Design Staffing Models
Summary
Determining a staffing model for the success of your design teams is one of the key elements for driving success. By reviewing the differences between dedicated and agency (or flexible) staffing models, Alicia Mooty will walk the group through a case study of applying these types of models in her work at Adobe.
Key Insights
-
•
Dedicated staffing fosters deep vertical expertise and long-term relationships with product teams.
-
•
Agency (pooled) staffing offers designers horizontal breadth and varied growth opportunities through rotations.
-
•
Neither model alone perfectly fits complex, changing environments; a hybrid approach can leverage both strengths.
-
•
Hybrid staffing enables quicker filling of critical design gaps without waiting for new hires or headcount approvals.
-
•
Careful bandwidth assessment across design, product, and engineering partners is key to reallocating resources.
-
•
Designers’ preferences vary; some crave stability and mastery, others seek variety and career growth.
-
•
Changing a staffing model requires proactive relationship building, clear communication, and managing stakeholder expectations.
-
•
Splitting designers’ time across multiple projects can cause work-life balance challenges, needing close oversight.
-
•
Ongoing communication is essential to renegotiate priorities and maintain alignment as projects and staffing evolve.
-
•
Short-term agency assignments raise questions about maintenance responsibility and require explicit planning.
Notable Quotes
"How do you organize a design team to work within a changing environment without freaking everybody out."
"Dedicated staffing gives designers deep vertical mastery but limits horizontal experience."
"Agency style staffing allows designers to bring learnings across multiple projects and grow through new challenges."
"One designer's security in a dedicated model may be another designer's stagnation."
"It took a lot of relationship building and conversations to break down the perception that designers' time was owned by particular teams."
"We covered critical design gaps without waiting for headcount allocation or hiring delays."
"Splitting people’s allocation across different teams created work-life balance issues requiring more oversight."
"Constant communication is necessary; agreement emails can’t be one-and-done."
"Some needs proved full-time, so hybrid staffing models are often short term or mixed part-time."
"Involving designers early in the process is crucial to avoid the 'fast-food' model where they feel like order takers."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Daniel Day-Lewis went so far as to suffer three broken ribs immersing in his role for My Left Foot."
Daniel GloydDesigning From the Inside Out: How Method Acting Can Inspire Design Research
February 12, 2026
"Flour is the core structure of our relationships. Like gluten makes dough stronger, background research makes relationships stronger."
Deirdre Hirschtritt Cesar Paredes Marie PerrotResearch is Only as Good as the Relationships You Build
November 17, 2022
"I believe that maturity models could help define the strategy of the design team."
Benjamin RealMaturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
October 1, 2021
"You have to be serious people making this business work, not just doing conferences and performative acts."
Max Gadney Andrea Petrucci Joshua Stehr Hannah WickesAssessing UX jobs for impact in climate
August 14, 2024
"Sherbiney built a well-functioning agile train in one of the oldest organizations."
Lada GorlenkoTheme 1: Intro
January 8, 2024
"It’s not about play at work being silly; it’s about weaving it in seamlessly so it just feels right."
Feyikemi AkinwolemiwaPlay to innovate: How curiosity and experimentation transform UX
March 11, 2026
"If you have a question at the end of a presentation, please put that question in the thread associated with the talk."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
March 29, 2023
"DeepFakes can look too realistic and might introduce new privacy risks if donor faces come from real people."
Llewyn Paine[Demo] Deploying AI doppelgangers to de-identify user research recordings
June 5, 2024
"Junior engineers often resent having to create OKRs that feel disconnected from their day-to-day work."
Bria Alexander Benson Low Natalya Pemberton Stephanie GoldthorpeOKRs—Helpful or Harmful?
January 20, 2022
