Ready the Climbing Gear: Design Leader as Change Agent

Product Design and UX Beyond Agile Structures, Part II

February 19, 2022

In my last post, I outlined the benefits of the Centralized Partnership model for product design teams as proposed in Peter Merholz and Kristin Skinner’s 2018 book Org Design for Design Orgs. While the book is excellent at selling the organizational construct and its benefits, it does not explain what it takes to implement the change in complex organizations where strong personalities clash, turf wars abound, and colleagues are, well, just as unpredictably human as you and I are. Luckily, over the course of three years at a Fortune 500 I succeeded in detonating many of the landmines on the climb to Change Peak so you can ascend more safely. The first, most critical step starts at basecamp, where you will ask yourself hard questions, and ensure you brought the right gear and climbing buddies to make it past the tree line.

Do I want to die on this hill? Er, mountain?

For anyone who has worked closely with me, “Do we want to die on this hill?”’ is a familiar question. While it might come across as defeatist or even problem-avoidant, it is always meant as a way to pause and think through how energy might best be spent to impart meaningful, lasting improvement within an organization. Some things may absolutely be worth it, like complex interconnected change initiatives meant to radically advance positive outcomes, while others may be less critical to the bigger picture and serve as a distraction and waste of precious energy for leaders (there are much more talented designers around to answer that border-radius question than me, anyway).

Choosing a “hill to die on,” then, is a strategic choice about how to spend your limited time and energy. Being designers, we are adept at leveraging design thinking and ethnographic observation to uncover untold quantities of hills, or opportunities, to attack. For leaders, the hard part is identifying which hills are actually pebbles and which are the Everests that can bring about the most beneficial change at scale.

Choosing to fundamentally alter a Product Design team’s ways of working can require an immense amount of personal energy, at least in my experience within a large enterprise. The challenge undoubtedly will vary as every company and context is different, although it is not far-fetched to think something so radical could be divisive in smaller companies and startups, especially those where strong personalities reign. The years of consultancy-fueled agile and product transformation soothsaying has created an environment where embedded teams are the standard, and the simple suggestion of another model can lead to outsized backlash. Before embarking on any sort of change journey, including one supporting the Centralized Partnership model, the following should be considered to confirm you’ve found the right hill and you’re ready to charge at it:

Is there truly a problem requiring radical change?

Obviously, if you have gotten this far you are probably considering Centralized Partnership for your design team, or another change initiative. Before taking action, it is critical to confirm that the change is not simply for change’s sake. Is the customer’s experience fragmented due to siloed teams, and does data exist that supports the conclusion? Are product teams failing to look left and right to understand and implement a broader experience strategy? Is there even an “experience strategy” to begin with? Have key results suffered through the experience? Are your designers feeling disconnected, frustrated, bored, or jaded? Are teams constantly in reactive mode, instead of being strategically proactive? If the answer is yes to most if not all of these, and other solutions have been tried only to fail, it might be time to begin the ascent, with Centralized Partnership being one of several possible peaks.

Can I form a “coalition”?

Creating, growing, and maintaining partnerships is central to a design leader’s role (really all roles), as multiple, diverse disciplines and perspectives are needed to realize and enrich the future. Do you have strong relationships with key business stakeholders, fellow product leaders, and engineering partners? Do you have the support of your direct manager and even your direct reports? Building a tight coalition of allies early makes the climb much easier; there is always someone there to pulley you up or catch you before you fall. If strong relationships are not yet forged, energy will be better spent building them before moving onward and upward. This can be acutely challenging when joining a new organization.

Who needs to “sign off”?

The answer to this is highly context dependent. In some organizations where design is less mature, executive leaders might be less design-engaged and leave space for Design, Product, and Engineering to experiment. In others where Design sits at the executive table, either with a dedicated design executive or CEO or COO with a design mindset, the case for change must be airtight. Think through who must be brought along for the ride, and what it will take to win them over. As a general rule, having a solid business case tied directly to measurable outcomes and commitments, along with an elevator pitch summary, is helpful to have regardless of the parties you must convince.

Do you prefer to ask permission or for forgiveness?

Nothing will support the case for change better, no matter what change it is, than direct proof of its effectiveness over the status quo. Finding opportunities to experiment with the concepts of Centralized Partnership on a small scale with clear success measures set and recorded, helped me fast track the cause. Depending on the culture of your organization and its leadership, it may take an exorbitant amount of time to get approval for a test, or the idea may be struck down entirely (see above). I am typically one to ask forgiveness and not permission, and while I have not yet been fired because of my calculated gambits, the decision to subtly disrupt in the name of improvement is not always one to be taken lightly. To be a change agent sometimes means to be afraid, only to push through the fear and create the future.

How dire is the situation?

The answer to this is often times dependent on the type of business or industry you and your teams work within. For example, for customer-facing e-commerce products where disjointed interaction flows or simple button placement can lead to massive revenue losses, the business case for change becomes dire. Money is literally being burnt given the existing status quo and it can be easily proven. For enterprise software — also an area where I have some experience — long-term contracts with clients can mitigate the immediate impact of poor experience design. The longer time scales and feedback loops do not mean improvement and change should not happen; it just means there is more time to build a case and implement change with less disruption. Returning to the concept of energy focus, the question of “direness” affects how quickly your energy must be expended to improve the situation faced.

Do I care… too much?

Due to the nature of what makes them great designers, design leaders often hold a perspective that can bring light to systemic challenges like few others. On the surface, this seems like a great skill to have when, in truth, it can be a curse. Seeing multitudes of anti-patterns in need of confrontation and correction can easily lead to decision paralysis and a sense of helplessness. It is easy to fall into the “hero mentality” — that if no one else sees it, no one else can solve it. This thinking is a trap than can endanger your health and your relationships, and not only at work. Frequently pause and remember these three things when enacting change:

  1. The work will always be there tomorrow.

  2. You are never alone.

  3. There are more important things in life than your organizational model. Like mountain climbing.

Next Up

With these questions answered and convictions set firm, it is time to begin our ascent. In Part 3 of Product Design and UX Beyond Agile Structures, focus will shift back to the Centralized Partnership itself: how to structure design teams and kill the myth of the unicorn once and for all.

Product Design and UX Beyond Agile Structures Series