Scaling Design Capabilities at BBVA Through a Self-service Design Model
Summary
The design team at BBVA Mexico, with more than 170 designers, has the challenge of bringing design to the 600+ projects the organization works on at any given time for them to better achieve the goals of each project in a user-centered way. Because of the limited capacity of the design team, this meant that many projects with design needs were left unattended, managing to solve their needs with whatever resources they had at hand. To address this, Design at Scale was born, an initiative that aims to develop design capabilities in BBVA, through tools, processes and coaching that helps teams that meet certain criteria to work under a self-management model. Through their talk Nora and Giovanna will share their journey in implementing Design at Scale at BBVA.
Key Insights
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Scaling design by enabling developers to perform design work needs structured support to maintain quality.
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Design at Scale advisors act primarily as mentors and coaches rather than direct designers.
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Using Stacy’s matrix and layers of user experience helps decide which projects fit a self-service design model.
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Projects with clear and concrete design needs are better suited for self-service than highly complex or abstract ones.
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Even ‘simple’ design tasks can reveal hidden complexities that require adapting or shifting the design approach.
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A small team of DAS advisors can support dozens of scrum teams effectively through time-bounded interactions and clear frameworks.
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Iterative screening and negotiation with project teams is critical to managing complexity and expectations.
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Clear, frequent, and transparent communication reduces confusion about roles and process differences between traditional and self-service design.
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The model fosters empathy and collaboration, leading developers to better appreciate design value and sometimes consider transitioning into design roles.
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Balancing cognitive load for DAS advisors requires flexible limits on how many projects each can manage concurrently.
Notable Quotes
"It’s not that developers want to do design, they need to do it because they need to keep working on their projects."
"Design purists weren’t happy about helping developers ‘do design’, but we realized they would do it anyway, so we helped them do it better."
"The magic happens when the designer becomes a mentor or counselor, not just a designer—like a sangaroo for the scrum team."
"We use Stacy’s matrix and James Garrett’s layers of user experience to filter which projects go into the self-service model."
"The self-service model works best for projects with concrete and well-defined design objectives at the surface layers."
"One design at scale advisor supports about 12 scrum teams, which is rewarding but cognitively demanding."
"We’ve learned that clear communication about roles and process is key to reduce confusion between regular design work and self-service."
"When things get more complicated than expected, we re-negotiate scope or assign a full designer to keep quality."
"The design at scale model changes mindsets: designers become guides, and developers begin to see the value and want to learn design."
"The biggest learning is it’s about understanding the people and organization beyond just the design team."
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