Workshop presented at UX Week 2018 by Alissa Briggs (alissabriggs.com) and Dave Hora (davesresearch.com) Workshop Summary: We all dream of working in organizations where design is respected and impactful. In this workshop, you'll learn how to create and deploy an action plan to bring your dreams to life. This workshop gives you the tools to diagnose your team's current state, set clear goals for team transformation, and choose the right moves to get you there.

1. Maps & Markers //
UX Week 2018
Alissa Briggs - alissabriggs.com // Dave Hora - davesresearch.com
Enacting a strategy to transform your design team
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z

2. Demystify strategy
Diagnose your current state
Clarify your destination
Craft and enact your plan
Today’s Journey
Photo by Tom Holmes on Unsplash

3. DAVE
Alissa Briggs
Head of Design, PlanGrid
@alissadesigns
Dave Hora
Dave’s Research Company
@stonecrops_
Your Guides

4. 9:00 - 9:30 I. Context
9:30 - 10:45 II. Mapping Today
10:45 - 11:00 — Break —
11:00 - 11:45 III. Looking Ahead
11:45 - 12:15 IV. Charting Your Course
12:15 - 12:30 V. Conclusion
Agenda
Photo by Himesh Kumar Behera on Unsplash

5. Ground Rules
Respect
Confidentiality
Raise your hand to contribute
Make space for different voices
Devices away (or outside)
Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash

6. i. Context
and “strategy”
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z

7. Meet your map
Photo by Hendrik Morkel on Unsplash

8. ● Where does your team fit in the broader organization?
● How does your team work?
● What types of projects are your team delivering?
● What does your day look like?
Imagine the year is 2020...

9. Eames Sketches
Published September 23, 2012 at 620 × 374 in Charles and Ray Eames.
From Vision Sketch to Strategy

10. ● What does it mean to “do strategy?”
● Why is strategy important?
● [Why] do we care?

11. Identifying the most important
challenges, the means to overcome
them, and following through with
aligned action.
Strategy:

12. Rumelt’s Kernel of Good Strategy

13. Boyd’s OODA Loop
By Patrick Edwin Moran - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3904554

14. http://xblog.xplane.com/five-best-practices-for-implementing-your-strategy

15. Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z
ii. Making Maps
“What is our situation right now?”

17. Maps as a tool for reflection
Photo by Ruthie on Unsplash

18. Map: Organization
CEO
VP
Engineering
VP Product
Director,
Design
Consumer
Business Unit
Enterprise
Business Unit
Manager,
Design
Manager,
Design
* My team
Director,
Engineering
Map: Organization

19. Reflection: Organization

20. Map: Organization
Map: Team Structure
From Org Design for Design Orgs by Kristin Skinner and Peter Merholz

21. Map: Organization
Map: Team Structure
Design
Manager (Me)
Design Lead,
Photos Team
Design Lead,
Insights Team
Design Ops
Lead
Sr. Designer
Jr. Designer
Jr. Designer
Sr. Designer
Project
Manager
Systems
Designer
Jr. Designer
Systems
Engineer

22. Map: Organization
Map: Team Skills
User Research
Info Architecture
Interaction Design
Copywriting
Content Strategy
Visual Design
Service Design
Rapid Prototyping
*
*

23. Reflection: Team

24. Map: Organization
Map: Projects
Project
funded
First
research
study
Added 5
engineers
Surprise
stakeholder
feedback
Released MVP
Product
spec
debate
Product
review
Team
assembled
Lost 2
engineers
QA reviewDesign
mockups

25. Reflection: Projects

26. Map: Organization
Map: Self
Hire 2 designers and 1 researcher this quarter
Launch version one of our Design System
Write leveling guide for design team 0 hours
12 hours
2 hours
3 hours
14 hours
see above

27. Reflection: Self

28. Reflection: Overall

29. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Where_Do_We_Come_From%3F_What_Are_We%3F_Where_Are_We_Going%3F#/media/File:Paul_Gauguin_-_D%27ou_venons-nous.jpg
—BREAK—

30. iii. Looking Ahead
“How should we move forward?”
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z

31. Rounding out
the diagnosis...

32. T2
P2
T3
Our team has the right skills and structure to be successful
Project teams have a shared view of user models and journeys
Our team is known for expertise in customer needs
and product value
Focus Areas & Potential Moves

34. Relocate & Reorient
CC License: WorldSkills UK on Flickr:https://flic.kr/p/a7kNC7

35. Prompts for you & a partner
> What’s the situation? What would you
like to see change? Why?
> What are some ways you might
address this?

36. *
*

37. *
*

38. Prioritize:

39. Focus Areas & Potential Moves
Establish formal program for critique of work
Protect team’s time with weekly Design Studio
Invite cross-functional leaders to team meeting
Find the org.’s pulse: make time for casual conversation
Defer and delegate to protect time for good work

40. De-re-location ...back to our original seats
Photo by Tatiana Bulyonkova https://flic.kr/p/cPBh2U

41. Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z
IV. Charting Your Course
“How do we make this real?”

43. “Maintaining focus and attention on a goal rarely achieves anything; instead,
reverse engineer a series of steps, backtracking from that desired goal to wherever
our position and circumstance in the now. Then, putting all of our intention on the
step immediately before us (rather than on the goal) we move forward, little by
little—but inexorably so.” — John Will
Serge Costa on Flickr (CC License)

44. Sketching Out a Plan
Choose the hardest / riskiest / most important move

45. Sketching Out a Plan
Clarify the broader context

46. Sketching Out a Plan
Map out the stages

47. Pause for a moment—
Flickr CC: John McSporran https://flic.kr/p/TUVQRY

48. Prompts for the table
> What will you do differently, going
forward?
> Where will that get you? Where can
peer support help?

49. V. Conclusion
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z

50. Bringing it back to the team
Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash

51. Resources & Contacts
Alissa Briggs
Head of Design, PlanGrid
www.alissabriggs.com
@alissadesigns
Dave Hora
Dave’s Research Company
www.davesresearch.com
@stonecrops_
http://bit.ly/mapsmarkers-uxweek201
8

52. Q&A
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z

53. Maps & Markers //
UX Week 2018
Alissa Briggs - alissabriggs.com // Dave Hora - davesresearch.com
Enacting a strategy to transform your design team
Flickr: Miguel Virkkunen Carvalho - https://flic.kr/p/az2y4z