Julie Kennedy, User Experience Director at Saint-Gobain

1. UX Team SGBD UK
How to Build, Inspire &
Keep Design
Teams…Happy
Julie Kennedy 30 July
Mobile UX London

2. 2
• Designing for World Class Brands
• 20+ years digital experience
• Across a wide range of industries
• Managing multidiscipline teams
• Delivering large multi-channel projects
Career

3. • Team Structures
• Roles & Skills
• Hiring & Recruitment process
• Qualities for success
Talk to you about…successful design teams

4. Centralised Design Team
Good Bad
• All Designers together
• Designers work on a range of projects
• Helps creates a consistent user
experience
• Creates efficiencies in work
• Disempowered and lack of ownership
• Design monkeys
• Little room for innovation and creativity
• Lack of clarity on projects

5. Decentralised Design Team
Bad
• Designers are empowered and engaged as
full team members
• Development faster and iterative
• Teams have greater ownership on
what’s delivered
• Output higher quality
• Designers lonely and disconnected
• Fractured user experience
• Less efficient use of time and people
• User research marginalised
Good

6. Centralised Partnership Design Team
Brings together best of Centralised & Decentralised
• Designers have a single point of leadership and feel part of the design team and supported in their
career development
• Helps maintain a holistic view arcoss the entire customer experience
• Helps maintain consistency of designs
• Teams organised by customer experience
• User research shared across design
• Flexibility to move around

7. Step 1
Build the right team
• Creative
• Managerial
• Operational
• Hands on
Designer

8. Step 2
Build the right team
• Creative
• Managerial
• Operational
• Hands on
• Interaction Design
• Interface Design
• Brand Application
Head of
Design
Designer

9. Step 3
Build the right team
• Creative
• Managerial
• Operational
• Hands on
Head of
Design
• Wireframing
• Journey Mapping
• Workshops
• Interface Design
• Sketching
• Brand Application
• Usability testing
• Ethnographic Research
• Quantative Research
UX
Designer
Visual
Designer
User
Research

10. Step 4
Build the right team
• Creative
• Managerial
• Operational
• Hands on
Head of
Design
• Wireframing
• Journey Mapping
• Workshops
• Interface Design
• Sketching
• Brand Application
• Usability testing
• Ethnographic Research
• Quantative ResearchContent
Strategy
• Tone of Voice
• Content Structure
• Copywriting
UX
Designer
Visual
Designer
User
Research
UX
Designer
Visual
Designer

11. Step 5
Build the right team – to Design organisation
Head of
Design
Content
Strategy
Team
Lead
Designer
Visual
Designer
User
Research
UX
Designer
• Creative lead for team
• SME on domain
• Stakeholder
management
UX
Designer
Content
Strategy
Team
Lead
Designer
UX
Designer
UX
Designer
Visual
Designer
User
Research

12. Step 6
Build the right team – to Design organisation
• People Manager
• Creative lead for team
• SME on domain
• Stakeholder management
Design
Manager
Visual
Designer
UX
Designer
UX
Designer
Design
Manager
Visual
Designer
UX
Designer
UX
Designer
Design
Manager
Visual
Designer
UX
Designer
UX
Designer
• Operations and budget planning
• Project Prioritisation
• Organisational effectiveness
Design
Producer
Design
Strategist
Head of
Design
• Strategy and Structure
Operations
• Integrates across teams
Content
Strategy
User
Research
Content
Strategy
User
Research
Content
Strategy
User
Research

13. Since 1996 I’ve seen 1000+ portfolio’s and done 500+ interviews….
worked with 300+ designers
Hiring

14. Pick the good from the bad

15. UX Unicorns don’t exist …

16. Hiring Process
1. Write a clear and complete job description
2. Review CV’s and portfolio’s – read Linkedin profile
3. Phone or video screen or face to face meetup, ask what they want
in next role and ask salary expectations
4. Interview candidates
- Portfolio review – involve the team
- Design task
- Behavioural and team fit questions
5. Check References
6. Make an offer!

17. Hard Skills
Portfolio Review
• Good technical ability
• Project context and results
• Sketches and artefacts
• Articulate Wireframes
Design Task
• Understanding of the task
• Time management
• Clear Communication
• Good Collaboration

18. Soft Skills
Humility, Creativity,
Humour & Empathy

19. Young Talent
• Build links with Universities
• Visit degree shows
• Set up Internships and Graduate programmes
Benefits
• Brings in fresh ideas
• Cost effective
• Other team members develop mentoring skills

20. For Successful Design Teams
Foundation
Output
Management
10 Team Qualities

21. 10 Team Qualities
Foundation
1. Shared sense of purpose - our mission
2. Authentic user empathy - our principles
3. Understand, articulate, and create value
4. Focused Leadership

22. Create engaging and effective experiences across
touchpoints and channels to make our customers
and Saint-Gobain successful
’’
Foundation - Design team Mission

23. Foundation - Design Principles
Consistent Simple Efficient

24. Foundation – Leadership

25. Output
5. Supports the entire journey
6. Establish and maintain standards of quality
7. Value delivery over perfection
10 Team Qualities
Foundation
1. Shared sense of purpose - our mission
2. Authentic user empathy - our principles
3. Understand, articulate, and create value
4. Focused Leadership

26. That touches
every part of
your
organisation
across products
and channels
Output - Your customers are on a journey…

27. • Establish Design Styleguides, Principles and share
• Apply common Design Patterns
• Benchmark against competitors and best in breeds
• Hold regular Design Routines
- Weekly Standups
- Design Reviews
- Project Shares
Output – Quality

28. Output – Value Delivery over perfection
“ Real artists ship “

29. Output
5. Support the entire journey
6. Establish and maintain standards of quality
7. Value delivery over perfection
Management
8. Create a culture to thrive in
9. Foster collaboration
10. Manage operations effectively
10 Team Qualities
Foundation
1. Shared sense of purpose - our mission
2. Authentic user empathy – our principles
3. Understand, articulate, and create value
4. Focused Leadership

30. Management - Culture

31. Management – Continual Learning

32. Management – Foster Collaboration

33. Management – Manage Operations Effectively
1. The team is well managed – processes documented
2. Budget managed
3. Regulatory & Compliance standards met
4. Projects prioritised and visible
5. Onboarding taken care of
6. Training requirements arranged

34. • Start small and scale as you need to - A small design team can have impact!
• Share and Show the value of design
• Develop and apply design principles and guidelines
• Hire specific skills as the team grows
• Build relationships with Universities and set up Internships and Graduate schemes
• Create a design culture and collaborate with others
Summary

35. Thank You
’’