Design System Culture

Organizations have an overarching culture and many subcultures. This presentation examines the impacts an organization's culture has on the subculture of a systematic design program.

Transcript

1. Ben Callahan
   Design System
   
   
   Culture
   @bencallahan
   

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2. a quick story…
   

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3. @bencallahan (on Twitter)
   
   
   https:/
   /bit.ly/connect-with-ben
   Connect with me
   

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4. Basic Underlying Assumptions
   Espoused Beliefs
   Artifacts
   Organizational Culture is
   
   
   made up of three layers
   

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5. Basic Underlying Assumptions
   Espoused Beliefs
   Artifacts
   Organizational Culture is
   
   
   made up of three layers
   What you see
   What people say
   What people believe
   Experience
   http://www.scheinocli.org/
   

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6. There are four primary types of Organizational
   Culture in the competing values framework
   Focused
   https://www.thercfgroup.com/
   fi
   les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
   Flexible
   External
   Internal
   

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7. There are four primary types of Organizational
   Culture in the competing values framework
   Focused
   Flexible
   External
   Internal
   Collaborate
   

   Clan Culture
   

   “Do things together”
   Control
   

   Hierarchy Culture
   

   “Do things right”
   Compete
   

   Market Culture
   

   “Do things fast”
   Create
   

   Adhocracy Culture
   

   “Do things
   fi
   rst”
   https://www.thercfgroup.com/
   fi
   les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
   

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8. There are four primary types of Organizational
   Culture in the competing values framework
   Focused
   Flexible
   External
   Internal
   Collaborate
   

   Clan Culture
   

   “Do things together”
   Control
   

   Hierarchy Culture
   

   “Do things right”
   Compete
   

   Market Culture
   

   “Do things fast”
   Create
   

   Adhocracy Culture
   

   “Do things
   fi
   rst”
   https://www.thercfgroup.com/
   fi
   les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
   “People
   fi
   rst” “Disrupt everything”
   “Beat the competition”
   “Avoid risk”
   

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9. Collaborate
   

   Clan Culture
   

   “Do things together”
   Control
   

   Hierarchy Culture
   

   “Do things right”
   “I believe the scope of my work cannot be
   accomplished in any way other than to partner
   with teams who have caught the vision”
   “My subscribers haven’t created consistency, so
   I’m here to make sure they do going forward”
   Design system subcultures are most often
   Collaborative or Controlling
   

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10. Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Prioritization primarily based on subscriber needs
    
    
    Adoption primarily driven by relationship
    
    
    Intentionally
    fl
    exible (extension of the system is encouraged)
    
    
    The system adapts to the needs of the subscribers
    Prioritization primarily based on organization needs
    
    
    Adoption primarily driven by incentive
    
    
    Necessarily restrictive (“use what we have” is the general attitude)
    
    
    Subscribers adapt to the approach of the system
    Healthy Characteristics
    

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11. Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Tries to serve everyone perfectly, serving nobody well
    
    
    Overwhelmed with input, resulting in slow execution
    
    
    Extension is abused
    
    
    Hand-holding through onboarding
    Without input from subscribers, serves nobody well
    
    
    Disregard for input, resulting in need to rework
    
    
    Extension is prohibited
    
    
    No support for onboarding
    Unhealthy Characteristics
    

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12. There are four primary types of Organizational
    Culture in the competing values framework
    Focused
    Flexible
    External
    Internal
    Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Compete
    

    Market Culture
    

    “Do things fast”
    Create
    

    Adhocracy Culture
    

    “Do things
    fi
    rst”
    https://www.thercfgroup.com/
    fi
    les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
    

    View Slide

13. There are four primary types of Organizational
    Culture in the competing values framework
    Focused
    Flexible
    External
    Internal
    Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Compete
    

    Market Culture
    

    “Do things fast”
    Create
    

    Adhocracy Culture
    

    “Do things
    fi
    rst”
    https://www.thercfgroup.com/
    fi
    les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
    

    View Slide

14. There are four primary types of Organizational
    Culture in the competing values framework
    Focused
    Flexible
    External
    Internal
    Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Compete
    

    Market Culture
    

    “Do things fast”
    Create
    

    Adhocracy Culture
    

    “Do things
    fi
    rst”
    https://www.thercfgroup.com/
    fi
    les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
    

    View Slide

15. There are four primary types of Organizational
    Culture in the competing values framework
    Focused
    Flexible
    External
    Internal
    Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Compete
    

    Market Culture
    

    “Do things fast”
    Create
    

    Adhocracy Culture
    

    “Do things
    fi
    rst”
    https://www.thercfgroup.com/
    fi
    les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
    

    View Slide

16. There are four primary types of Organizational
    Culture in the competing values framework
    Focused
    Flexible
    External
    Internal
    Collaborate
    

    Clan Culture
    

    “Do things together”
    Control
    

    Hierarchy Culture
    

    “Do things right”
    Compete
    

    Market Culture
    

    “Do things fast”
    Create
    

    Adhocracy Culture
    

    “Do things
    fi
    rst”
    https://www.thercfgroup.com/
    fi
    les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf
    

    View Slide

17. Can the design system
    subculture change the
    

    culture of the organization?
    

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18. Basic Underlying Assumptions
    Espoused Beliefs
    Artifacts
    Organizational Culture is
    
    
    made up of three layers
    What you see
    What people say
    What people believe
    Experience
    Create
    http://www.scheinocli.org/
    

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19. Your design system won’t
    make your products more
    consistent.
    

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20. People will make
    

    what they want to make.
    

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21. People will make
    

    what they want to make.
    

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22. People will make
    

    what they want to make.
    Your job is to change
    

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23. @bencallahan (on Twitter)
    
    
    https:/
    /bit.ly/connect-with-ben
    Thank you
    

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