Dear (none)Designer,
Welcome back to the fifth Design at Scale™ Newsletter – focusing on innovation and how design drives change within large organisations.
Today, I'll reflect on the work at SONY Europe. A well-diversified European team at Sony Europe was one of the most outstanding examples of top talent. Each designer was responsible for the E2E development of one feature. Working under one collective model that represents the Sony family and its competitive advantage in the TV industry.
To some, a hierarchy might be confusing and complicated to accept. To others, it's like notes in a symphony. The often-debated dependency paradigm, where your (designer's) work depends on someone else's work, is simply unavoidable. In the Sony environment, it felt like second nature to all my colleagues. That is why the adoption of the same was straightforward.
I learned that the paradigm of "you shape the environment, and the environment shapes you" is most common in the majority of Japanese companies. This absolute systemisation of work has a significant impact on productivity. It also empowers transparency across colleagues.
Often criticised, a deep hierarchy can be a burden to some, especially when the dependent awaits a decision and relies on another mandate to give the green light to proceed. In product design delivery, we often design screens based on technology, chipset, resolution, or load time. Having a deep understanding of all parts and how they are made, as well as what could influence the final experience, is vital for the organisation's (let alone the designers') success.
The learning here was that shorter weekly sprints provide us with the flexibility to reprioritise every week and focus on the week's increments instead of elaborating on big roadmaps and roadblocks, as well as dependencies. You can really burn a lot of time if you need to reprioritise. On average, every reprioritisation costs between 20-30% of the team's productive time.
That has a significant impact on the design team of three and the development team of 60 people.
Our Product Owner, Scrum Master and Solution Architect, in one person, introduced daily stand-ups and drop-offs. It has nothing to do with perfection, only with delivery. We designers shared daily increments and became better at it – which drove better decision-making at scale. Everyone has access to our repository and can see our latest designs.
From wires to pixel-perfect detailed designs in one week.
It is a small yet impactful increment that everyone can celebrate, rely on, and make a decision based on. This becomes a catalyst of a structured Sony Design Team – do not make design complicated.
That's all for this edition! I hope these insights were valuable and sparked new ideas for scaling your design propositions. Remember, the journey from concept to widespread impact is a shared one, and your experiences are invaluable. Keep experimenting, keep learning, and stay tuned for our following newsletter, featuring more strategies and success stories from our incredible community.
Happy scaling!
J+
