Dear (none)Designer,
Welcome back to the sixth Design at Scale™ Newsletter – focusing on innovation and how design drives change in a large organisation.
There would be no update if the designer did not work for or with the British Broadcasting Corporation, known as the BBC. Many talented designers have had the opportunity to experience the nuances of fast-paced broadcast design.
Besides the BBC, ITV, Sky, and many other broadcast media houses, they all tend to have very product-led cultures. Therefore, the design function is primarily organised in a central team and later redistributed to separate design and product teams.
This creates two possible challenges for the designer IC. First, having two or sometimes multiple bosses. Product Owner, Line manager, Design Director, and the Producer – all debating that the priority of their task or request is above anything else. A recent mentee has brought this up in a very polite question:
"Who do I serve?"
The trick here is that serving everyone you serve no one.
Later in Design at Scale™ – Academy, we'll explore the Network effect in large organisations that helps individuals like yourself navigate these situations. Additionally, it's essential to understand the organisation's maturity, whether the communication channels are established for operational excellence, and whether people are effectively informed about what is happening.
In this scenario, the Design Director was the key stakeholder. In less than 4 weeks, we have mitigated all tensions and broadened the design on the track, so to speak.
How?
Multiple people have different objectives on how and why they want to be informed. Some seeks the power, some are seeking control, some are influencers, and some are decision makers.
Product Owner – Inform on a daily basis, ToDo, In Progress, Done, so-called status report.
Line manager – Inform every week, RAG report
Design Director – Inform me about the proposition, customer, business, objectives, KPIs, etc. – also how to communicate back to CPO and the Producer.
Producer – every other day. Is the product in good shape to run smoothly, for live streaming or broadcasting?
Y/N.
If "No", how do we mitigate the issue at hand?
Can design help, and if so, how?
This goes back to the Design Director – this way, the flow in the organisation stays intact and everyone gets their portion of peace.
What we have done specifically.
1/ We've set up the Design Drop – and email, message or other piece of communication where she can communicate to a broader audience what happened. What are the blockers and potential threats?
2/ Mo-We-Fr – she communicated design challenges and how she wanted to approach them. In a very old-school email style, she stated the problem, provided a solution, and asked for direction.
3/ Weekly, she has sent a summary email to all project leaders, highlighting the challenges for an open discussion.
4/ Finally, she organised a small show and tell for her team to see where her thinking is and how the leaders contributed to unblock the decisions, sharing the credit with her supervisor.
This way, she simply turned the situation to her advantage and leveraged it to gain more time with her leadership team, as she presented problems and potential solutions.
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 next newsletter, featuring more strategies and success stories from our incredible community.
Happy scaling, team!
J+
