Evolving an in-house design practice

EVOLVING AN IN-HOUSE
DESIGN PRACTICE
10 LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
PRADEEP NAYAR
@designonmymind

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice
WHO AM I?
Design Tinkerer 
Experience Strategist  
Technology Enthusiast
Lean Product Evangelist
Passionate about how
design and technology
make peoples lives better!
2
Industry Media B2B e-commerce Insurance/Finance
Team Size 1 to 13 1 to 10 13 to 80
Roles Engineer -> UX Principal Manager -> Sr. Manager UX Director
My Focus Starting a practice Evolving a practice Scaling a practice
Career in Design Leadership
WORK
EXPERIENCE
19+  
YEARS

@designonmymind Evolving an in-house design practice 3

18 BRANDS, 875 PROPERTIES, OVER 60 COUNTRIES
More joining
World of Hyatt soon

@designonmymind Evolving an in-house design practice
TEN LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
1. Align your expectations with organizational maturity
2. Actively increase your sphere of inﬂuence
3. Know the social currency to succeed
4. Use language your audience understands
5. Start small & evolve the team
6. Integrate & enhance the existing way work happens
7. Drive a growth mindset culture
8. Evolve your people to facilitate scaling
9. Plan for leadership & operations as you scale
10. Scaling across oﬃces locations needs extra attention
5

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 6Video by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels
LESSON 1
Align your expectations
with organizational
maturity

ORGANIZATIONAL
METABOLIC RATE
Are you aligned?
7

ORGANIZATIONS
8
HUMANS=

ORGANIZATIONS EVOLVE
Are you ready for that?

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice
SEVERAL
MATURITY
MODEL
A ten-stage corporate life
cycle model by Dr. Ichak
Adizes

A design maturity model
to drive business impact
by Invision

Five stages of
organizational ux design
by Jared Spool
10
Reference:
http://www.adizes.com/lifecycle/ 
https://www.invisionapp.com/design-better/design-maturity-model/
https://articles.uie.com/driving-product-teams-to-become-more-design-mature/

DO YOU HAVE
EXECUTIVE SUPPORT?

ALIGNING EXPECTATIONS
12
TeamIndividual Organization> >

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 13Video by Ricardo Esquivel from Pexels
LESSON 2
Actively increase your
sphere of inﬂuence

UNDERSTAND
YOUR ORG
CHART
15

BUILD A
STAKEHOLDER MAP…
for the end customer
for the team
for the initiative
17

BUILD YOUR INFLUENCE
OVER TIME
18Photo by Artur Tumasjan on Unsplash

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 19
Know the
social currency
to succeed
Video by Asad Photo Maldives from Pexels
LESSON 3

WHAT DOES SUCCESS LOOK LIKE  
IN YOUR ORGANIZATION?
20

WHY ARE CERTAIN
INDIVIDUALS PROMOTED?
21

WHAT IS TALKED ABOUT IN
ALL-HANDS MEETINGS?
22

HOW ARE GOALS
MANAGED OR ALIGNED TO
EACH OTHER (OR NOT)?
23

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 24Video by Arienggo Arie from Pexels
LESSON 4
Use language
your audience
understands

JOURNEY MAPS
25
CONTEXTUAL INQUIRY
SAMPLE SIZE
A/B TESTING
AFFINITY MAPPING
WIREFRAMES
USABILITY TESTING
STORYBOARDS
HEURISTIC REVIEW
TIME ON TASK
CARD SORTING
BASKET SIZE CONVERSION
COMBINED RATIO
TOP OF THE FUNNEL
P/E RATIO
AVERAGE ORDER VALUE
RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI)
CROSS SELL / UP SELL
RETENTION RATE
LINES PER HOUSEHOLD
POLICIES IN FORCE

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
Active listening
& empathy for
each other

@designonmymind
Start small &
evolve the team
LESSON 5
Video by KML from Pexels

PACE YOURSELF
29

HAVE A CLEARLY DEFINED
MISSION & VISION
30
Mission
VISION

DESIGN ENGAGEMENT MATURITY
INFLUENCE

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 32Video by Tom Fisk from Pexels
LESSON 6
Integrate & enhance the
existing way work
happens

IF YOU ARE A SERVICE WITHIN THE ORGANIZATION
34

INTEGRATING WITHIN THE PDLC
35

IF YOU CAN AVOID IT,
DON’T BUILD  
A SEPARATE PROCESS
36

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 37Video by KML from Pexels
LESSON 7
Drive a growth
mindset culture

GROWTH MINDSET
Individuals who believe their talents can be
developed (through hard work, good
strategies and input from others).
38
Reference:
https://hbr.org/2016/01/what-having-a-growth-mindset-actually-means

TEAM COMPETENCY DEBATE
39
GENERALIST
“Expert in one, curious
about everything”
SPECIALIST + AWARE OF OTHERS
“Expert in one,
aware of other”
SPECIALIST
“Expert in one”

RESOURCES
40
TALENT

HELP EVOLVE SKILLS
Relationship
Management
Design
Facilitation
Emotional
Intelligence
Continuous
Improvement
Mindset
Time & Priority
Management
Design
Communication
UI
Design
IA &
Content
Iterarative
Design
Practices
Systems
Thinking
Research
Skills
UX &
Interaction
Design
HARD SKILLS
Craft related skills
SOFT SKILLS
Working with others

INVEST IN TALENT
42
70%
20%
10%
Learning through doing
Individuals learn through experience,
problem solving and practice
Learning through others
Learning through social and
collaborative interaction with peers,
role models, mentors and coaches
Formal Learning
Structured, directed learning
Reference:  
https://702010institute.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Primer-702010-into-action.pdf

Help people
ﬁnd their
purpose

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 44Video by KML from Pexels
Evolve your people
to facilitate scaling
LESSON 8

YOU CAN’T DO THIS ALONE
45Photo by Daniel Cheung on Unsplash

BUILD A  
TEAM OF
SUPERHEROES
46Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

YOUR TALENT
NEEDS EVOLVE
WITH TIME
47

CAREER PROGRESSION
Career Ladder Career Jungle Gym
TO

KEEPING THINGS FRESH
49
DESIGNER Rotate every 6 to 12 months
SR. DESIGNER Rotate every 9 to 18 months
LEAD DESIGNER Rotate every 12 to 24 months

@designonmymind
LESSON 9
Plan for leadership &
operations as you scale Video by Tom Fisk from Pexels

WHEN THE TEAM IS SMALL…
52
You know the
people
You can
maintain quality
You share
common tools
& practices
You have a
stronger sense
of community
Design leader
Team of designers

WHEN THE TEAM GROWS…
53
Design leadership
Team of teams
You don’t know
all the people
You scale with
design systems
You invest in
design ops
You have a
team with
smaller ‘clicks’

WHAT
WORKED THEN,
WILL NOT WORK NOW
54

@designonmymind
Evolving an in-house design practice 55Video by Tom Fisk from Pexels
LESSON 10
Scaling across oﬃce
locations needs
extra attention

DESIGN CULTURE
How does that scale?

Head Office
Remote Office B
Remote Office A

@designonmymind
Chicago
Bangalore
Belfast
8:00 am
2:00 pm
6:30 pm

Scenario A: Managing small remote team from head office
Sr. Designer
to
Small team of designers
Design Leader
Head Office
Remote Office A
Your need to rely on
local leadership
The further they are,
the more you have to
make yourself
available
Be as inclusive as
possible in team
meetings
Leverage video
conferencing
capability

Scenario B: Managing big remote team from head office
Design Manager
Large team of designers
Head Office
Design Leader
Remote Office B
Keep the local leader
aligned to key
strategic initiatives
Enable the local
leader to build and
foster a team culture
Get feedback from
the team on a
regular cadence
Leverage video
conferencing
capability as a team

DESIGN
CULTURE
AT SCALE
IS REALLY
HARD!
61

TEN LESSONS FROM THE TRENCHES
1. Align your expectations with organizational maturity

2. Actively increase your sphere of inﬂuence

3. Know the social currency to succeed

4. Use language your audience understands

5. Start small and evolve

6. Integrate & enhance the existing way of working

7. Drive a growth mindset culture

8. Evolve your people to facilitate scaling

9. Plan for leadership & operations as you scale

10. Scaling across oﬃces locations needs extra attention
62

Special Thanks to
Amazing Illustrations by
Bethany Mudd
Dan Boysen
macrovector_oﬃcial - www.freepik.com
THANK YOU.
Questions, comments & feedback
Please contact @designonmymind

Evolving an in-house design practice

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