Design System Culture (Smashing Meets, 2022)

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Ben Callahan Design System Culture @bencallahan

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a quick story… Last year, my company, Sparkbox, spent the majority of the year consulting with a large fi nancial services company. They are a very competitive organization, with lots of ideas for new products. But they really were struggling to move as quickly as they wanted on those new ideas. So, they hired us to help them build a new product and along with that product, a design system. I think their hope was that we could then use the design system to increase the ef fi ciency of their internal teams as they rolled out more products in the future. So we jumped in alongside their teams and got to work. Now, I wish I could sit here and tell you about how amazing this engagement was. But I’ll be very honest, it was a real struggle. It was so dif fi cult, that, at the end of last year, we made the tough decision to walk away from this customer. And the reason that we did so was…

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Cultural incompatibility.

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@bencallahan (on Twitter) https:/ /bit.ly/connect-with-ben https:/ /sparkbox.com Let’s connect!

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

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

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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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There are four primary types of Organizational Culture in the competing values framework Focused Flexible

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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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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” https://www.thercfgroup.com/ fi les/resources/an_introduction_to_the_competing_values_framework.pdf

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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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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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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” Design system subcultures are most often Collaborative or Controlling

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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 product teams 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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Collaborate   Clan Culture   “Do things together” Control   Hierarchy Culture   “Do things right” The spectrum from collaborative to controlling helps us identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors Unhealthy Collaboration Unhealthy   Control

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The spectrum from collaborative to controlling helps us identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors Primarily based on   subscriber needs Collaborate   Clan Culture   “Do things together” Control   Hierarchy Culture   “Do things right” Unhealthy Collaboration Unhealthy   Control Primarily based on   organization needs Tries to prioritize   everyone’s needs   (serves no-one well) Ignores input   from subscribers   (serves no-one well) Prioritization

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The spectrum from collaborative to controlling helps us identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors Primarily driven   by relationship Collaborate   Clan Culture   “Do things together” Control   Hierarchy Culture   “Do things right” Unhealthy Collaboration Unhealthy   Control Primarily driven   by incentive Unsustainable   over-support through the adoption process Unsustainable   non-support through the adoption process Adoption

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The spectrum from collaborative to controlling helps us identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors Intentionally fl exible (extension of the system   is encouraged) Collaborate   Clan Culture   “Do things together” Control   Hierarchy Culture   “Do things right” Unhealthy Collaboration Unhealthy   Control Necessarily restrictive (extension of the system   is discouraged) Extreme fl exibility (extension of the system is overused) Extreme restriction (extension of the system is forbidden) Extension

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The spectrum from collaborative to controlling helps us identify healthy and unhealthy behaviors System primarily   adapts to the work fl ows   of the subscribers Collaborate   Clan Culture   “Do things together” Control   Hierarchy Culture   “Do things right” Unhealthy Collaboration Unhealthy   Control Subscribers primarily   adapt to the approach   of the system Extreme accommodation for subscriber work fl ows (decision paralysis) Lack of accommodation for subscriber work fl ows (regular rework) Change Management

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Healthy and unhealthy cultural characteristics HEALTHY RANGE Collaborative Controlling Prioritization Driven by subscriber needs Driven by organizations needs Tries to serve everyone perfectly,   serving nobody well Ignores subscriber input,   serving nobody well Change Management System adapts to the   work fl ows of the subscribers Subscribers adapt to the   approach of the system Extreme accommodation for subscriber   work fl ows resulting in decision paralysis Lack of accommodation for subscriber work fl ows resulting in rework Extension Intentionally fl exible,   extension is encouraged Necessarily restrictive,   extension is discouraged Extension is overused Extension is forbidden Adoption Driven by relationship Driven by incentive Unsustainable over-support,   burning out system team Unsustainable lack of support,   frustrating subscriber teams

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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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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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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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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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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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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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Can the design system subculture change the   culture of the organization?

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

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People will make   what they want to make.

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People will make   what they want to make.

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People will make   what they want to make. Your job is to change

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

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