UX of UX: A Dusty Springfield Approach

As Dusty Springfield sang “The Windmills of Your Mind” in 1969 she touched on an important (if not ostensibly psychedelic) concept, “A Wheel within a Wheel”.

This recursive concept is the basis of this article, looking at how UX deliverables and presentations can use the very principles they are demonstrating, on themselves to ensure they are well received, easily understood and appreciated by the wide ranging audiences they will possibly address.

Complex is easy, simple is hard.

This is a concept that UX practitioners deal with on a daily basis, so if you are a fully paid up member of the UX club, you can surely extend this thinking beyond the final product to your own deliverables to ensure simplicity is obtained.

How do you do this? Easy… Start treating the stakeholder as the user!

Why do I care?

My name is Conor Ward, Head of UX at British Gas with over 16 years experience working in the creative industries and I am writing this article because I am passionate about user centred design and simplicity.

Simplicity as we know has a subjective quality and therefore the process of achieving it becomes rather complex as there are many factors to consider. However there is a big difference between complex and complicated. Users don’t mind complex solutions and products if that is what is required for their situation, but they don’t like complicated ones.

A good example of reducing complication while retaining complexity is the progression of aircraft cockpit design over the years.

Taking Leonardo Da Vinci’s statement that “Simplicity is the Ultimate Sophistication” and applying it to the field of UX, we can say that if the UX specialist cannot explain the problem in a single holistic sentence, then it is not understood in enough detail yet.

In any UX process, ‘Problem Finding’ should always be undertaken as a detailed stage before ‘Problem Solving’. Then the time should be taken to communicate through this process transparently to the stakeholders and all other intended targets.

Three simple rules to improve the UX of UX:

- 1. Design your deliverables (but not your artefacts)

Coming from a design background, I believe every opportunity should be taken to ensure any product created is the most elegant and visually appealing it can be. Improving both form and function can go hand in hand when it comes to styling high fidelity UX deliverables. In Lean and Agile these are rarely needed, but when they are, they should be delightful as well as usable.
The grey stark wireframes and standard flow diagrams have their time and place, when it is necessary to direct eyes and thoughts elsewhere, but why does a sitemap have to be 2 dimensional for example? When a colourful 3D sitemap may assist stakeholders and colleagues to visualise the information architecture of a system more clearly with less need for keys, annotations and explanations.
These 3D IA diagrams are two interesting examples of this in practice. (below)

- 2. Craft your presentation

Steve Jobs was clearly the master of the simple and engaging presentation with his “rule of three”. He spent a long time considering the content and structure of his slide decks and you can apply all the HCI and Cognitive rules you know from your IXD expertise to your methods of presentation too. Displaying ideas & designs within the confines of a slide deck is also a challenge worth trying to creatively solve, and great tools like Keynote, After Effects and Sequential allow visually more appealing and exciting methods of showing transitions and interactions without having to spend unnecessary time explaining and documenting your ideas or creating more deliverables. Instead you can present your artefacts to show how you got to where you are. A much more interesting presentation by anyones standards and allows you to keep your time on conversation and lean practices rather than documentation.

- 3. Sketch more, document less

Over documentation and annotation of UX deliverables is just as bad (if not worse) as ‘death by PowerPoint’ and in most cases can (and should) be avoided at all costs. There are obvious cases where project compartmentalisation may require annotated verbose documents, particularly if UX & Development will never meet face to face. However with the popularity of Lean and Agile processes growing, this scenario is thankfully beginning to disappear. Sketches are great as a discussion point and help keep the project moving at a high level without getting bogged down in detail, especially at large attended meetings. Sometimes the pencil is mightier than both the pen and the sword!

Why should you care?

If you are ever part of a project (or a meeting) where these deliverables are used, then you will benefit from their improvement, reduction and clarification. No matter what side of the table you are on, (Client, Stakeholder, UX, Dev, BA, SA, PO, PM, AD etc.) you can look forward to shorter meetings, less conference calls, visibly reduced head scratching all round and ultimately a more concise, efficient and enjoyable process.

Thus we can all spend more time off down the park eating burritos in the sunshine and practicing our ping-pong backhand.

Cheers!

Conor
UX Much?™