HSBC | 2021

Design Management
From Siloed to Empowered

Overview 

In this design management case study, I covered the process and people development aspects of running a siloed design team of 10 supporting 25 projects in 9 markets into an empowered powerhouse that can promote User Centred Design culture and solve problems on its own.

My Role

As a people manager of 10 designers, I identified issues faced by the design team that came along with a growing team and came up with frameworks and actions to solve those problems.

Challenge

When I inherited a design team in 2020, they were working in silos and had no design management. This created a chain of problems that I refer to as a “Cycle of doom”:

  • Wasted time — Scattered information leads to time wasted and reduced productivity.

  • Wasted work — Failure to use Design systems resulted in the creation of new wasted design patterns

  • Long development time — Projects took 3 times the estimation to launch than we expected.

  • Bad UX — Inconsistent patterns created a bad UX

  • Unempowered team — Teams felt disconnected and disjointed, some churned as a result.

Solution

I addressed the chain of problems by focusing on Product, Process, and People to create a “Flywheel of success”.

  • Product documentation—UX blueprint, Product portfolio, Design system

  • Process improvement—Kick-off questions, Design review ritual, Office hours, Quarterly planning, Design Process, Design initiatives, Stakeholder handling guidelines.

  • People development—Team learning cadence, Standardized hiring and Promotion process, Team social event

Outcome

25 Projects
delivered

Delivered 25 projects on time to 9 markets in 12 months

 

60% Design
reused

Able to reuse 60% of design components
on new projects

 

50% Dev time
reduced

Decreased development time by up to 50%

 
 

100% NPS score

Attendee gave 100% NPS score for the ‘Learning & Sharing’ program I created

 

3 Design promotions

3 seniors were promoted to design leads

 

The process

Understanding what was broken in the team

I ran a kickoff meeting with design managers and designers to lay out what we thought was broken about the way we work. I provided 3 pillars to facilitate the discussion:

  • Product —  Can designers easily find product-related information to understand how the product was designed and why?

  • Process — Do we have solid processes in place to ensure consistently high-quality output?

  • People —Do people feel empowered? Do they believe they can grow here?

Organize team challenges

We categorize the challenges into groups such as:

  • It is hard to find product and people information

  • Hard to fight off unreasonable demands

  • Lack of universal standard

Once we felt that we are clear about the problem space, we began to ideate possible solutions to solve the problems via the “How Might We” exercise and a dot-voted on tasks to focus on.

Product Knowledge & Tools

UX blueprint & Information Architecture

Problem solved: Figuring out how our product works was tough.

We had 5 products in 9 markets, each with different features and user flows based on local needs. UX blueprints and Information Architecture helps the team understand the product better:

  • High-level UX blueprint  -  Gives an overview of the main user flow steps.

  • Low-level UX blueprint - Zooms in on the specific components used

  • Information Architecture -Shows how features are connected in a structured way.

Product portfolio

Problem solved: Difficulty in finding information

I organized blueprints by products and markets, gathering all research, design files, and decisions in one place.

Designers often need to launch a feature from one market to a new one. To tackle this, we picked the most complicated market for each feature, calling it a “Flagship.” When launching in a new country, designers can refer to the “Flagship” market, make easy adjustments and saves time.

Each document has an assigned owner with a Slack contact for direct questions. Auto reminders ensure the documentation stays up-to-date.

Stakeholder handling guideline

Problem solved: Pushing back to stakeholders was a challenge. 

  • Rules of Engagement—  Not every situation is worth a fight. This framework precisely outlines when a designer should engage and how much effort to invest.

  • Sample response scripts — successful scripts used in the past by experienced designers. Designers can plug and play these scripts based on different scenarios.

  • Hot-seat sessions —  We paired the above with role-playing sessions in our ‘Learn & Sharing’ meetings to help designers improve their skills in dealing with stakeholders.

Process improvment

Project kick-off templates

Problem solved: Not knowing how to ask the right questions, leading to surprises midway through the project and causing delays. 

Kick-off questions — I crafted a set of questions to pose during project kick-offs, aiming to unearth local differences early on.

Kick-off meeting template —  Clear agenda to encouraged my team to use it for efficient and focused meetings.

These standardized questions and meeting templates offer a consistent approach for everyone involved, ensuring a thorough exploration of common aspects in localization projects and minimizing surprises.

Design review forums

Problem solved: Inconsitent and poor quality design, lack of informal forum to bounce off ideas

I introduced a more relaxed session called “Wealth Design Review”. Designers can show their WIP and get feedback from fellow designers. This happens alongside our bigger design review session for the whole discipline.

We provided a format for giving feedback — Like/EBI (Even better if)/Questions/Ideas. This way, we created a safe space where designers feel comfortable sharing their work and getting helpful feedback.

Subject Matter Expert system

Problem solved: Difficulty in finding individuals well-versed in specific features to provide help.

Design Lead as SME— Each product is assigned a design lead as the SME. They have in-depth knowledge of the product, are capable of answering hard questions, and responsible in conduct regular alignment meetings with designers working on that product.

This SME system ensures a dedicated and knowledgeable point person for each product and streams communication.

Design initiatives

Problem solved: Ad-hoc dealing with design management challenge

Instead of reacting as problems arise, I established a bi-weekly meeting for team leads to sync up. During these meetings, we review the Kanban board of team-running issues, prioritize them, and brainstorm solutions.

We created internal projects we create to make our team’s life better. For example, we developed a “Quarterly planning process” to manage design workload more effectively.

Design office hours

Problem solved: Lack of informal environment to share ideas, get help from managers, and unblock issues.

Design Manager Office Hours — This happens Bi-weekly, it’s a time when any designer can book a 30-minute slot to chat about their designs, brainstorm ideas, and tackle project issues. It’s not a one-on-one meeting for career talks; it’s all about diving into design. We have separate meetings for 1:1 career talks.

UI Consultation with UI Lead — Similar function with above but for UI specific issues.

People development

Learn and Share sessions

Problem solved: Lack of product knowledge and soft skills to handle stakeholders.

  1. Product Familiarization — Periodic presentations from business-side SME to clarify financial concepts and regulatory requirements.

  2. Design Exchange — revolves around sharing industry news to enhance collective awareness and encourage discussions on relevant design topics.

  3. Skill Enhancement — Address crucial topics such as responding to stakeholder demands and conducting effective kick-offs through hot seat and role-playing exercises.

Standardize hiring and promotion process

Problem solved: No clear questions, unclear roles for hiring managers, and too much time wasted on emails with HR for scheduling

  • Streamlined candidate selection, interview schedule coordination, and quick access to candidate’s resumes and portfolios

  • Defined clear duties for hiring managers during interviews. Implemented auto-interview reminders and feedback through Slack.

  • Standardized interview questions and transparent evaluation framework for both hiring and promotions ensured consistency in assessing each designer’s performance

Team social event

Problem solved: Remote team lacking connection

I initiated virtual lunch sessions during the pandemic and in-person social mixers within the design team. I also organized cross-functional events to enhance collaboration. Additionally, urged local teams in India and China, to do the same and secured funding to support these initiatives.

Result

Flywheel of success

Putting all these component together, we have created a well oiled machine that runs in a positive loop.

Working in collaboration - Single source of truth foresters communications, knowledge sharing & reduces surprises during development.

Work is reusable - Designs are consistent so the codes are also reusable. Project took less time to deliver and freed us to work on forward thinking ideas that brought more value to the company.

Creating good UX - Consistent design pattern brought good experience to customers. Teams were trained to document best practices to pass on to future generations.

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