Creating a Basis for Change: Scaling Design Maturity
Summary
In large organizations, design is often sparse or intentionally decentralized in a way that places it subservient to Product and Engineering—and ultimately limits its potential for impact. Knowing that, is it possible to create a basis for change? How might we address the decentralization of design with the goal of increasing design maturity and producing better outcomes? How can we apply the design process organization-wide and across silos? In this session, Jess Greco will discuss how the team at Mastercard is approaching change management through the lens of: Individuals and their needs The organization and its needs Efforts to align those two sets of needs Jess will also share results of Mastercard’s experimental Customer Experience Design Guild; investments in Learning & Development; and Guild-wide efforts to reframe how the organization views the practices and processes that support human-centered design.
Key Insights
-
•
MasterCard's design transformation is driven by the urgent need for new products to succeed independently due to decreased reliance on legacy revenue.
-
•
The Customer Experience and Design Guild connects isolated designers across global teams, providing community, advocacy, and tools for better design practices.
-
•
The skills inventory linked to the career framework allows evidence-based planning and leadership buy-in for targeted learning and development.
-
•
Three distinct organizational models coexist at MasterCard with varying levels of design maturity: embedded teams, decentralized networks, and tiny teams often lacking differentiation skills.
-
•
Relying on single designers performing multiple jobs ('unicorns') limits design impact and hinders differentiated product outcomes.
-
•
Shifting organizational incentives to require customer-centric outcomes from product teams increases accountability and business alignment.
-
•
The Guild's influence expands beyond community-building to shaping staffing, hiring, product development frameworks, and cross-functional partnerships.
-
•
Master classes launched during Jess’s parental leave train product and business teams on design fundamentals to foster a shared understanding of what good design entails.
-
•
The company-wide design conference engages hundreds of participants, aligning content directly to skills inventory findings and practical ways of working.
-
•
Integrating skills assessment with existing frameworks and cross-group stakeholder engagement is critical to gaining broad support and reducing resistance.
Notable Quotes
"The business doesn’t just want to do design better; they want the outcomes that design can make possible."
"We need to get better at betting new products will stand on their own sooner rather than later."
"Designing for differentiation can create constructive friction with partners who have different ideas about what design and research are for."
"Without attribution you can’t get funding, and if it’s not funded, it’s not a priority."
"Strong product outcomes are about quality of customer understanding and collaboration, not just the artifacts we make."
"Some teams rely heavily on one or two designers who can do a bit of everything, but their depth is limited compared to core disciplines."
"We can’t force people to partner with design, but if partnering makes it easier to meet framework requirements, that’s a win for everyone."
"Changing outcomes means changing incentives on all fronts to shift the culture effectively."
"Connecting the skills inventory to the career framework was crucial to getting buy-in across functions."
"The Guild is much more than a community; it’s actively driving standards and creating conditions for success across the company."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Assistive technology has to communicate with the destination, that’s your website or product."
Sheri Byrne-HaberAccessibility at Scale
June 9, 2021
"When UX researchers and product managers collaborate, the product speaks to users’ hearts."
Prayag Narula Hannah HudsonEmpowering Designers to do Good Research
March 11, 2022
"Companies had to relearn their customers during COVID because behavior had fundamentally changed."
Janelle EstesUX Research Trends
January 28, 2021
"We often get designed into a corner by trying to fix words at the end instead of involving content designers earlier."
Craig Brookes Andreas Huebner Morgan Quinn"Just Make it Look Good" and Other Ways We're Misunderstood
June 11, 2021
"We encourage one-to-one video calls to build rapport and feel comfortable reaching out for advice."
Marc Fonteijn Ru ButlerIncrease your confidence, influence, and impact (through a Professional Community)
December 3, 2024
"Managing vendors is a full-time job, and research ops teams often coordinate numerous vendors for tools and recruitment."
Kate TowseyThe State of ResearchOps: More Than Just Theory
June 20, 2019
"Sometimes the entire leadership team quitting at once is a big sign cultural safety is failing."
Alla WeinbergDesign Teams Need Psychological Safety: Here’s How to Create It
September 9, 2022
"We have over 30 contracting teams spread across roughly 10 vendors all working on parts of the veteran experience landscape."
Shawna Hein Kevin HoffmanCreate a Cohesive Civic Design Practice Across Agency, Vendors, and Contracts
November 17, 2022
"Systematizing work and using matrices of importance versus difficulty helps prioritize meaningful projects."
Tricia WangSCALE: Discussion
June 15, 2018
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
Where can UX researchers find reliable, up-to-date information and recommendations on research tool options?
What is the continuum of community engagement and how can it help improve inclusivity?
How can research repositories score or show the impact of research recommendations to enhance organizational learning?