Design documentation & more

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Designer @ Google Search Twitter @hvpandya Hardik Pandya Documenting Design & more

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Products I work on Searchbox Suggest The Google Homepage Intro

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My story

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Shift to a large organization

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⬆ Concurrently ongoing projects & workstreams intertwined with each other Startups → BigCorp

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Startups → BigCorp ⬆ People in my direct team & peripheral teams(+) across the organization

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Startups → BigCorp ⬆ Information decentralization: Siloed discussions & isolated comms

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Life at BigCorp Product surface

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Life at BigCorp Surface B Surface A Surface D Surface C

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Life at BigCorp Surface B Surface A Surface D Surface C

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Life at BigCorp Surface B Surface A Surface D Surface C 6 week release cycles Higher org priority Faster releases Lower org priority Not currently staffed Working on their vision Team in TLV +8h Has a very opinionated Program Lead Outdated stack, revamping Team in NYC +3h

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Life at BigCorp Surface B urface A Surface D Surface C ek release cycles gher org priority Faster releases Lower org priority Not currently staffed Working on their vision Team in TLV +8h Has a very opinionated Program Lead Outdated stack, revamping Team in NYC +3h Surface E Suddenly prioritized

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It’s not all messy though Communication challenges are the byproduct of massive scale of the org But massive orgs also build global products

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⚠ Product design narrative originated from a different stakeholder and a different artifact, often lost in translation Day to day work

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⚠ Couldn’t command equal stakeholdership in the larger vision despite equal thought partnership Day to day work

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⚠ Brought value to my team and teams(+), but couldn’t demonstrate it at scale Day to day work

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And at a more personal level... Day to day work

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⚠ Couldn’t weave a narrative post facto at perf review time Day to day work

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⚠ How would I develop my portfolio? Day to day work

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⚠ How would I develop my portfolio? Day to day work

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So what was I doing differently? Day to day work

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Sharing contextless mocks assumed that the problem and constraints were well understood & established Problem 1

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Mocks demonstrated fidelity of the outcome but failed to demonstrate fidelity of thinking Problem 2

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Mocks lacked the narrative Scoping the problem → Exploring considerations → Making a recommendation Problem 3

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Design framing was outsourced to a different stakeholder, proxied by their artifact, leading to a game of Chinese whispers Problem 4

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Vanilla mocks & screens are an inadequate manifestation of one’s value, voice, influence and work.

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It was no longer enough to just do the work. Owning the narrative around it and socializing it became just as important. Life at BigCorp

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It was no longer enough to just do the work. Owning the narrative around it and socializing it became just as important. Life at BigCorp Basically my work needed body and legs.

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It was no longer enough to just do the work. Owning the narrative around it and socializing it became just as important. Life at BigCorp Basically my work needed body and legs.

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How do we do that?

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How do we do that? Document your work (all of it) and create design artifacts

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Premise setting HMW CONSIDERATION FRAMEWORK RECOMMENDATION CRIT Figma file Design artifact

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There’s no one-size that fits all But I have a simple framework to get started...

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Get informed Create Socialize 1 2 3 Design documentation

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Get informed Create 1 Socialize 2 3 Set up the context Do the actual work Sell the work Design documentation

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Get informed Create Socialize 2 1 3 Design documentation

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Internalities Find where the org’s thinking is (what is the higher order strategy / directive?) Identify who the main stakeholders are (who has strong opinions about this?) Figure out the constraints spectrum (which ones can you break?) Design documentation > Get informed

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Externalities Identify research gaps (what do we not know?) Competitive analysis (how are others doing this?) Market trends & behavior shifts at scale (what do major market movements tell us?) Design documentation > Get informed

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Design documentation > Get informed Thorough brainstorms with your trusted xfn partners beat a design sprint & all the diamonds.

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2 Get informed Create Socialize 3 Design documentation

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Problem definition & scoping Design documentation > Create

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Problem definition & scoping ‍ Broad array of explorations Design documentation > Create

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Problem definition & scoping ‍ Broad array of explorations ⭐ Audit & recommendation Design documentation > Create

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2 3 Get informed Create Socialize Design documentation

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Online first, and Offline next Design documentation > Socialize

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Design documentation > Socialize Soft share-out over email to your team & team+ ✅ Invite ﬁrst-order feedback ✅ Give people time to review on their own time

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Design documentation > Socialize But... People have low attention span People have competing priorities Reading in-depth material takes people time and effort

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But... People have low attention span People have competing priorities Reading in-depth material takes people time and effort Design documentation > Socialize “As per my last email...”

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Design documentation > Socialize Sharing artifacts is how you get visibility. In-person reviews are how you get buy-in.

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In-person reviews Design documentation > Socialize

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Design documentation > Socialize UX peer review first In-person reviews

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Design documentation > Socialize UX peer review first In-person reviews

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Design documentation > Socialize Roadshow next In-person reviews

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Design documentation > Socialize Invite PMs, PgMs, TLMs, UX leadership and other execs in a room all at once ...you present your idea...

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Design documentation > Socialize Don’t

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Design documentation > Socialize Don’t Seriously.

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Design documentation > Socialize Don’t. Seriously.

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Design documentation > Socialize Resolve locally before you presenting collectively

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Design documentation > Socialize ✅ Preemption over a ⛔ Grand reveal

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Design documentation > Socialize Set up first stakeholder presentations to seek buy-in & not a resolution

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Premise setting HMW CONSIDERATION FRAMEWORK RECOMMENDATION CRIT Figma file Design artifact

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2 Get informed Create Socialize Design documentation

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2 Design documentation Create

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2 Design documentation Create

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Socialize, discuss, get feedback, iterate & maintain Keep it alive

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Vision roadmaps: Longer shelf-life, lower tactical value, high POV, low impact Project Doc: Mid shelf-life, high tactical value, mid POV, high impact Reference Doc: Longer shelf-life, lower tactical value, mid POV, high impact Types of artifacts I typically make

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Some tactical tips ✅ Use a slide deck for documentation ✅ Mention your name and LDAP ✅ Status ﬂags – ‘Early explorations’, ‘Approved’, ‘In experiment’ ✅ Table of contents ✅ Make post-audit recommendation stand out

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Great organizations have the tendency to recognize and elevate talent. Work hard.