Scaling Design through Relationship Maps
Summary
Design groups are no longer fringe in large corporations. We’ve grown up, and our numbers have multiplied; which is exactly what we wanted. However, we now face the challenge of integrating—at scale—with our organization’s cultural and operational fabric. Understanding which stakeholders are most needed to support our DesignOps ambitions is a great place to start garnering influence and yielding intended outcomes. Relationship maps are a powerful tool to humanize the process and chart the course.
Key Insights
-
•
Design has evolved from individual craftsmanship to system design with greater collaboration and communication across companies.
-
•
Relationship maps go beyond org charts by focusing on necessary interpersonal and cross-functional relationships rather than formal reporting.
-
•
Design leaders act as translators and managers of relationships between designers and other departments to facilitate design at scale.
-
•
Creating purposeful relationships with mutually beneficial outcomes sustains volunteer task forces in large organizations.
-
•
Leveraging executive support, such as from Maria Gideese and finance partners like Kim, helps facilitate company-wide tool adoption.
-
•
Single sign-on integration reduces barriers to adoption and increases cross-disciplinary participation in design platforms.
-
•
A manageable relationship map with clear roles (e.g. program manager Christina as captain) helps coordinate complex initiatives.
-
•
Expressing gratitude publicly and privately maintains morale and encourages continued contribution in a thankless environment.
-
•
Decentralized design teams can still provide centralized services and influence through networked relationships rather than direct authority.
-
•
Quantitative business cases focusing on cost savings and broad user adoption are crucial to convincing stakeholders to invest in design tools.
Notable Quotes
"We are outnumbered by engineers maybe a dozen to one, but things are improving all around."
"Designers are now represented in executive leadership, which was unheard of five years ago."
"An org chart is about formal reporting; a relationship map is about networking and collaboration across silos."
"Relationship maps help you get stuff done with people who don’t report to you and aren’t accountable to you."
"Design is frequently misunderstood; sometimes it’s just about explaining why it’s important to get others involved."
"Single sign-on was going to be really important because I didn’t want any barrier entry for people."
"Mutual benefit and agreement on the definition of success upfront are critical to long-term team effectiveness."
"Expressing gratitude publicly and privately gives people a sense of purpose and acknowledges their contributions."
"I worked through a volunteer task force of 15 people across the company to drive radical design collaboration."
"Not a single person on this relationship map reported to me. That’s how I affect design at scale at Autodesk."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"This is a great opportunity. This is a gift to yourself to dig in with other design ops peers and really learn together."
Louis Rosenfeld Bria AlexanderDay 1 Welcome
September 23, 2024
"I wasn’t planning to learn SQL scripts but I did. And it was fun. It was a new language."
Lisa GirondaOpener: Chief of Staff–An unexpected journey
January 8, 2024
"We are talking about climate solutions to displace things that are incompatible with thriving life, not just add more options."
Jamie Beck Alexander Nina Gregg Shawn Petersen Bill DeRoucheyHow can you find your role in climate?
January 17, 2024
"Technology helps efficiency but cannot replace human connection—eye contact and handshake remain essential."
Iram ShahClosing Keynote: The View from the Top
June 4, 2019
"The agencies don’t often know what happens to their work after they deliver it unless they hear about it third hand years later."
Melinda BelcherInsider preview of Enterprise Experience 2020
May 28, 2020
"Co-planning means building trust and relationships before planning the project itself as a blended team."
Natalia RadywylCo-Designing New Power in Australia's Public Sector
November 16, 2022
"Enterprises are places where one hand doesn’t know what the other hand is doing and sometimes despises it."
Uday GajendarThe Rise of Meta-Design: A Starter Playbook
May 19, 2022
"It’s important for us all to experiment with ways to harness the excitement for research as it grows beyond our own teams."
Jesse ZolnaInviting the Whole Org to Come See For Yourself
March 30, 2020
"Cultural shifts to experience-driven companies are less about creating new teams and more about creating a collective movement everyone owns."
Steve Baty Richard Dalton Maria Giudice Harry MaxDiscussion
June 9, 2016
