Paul's Design Leadership Work

-> Effectively communicate expectations.
-> Connect designer with stakeholders and resources.
-> Regular checkins
And it worked!

_{I created synergy and identity among designers working in related but disparate product areas.}

The user group at the center of my teams’ offerings were 'Analytics Authors'.

Our product offerings had lost cohesion over the years of building one new product after the other.
Our offerings began to mirror the team structures and divisions we had within the organization.
We reorganized to position ourselves to build a cohesive experience that better serves our customers.

Following the reorg, I had to create synergy and identity among designers working in related but disparate product areas.
To do this, I had to create a plan that supported each designer within their product area, while at the same time establishing a sense of shared identity and purpose.
This group of designers had never worked together on the same project. They had always worked, siloed within the product organizations they supported.

1️⃣
My strategy was to create a new team identity around the ‘Authors’ user group, moving from a feature based team identity. Each designer had to see how their work connected with the work of other designers in other areas to better serve Authors.

-> This was tough to achieve due to short term pressure to execute on sprint goals and deadlines.
-> The plan had to be exciting enough for each designer to want to willingly participate in the face of other competing priorities.
-> Yet not too distracting to avoid skidding other organization priorities off track.
-> In this plan, I displayed how and where each designer's work fits in the Authors’ user journey.
-> I used an office/hybrid rotating design sprint model, where all my reports for 1 week swarmed on one designer’s problem area.
-> The result was turbo-charged brainstorming and prototyping that led to an acceleration of design delivery. In return, participating designers built deep domain familiarity within the space of their peers.

2️⃣
I sought out getting total and complete support from my leader. It’s critical to be on the same page with the chain of leadership when embarking on major changes like this. We discussed my plan and made relevant changes before sharing with my reports and cross-functional partners.

3️⃣
I shared this plan with Product VPs and Engineering Snr. Directors across each product area we supported.

4️⃣
During 1:1 with my reports, I shared this vision and got them excited about finally getting to work together with other designers during product development cycles.

5️⃣
To officially kick off this significant shift, I organized an All-hands meeting with my entire team. During this meeting:

-> I provided an overview of our target users' backgrounds, needs, and how existing teams and products cater to them.
-> I emphasized how our customers would benefit from enhanced cohesion in design vision and execution.
-> I explained how each designer's work contributes to our customers' journeys.

6️⃣
I introduced a rotating design sprint model:

-> Week 1: I co-hosted with one designer, focusing on the hosting team's problem space and generating diverse ideas. My entire team participated in this week’s sessions.
-> Week 2: The hosting team focused on convergence and prototyping.
-> Week 3: The sprint concluded with a summary, presentation preparation, and presentations to the team and cross-functional leaders.

7️⃣
To balance the weekly development cycle, I spread the design sprint over 3 weeks, blocking different sessions throughout the week.
Each sprint ended with a share-out session with our Product and Engineering partners, where we discussed incorporating ideas from the design sprint into the product roadmap.

8️⃣
From the outset, the sprint model fostered a collaborative team spirit, unprecedented within our design organization, reminiscent of hackathons. My team embraced this sprint model enthusiastically.
‍
Beyond fostering camaraderie and team bonding, this sprint model deepened each designer's understanding of their peers' domains, enabling us to create richer, more diverse designs that better address our customers' needs.