Jane Austin - Setting up product design for success

It feels like 2019 is the year many companies realised that without a great customer experience their product would struggle to compete.Recently we've seen traditional companies expand their design teams, as well as starts ups from small to hypergrowth. However, this is uncharted territory for many.

Jane is here to give you advice on how to set your teams up for success. Her experience covers companies of different sizes, both legacy and start up. She has set up or scaled four different design and research teams — at a city trading firm, at The Telegraph, at MOO and now at Babylon Health, where she has grown the team from 6 to over 70. She also acts as a consultant to smaller businesses. In this talk she will cover tried and tested strategies for setting your team up for success.

Transcript

1. SET UP FOR SUCCESS Jane Aus t in @msjaneaus t in
3. BABYLON HEALTH
4. HOW TO GET AHEAD IN HOUSE @ M S JA N E AU S T I N J A N E AU S T I N
5. B a by l o n h e a l t h Telemedicine and associated clinical systems AI powered triage and predictive health modelling tools Support and management of chronic diseases
6. BUILDING THE TEAM AT BABYLON HEALTH 6 TO OVER 79 IN 10 MONTHS
7. T O DAY DESIGN MATURITY CODIFYING THE PRACTICE TEAM STRUCTURE HIRING SCALING CULTURE, MEETINGS AND COMMUNICATION
8. 01 DESIGN MATURITY
9. L E V E L 1 L E V E L 3 L E V E L 2 L E V E L 4 Colouring in Embedded feature factory Data and research enabled Impacting strategy D E S I G N M AT U R I T Y . . x . . x
10. No objectives No metrics Success theatre Velocity is the prime metric You don’t acknowledge failure Roadmaps are all about prioritisation Chasing upfront revenue
11. Levelling up the UX maturity of your organisation isn't done by hiring a God-like designer, but by educating the least UX-competent influencer JARED SPOOL
12. J O U R N E Y M A P P I N G Combined all existing research and carried out new Collaborated with teams across the business to share knowledge Mapped each step of the journey, identified pain points, gaps and opportunities Plan for ongoing measurement and improvement and input into roadmaps
13. 0 2 TEAM STRUCTURE
14. e m b e d d e d s m a l l t e a m & a g e n c y c e n t r a l i s e d p a r t n e r s h i p c e n t r a l i s e d
15. O U T S O U R C E D T O A T H I R D P A R T Y a g e n c y
16. O N E T E A M T H A T S I T S T O G E T H E R c e n t r a l i s e d
17. D E S I G N E R S E M B E D D E D B U T C O N T R O L L E D C E N T R A L L Y c e n t r a l i s e d p a r t n e r s h i p
18. D E S I G N E R S I N S Q U A D S A N D E M P O W E R E D e m b e d d e d
19. 1 2 3 TECH T H R E E L E G G E D S T O O L DESIGN PRODUCT
20. 1 2 3 4 T H E Q UA D TECH DESIGN PRODUCT DATA & RESEARCH
21. PRODUCT DESIGN RESEARCH TECH Shaping the future of the Product Inspiring the world with Product Vision Generative research Summative research BUILDING,OWNING, RUNNING AND ITERATING GREAT PRODUCTS Building a great product Creating sustainable, scalable products Build the right thing Helping validate needs and value prop Crafting brilliant experiences Build the right thing Build the thing right Build the thing right
22. DESIGN MANAGER
23. DESIGN MANAGER LEAD DESIGNER
24. DESIGN MANAGER LEAD DESIGNER RESEARCH MANAGER
25. DESIGN MANAGER LEAD DESIGNER RESEARCH MANAGER DESIGNER RESEARCHER
26. DESIGN MANAGER LEAD DESIGNER RESEARCH MANAGER DESIGNER RESEARCHER LEAD DESIGNER DESIGNER RESEARCHER
27. DESIGN MANAGER LEAD DESIGNER RESEARCH MANAGER DESIGNER RESEARCHER LEAD DESIGNER DESIGNER RESEARCHER LEAD DESIGNER DESIGNER RESEARCHER
28. 0 3 HIRING
29. COMMUNICATION UI BRANDING VISUAL DESIGN UX DESIGN STRATEGY DISCOVERY QUAL RESEARCH DATA AND ANALYTICS WORKING WITH TECH AND PRODUCT TO ITERATE AND IMPROVE WORKING IN CROSS FUNCTIONAL AGILE TEAMS TECHNICAL KNOWLEDGE PROTOTYPING SYSTEMS THINKING STAKEHOLDER MANAGEMENT MOTION DESIGN DESIGN SYSTEMS DESIGN SYSTEMS
30. THANK
 YOU
31. COMPASSION . O U R P I L L A R S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP .
32. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . Is ethical and motivated by care for others
33. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . works in a straight- forward, collaborative and inclusive way and is non-political; Is ethical and motivated by care for others
34. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . works in a straight- forward, collaborative and inclusive way and is non-political; is tenacious, in the pursuit to delight our users. They strive for excellence in all they do and always look to improve our service and product Is ethical and motivated by care for others
35. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . works in a straight- forward, collaborative and inclusive way and is non-political; is tenacious, in the pursuit to delight our users. They strive for excellence in all they do and always look to improve our service and product regularly seeks to turn ideas into action and injects creativity into every touch point. They question common practice to challenge the norm; Is ethical and motivated by care for others
36. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . works in a straight- forward, collaborative and inclusive way and is non-political; is tenacious, in the pursuit to delight our users. They strive for excellence in all they do and always look to improve our service and product regularly seeks to turn ideas into action and injects creativity into every touch point. They question common practice to challenge the norm; frequently has a can- do attitude and a positive viewpoint Is ethical and motivated by care for others
37. COMPASSION . O U R VA L U E S INCLUSIVITY . TENACITY . CREATIVITY . POSITIVITY . OWNERSHIP . works in a straight- forward, collaborative and inclusive way and is non-political; is tenacious, in the pursuit to delight our users. They strive for excellence in all they do and always look to improve our service and product regularly seeks to turn ideas into action and injects creativity into every touch point. They question common practice to challenge the norm; frequently has a can- do attitude and a positive viewpoint takes ownership and always delivers against what is agreed Is ethical and motivated by care for others
38. W H AT T O L O O K F O R I N A P O R T F O L I O *Craft skills *Context for the work *What the candidate was responsible for *How they got to the solution - different routes, how the design evolved via feedback and research *Challenges, problems, what went wrong and how they fixed it (growth mindset) *What the business outcome was
39. INTERVIEWS
43. 
 
 
 Skills and how applied Quality of execution How was the work validated? Examples of initiative What did they change/improve? Describe biggest problem solved Walk through biggest decision made Describe likes, dislikes of the project What would they do differently now? What did they learn? What recognition did they receive? Overview of job, company Team and org structure Environment – pace, resources, how they responded What was their role? Walk through project and results What was the process? How did they use research? How did they assess the business impact? How did they assess this was the key thing to work on? What results were expected? What actually happened?

45. * SITUATION * TASK * ACTION * RESULT S TA R
46. ONBOARDIN G
47. 30/60/90 day plan Clear objectives Who they should meet and why Links to research Buddies Big presentation on history and other teams Keep reviewing the process O N B OA R D I N G
48. 0 4 CODIFYING THE PRACTICE
49. C A R E E R L A D D E R S
50. Solve specific function-level problems (e.g., "add to shopping cart")Is able to solve clearly defined problems Given specific product capabilities that need to be solved (e.g., Checkout process), Is able to develop solutions to ambiguous problem areas Leads the solution of a product area; connects that to broader product vision (e.g, product page and purchase experience) Starts to define the problem itself, Leads the solution of a product area; connects that to broader product vision Leads the solution of undefined problem spaces (e.g. “How can we reconsider how people look for and purchase items?") Quickly breaks down complex problems into potential solutions, knowns, and unknowns, in order to get to solid resolutions faster Establishes unmet needs Strategy and design or research for the entire product (e.g., "What is the end-to-end consumer experience?”) or leading special/innovation projects Leads and drives new brand, new UI for the entire product, strategy or other company wide highly impactful activity that creates meaningful change in the entire product, or business Defines the problem space, uncovers new problem areas, leads special/innovation projects Decisions have a direct impact JUNIOR DESIGNER SENIOR LEAD PRINCIPAL S C O P E
51. JUNIOR DESIGNER SENIOR LEAD DIRECTOR √ Doesn't take requirements as a given; makes sure there's a human perspective brought to bear Emerging recognition that it's not all about design, but how design contributes to a broader goal; recognizes business goals and technical constraints Clarifies success metrics and ties efforts toward delivering business value Understands how their work fits in to the overall Babylon system, identifies blockers and problems and actively works to fix them Uses understanding of impact and success metrics to focus their team's efforts Firm grasp of broader organisational context and goals Connects team's efforts with deep understanding of the organisation and the wider ecosystem that it operates in Developing an ability to articulate an inspiring vision Leads the conversations internally about the direction of major parts of the product or strategy, drives wide- team consensus to the adoption of this direction, and uses this direction to inspire the team Actions reflect holistic, integrated understanding of organisational context Appreciates and inputs into company level strategy Develops and articulates compelling vision for the team Working with partners and stakeholders, begins making real change in how the company approaches its business JUNIOR L E A D E R S H I P S K I L L S
52. Sketch by @mappletons
53. √ √
54. PROCESS SKILLS
55. √ √ Agile delivery The ability to ship quality products in a complex cross functional environment Breaking down complexity The ability to cope with, untangle and simplify complex problems and situations Business context The ability to look for, understand and use the needs and constraints of the business in your work Communication The ability to communicate well with those around you. Sensitivity to timeliness, medium, brevity and tone. Facilitation The ability to bring people together to craft an outcome Maintaining quality A critical Eye for quality of work in yourself and others Presentation skills the ability to present, tell stories and create a narrative about your work Process The ability to understand, use and improve working process for yourself and others Stakeholder management The ability to ensure that teams are protected and expectations are set correctly Systems thinking The ability to consider and design for the wider context of their work, in terms of both time and peers. Technical understanding The ability to empathise with engineers and technical peers, and write code Using data An understanding of the power of data in informing their decisions, and an ability to harness that data. User focus The mindset that defaults to thinking about the needs of a user primarily, advocating for them and building real users into their everyday work Vision The ability to imagine and design the future and proactively drive towards it PROCESS SKILLS
56. B U S I N E S S C O N T E X T
57. √ √
58. AG I L E D E L I V E RY
59. • Building on dev rituals and collaborative grooming to ensure devs understand the flow, the context and the big picture • Whole team kick offs that design can help facilitate • Research as a team sport or at the very least everyone on the team knows why you are building something, what problem you are solving and what the outcome for the user should be • Understanding effort v value • Breaking work into shippable increments and measuring impact AG I L E D E L I V E RY
60. PEOPLE SKILLS
61. √ Culture and togetherness The ability to bring groups together and foster a happy and productive environment Developing others The ability to develop the skillsets and abilities of your team Giving council The ability to draw on experience to help decision-makers to move forwards and grow Giving feedback The ability to consistently give good feedback, both positive and constructive Hiring and org design The ability to understand the needs of the business and ensure that your team can meet them Mentorship The ability to guide others in their personal and professional development Team leadership The ability to maintain quality, efficiency and establish trust in your ability √
62. F E E D B AC K
63. PERSONAL SKILLS
64. Adaptability The ability or willingness to change in order to suit different conditions Advocacy The ability to advocate for yourself and other people, projects and ideas. A positive attitude to change and progress. Attention to detail The ability to focus on details and spot issues with your own and others' work Bias to action Comfort with making decisions at pace, and trying over planning Creativity The ability to think of new solutions and ideas, even with significant constraints Curiosity The desire to know or learn new things Ethics Understanding the impact of your work and behaving well Empathy The ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation Growth mindset Looking to learn and grow through experience, not stand still with their existing abilities Humility The quality of caring more about what other people need and want than about what you yourself need and want Initiative The ability to use your judgment to make decisions and do things without needing to be told what to do Pragmatism The ability to deal with problems based on conditions that really exist, rather than following fixed theories, ideas, or rules Resilience The ability to bounce back and learn from hardship and unexpected change Self-awareness The ability to have good knowledge and judgment about yourself √ √
65. G R O W T H M I N D S E T
66. B I A S T O AC T I O N
67. TALENT REVIEWS & SUCCESSION PL ANNIN G
69. TOOLIN G
70. DESIGN SYSTEM (BABYLON DNA)
72. PROCESS
73. 0 5 SCALING CULTURE, MEETINGS AND COMMUNICATION
78. TUESDAY ALL HANDS VISUAL STAND UP SHOUT OUTS GOLD MINE VISUAL CRIT FUNTIME FRIDAY WINS R I T UA L S
79. VISIBILT Y
80. No matter how well a company’s design culture has been articulated, communicating it to a diverse set of teams will make or break the effort. Every division of an enterprise has its own goals to achieve and if they don’t understand how good design is helping them, it’ll feel like extra work that doesn’t have a relevant outcome Ian Armstrong Principal designer Dell studio
81. Demonstrate your impact in a way that resonates and is accessible Use data, benchmarking and other tools to make your work concrete Talk about the ROI of their investment E VA N G E L I S M
82. Strategi es for scaling design
83. Understand the design maturity of your organisation and make your plans accordingly Think carefully about your team structure Understand your existing team and craft a hiring plan Start with senior people and then trust them to build their teams Codify your practice - career ladders, design system and process What works in one phase may not work in an other - continually monitor and course correct Defend your culture Make your work visible to each other and to the wider business
84. THANK 
 YOU @msjaneaustin jane.austin@babylonhealth.co
85. we’re hiring @msjaneaustin jane.austin@babylonhealth.co