Design leader's cookbook -Building high-performing and happy creative teams

Design Leader’s Cookbook
Building high-performing and happy creative teams

Hiya!
@ediootti
Cultural change agent & Design leadership mentor
Senior Designer, Google

Disclaimer: my thoughts are my own
And there are no rights or wrongs in this space

Disclaimer #2: I’m focusing on UX teams
working digital products or projects

Here’s what you can expect:
Dank memes!
Finding your inner leader
Setting your vision & goals
Selling the case for design
Hiring & sourcing
Designer roles
Design operations
Design critique
Fostering happiness in your team
Growing together
Your career as a leader

Let me teach you a trick:
Remember Forget Study A-ha!
Things you should
remember after
our time together.
Things you should
let go when you
pursue design
leadership.
Things you would
like to study
further to
understand them
better.
Individual small
moments of
realization or
insight.

Finding your inner leader

What makes someone a leader?

You don’t have to manage to be a leader!

A leader is a champion of engagement

Difference between Designers & Design Leaders?

Designer:
Design Leader:
Produces designs (duh.)
Promotes empathy
Acts as a user advocate
Drives collaboration
Should produce designs (OMG!)
Contributes to vision & strategy
Acts also as a discipline advocate
Bridges teams & organizations

enable
foster
drive

A good design leader is a thought leader

A good design leader is a designer experience designer

A good design leader is...
Empathetic to not just users, but also to the team
A spark of creativity just when it’s needed
Always a constructive critic to the design work
A constant developer of the team’s practices
An inspiring booster of growth for others
A problem-solver & a road block clearer

Paths to design leadership?

Creative Leadership
Design Management
What we produce:
Design principles
Sparking innovation
Supporting projects
Design critique
etc.
How we operate:
Process & projects
Designer growth
Budgeting
Tools & facilities
etc.

So you’re a leader. Now what?

Your vision + your plan + your strategy =
driving Purpose

You can totally turn your team into a personal project

Know Research your environment

Derive a design vision from the organization goals
Just don’t
get a polo,
ok?

Difference between a plan & a strategy?

Synthesize your goals & learnings into a plan
Try utilizing
your normal
design toolbox!

Start forming a design strategy as your team’s concept
Insight: thinking about how your organization learns
Philosophy: driving design thinking in your organization
Roadmap: plotting evolutionary & revolutionary timelines
Foresight: planning forward-looking research in your team
Identity: outlining your contribution to brand experience

Consider metrics to measure your success, not just projects’
“Look at
this graph!”
-Nickelback

Change is not possible without will, and will feeds on data

What could you use as a tool to measure your success?

If you wanna try something funky, you could HEART it:
Happiness: how happy your designers are
Engagement: the output of the team
Adoption: how your team’s toolbox is being utilized
Retention: does your team keep using its tools & processes?
Task Success: how successful your designers are in projects

Appeal on the obvious: Appeal on money:
Understand your customers
Promote culture of quick wins
Foster achieving together
Emphasize fast learning
Design digging up new sources of ca$h
Agile = business adaptability
Sharper focus = bigger margins
Better quality = premium pricing
“Hide the
Pain, Harold.
Hide the Pain.”

Hiring & sourcing

UX Lead (that’s you! <3)
UX Program Manager
UX Writer
Viz / Motion
Designer
Interaction
Designer
UX Developer UX Research

Skateboard-shaped, not T-shaped

Hire for (& with) the team, not for a role or a project

What to look for when hiring designers?
Always hire designers that are better than you!
The 3 H’s: Happy, Humble, Hard-working
Ask them to tell stories: bare output is meaningless
If you have a strict template for a designer, you’re doing something wrong
Skill & attitude > experience & reputation
If the team’s unsure, don’t make the hire!

Never build a team of only senior designers

Don’t be afraid to source when you need speed...

...but always treat consultants as family <3

Experiment a lot & fast
1:5

Deliver a little, but fast
1:10

Deliver a lot, but slowly
1:20 <

Design operations

OKR’s + process + tools + peer critique =
enabling Autonomy

Remember this from the beginning?

Your team is not the endgame: it’s your evolving MVP.
You’re entering a world of constant change

How do you form your roadmap?

Make OKR’s your new best friend

Vision (+ Plan + Strategy)
Objective Objective
Key result Key result
revolutionaryevolutionary

The Great Project Model Wars of the 2010’s

What project models are you currently using?

Plan your project model together with your
product & engineering counterparts.
When in doubt, just go light with Kanban

My two cents bani: keep things simple
Trello backlog, sliced into 1-week sprints
Track by using a lightweight Kanban setup
Aim to keep UX sprints 1 sprint ahead of dev sprints at all times

For daily tracking & stand-ups, I’d use a physical board
Coming up Today Blocked Done
Designer
Designer
Designer
...

For big picture workstream tracking, I’d use Trello
Backlog Toolbox Research Concepting Design In dev

Always embed your designers in dev teams

Concept Brief
Design Brief
Flows
What?
Feature set-level
Why?
Product-level
How?
Feature-level
Assets How?
View-level

Design Brief
Concept Brief
Flows
Assets
Design Philosophy
Design Principles
Design Patterns
UI Style Guide
Think about
how these are
produced in
your team!

How are your designs currently reviewed?

Some tips for helping designers help each other:
Support self-critique with principles & guidelines
Get everyone involved in design critiques
Build a design clinic for those ad-hoc questions

A powerful design critique is:
Respective: always appreciate the designer’s hard work
Safe: make sure you create a safe space for honesty
Equal: make sure that everyone gets heard
Actionable: helpful suggestions, no empty opinions

Bonus: how to take your critique to the next level

On the subject of happiness <3

Personal growth + team culture + learning together =
fostering Mastery

What makes a designer happy?

Team culture is a conscious thing: nurture it!

Seeds of team happiness:
Being crystal-clear of team and individual goals (OKR’s help!)
Open discussion and getting everyone involved
Learning together: consider show & tell sessions and field trips
Celebrating failures even harder than success

Understanding designers and supporting their growth

Be a designer whisperer:
Take time for 1:1’s, no matter how busy you are
Take interest in your team’s feelings (& teach yourself to gauge them)
Keep asking: “What can I do for you?”
Keep track of growth goals & think of how you can support them

On the subject of you

Hey, you! How are you feeling right now? :)

Take time to take care of yourself!

Ensure your own growth:
Make a shift once a year and change lanes every 2 years
Learn from the juniors: you’re never too experienced for that!
Maintain a curious mind and keep track of your industry
Have development discussions for yourself :)
Don’t stop working on designs!

Cheers, you are awesome! :)
@ediootti

Design leader's cookbook -Building high-performing and happy creative teams

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