1. TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

2. We are an experience
and service design company.
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

3. We believe in the power of design to
make ideas tangible and turn them
into successful products and services.
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

4. We design products and services
that engage people in memorable
and meaningful experiences, while
delivering business value to our clients.
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

5. We put people at the core,
both when we work on
projects and when we
work on our own
company culture.
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

6. We are a team of thinkers and makers, designers,
researchers and front-end developers
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

7. Jake Knapp - Design Sprint 2017 and 2018
We create internationally
renowned events, we talk
regularly at Italian
conferences and nurture
our local Digital Design
community.
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

8. 4
national events
organized or hosted
4
international events
organized
10+
Italian event
sponsored
250+
attendees
20+
talks and workshops
at Italian conferences
12+
countries
represented
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

9. Design + Business
Our design begins with the whole
company involved, stakeholders on
board and clear, shared goals.
We design and then measure impact.
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

10. Modeling Roles
Modeling Culture
TAG Late Night
Milan, March 1st 2019
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

11. Ilaria Mauric
Head of design
@ilariamauric
Nicolò Volpato
Founder & CEO
@nicolovolpato
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

12. TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019
Let’s play!

13. TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

14. Sarah Nelson
Leading Design 16
London
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019
5 11 20 35 70 150 >150

15. • team of 11
• end of year retrospective
reveals some mismatches
• Agile reset
• team of 5
• clearer vision
• mindset switch
• we start building a
team
• team of 13
• culture and values - round 2
• Talent Canvas
• skills matrix
• we launch our new brand
2013
2004
2016
2017
• team of 8
• we look for a brand
that tells who we are
2015
2018
• 2 people
• small design studio
• team of professionals
who work together
• team of 16 (+1)
• retrospective: how do I
grow? how can I
contribute? how do I … ?
😓
• roles matrix and career
paths
2014
• we start working on
culture and values
as as team
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

16. 5
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

17. 9 - 12
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

18. 12
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

19. 12
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

20. 12
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

21. Labeling roles is not easy
and is a consequence of our
company culture
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

22. TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

23. Internal roles might be different
from the ones we use to advertise
our services on the market
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

24. TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

25. Roles Culture
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

26. UX Designer is not a role,
UX is the outcome of team
collaboration and multiple skills
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

27. Market roles
Seniority
Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

28. Show me the matrix
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

29. RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECH
Role = skills + responsibilities
SKILLS RESPON.
IXD
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

30. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
Interaction Designer Service Designer
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

31. Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
IxD as the foundation
Service Design as an upgrade
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

32. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
UI Designer Brand Experience Principal
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

33. PM SD RES IXD UI FE TECHGLOBAL
Design Ops is definitely a thing
DESIGN
OPERATIONS
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

34. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
Frontend Developer Design Engineer
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

35. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
Vertical growth is possible
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

36. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
Horizontal growth is possible as well
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

37. Specialists
• specific skills
• innovators
• “evangelists”
• technicians
• efficient
• focus on quality
Generalists
• cross-discipline
• enablers
• coordinators
• big picture
• effective
• focus on outcomes
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

38. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL ICON ADMINSD CONTENT
Project Manager is not a role
but a set of responsibilities and skills
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

39. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
Design Director
Work in
progress…
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

40. Managers used to be practitioners
and have strong design experience
Mid
Senior
Director
PM SD RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

41. Management is a choice.
It’s not a promotion,
it’s a career change.
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

42. Designing teams is a design exercise
and is human-centered
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

43. Henrik Rydberg
Interaction 16
Helsinki
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

44. Junior
Mid
Senior
Director
PM RES IXD UI DOPS FE TECHGLOBAL ICON ADMIN
Help Tangible to grow as a company
business + market + people
SD CONTENT
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

45. Help team growth
• Hire more accurately
• Set clearer expectations about roles
• Balance teams
• Stronger competences
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

46. Help individual growth
• Clear career paths
• Different options to grow
• More objective one-on-one reviews
• Better spending of the training budget
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

47. So far, so good ❤
• Feedback
• Talent Canvas
• Conversations
• Team morale
• Trust
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

48. Tricky… 🤔
• From personal to relationships
• From rules to a playbook
• Feedback from the market
• Scalability and sustainability as a
company
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

49. TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

50. Possible shitstorm ahead 💩
• Hierarchy: needed? How much?
• Economic transparency: desirable?
• Salaries and bonuses: are they tied to
the roles matrix? How?
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

51. Things to monitor
• Eyes open on behaviors (unhealthy
competition, envy, conflicts…)
• One-to-one followups and updates
over time
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

52. Things to remember
• It’s a process, not a tool
• Alive and iterative, never done
• Shared and explained
• The goal is autonomy, not control
TAG Late Night
Milano, March 1st 2019

53. Doing the work of translating someone else’s methods
to fit your culture is hard work. It needs to be designed.
It needs to be assimilated, not just applied.
—Dave Malouf, IXDA founder
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

54. Start from people
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019

55. Ilaria Mauric
Head of design
@ilariamauric
ilaria@tangible.is
Nicolò Volpato
Founder & CEO
@nicolovolpato
nick@tangible.is
Thank you!
TAG Late night
Milano, March 1st 2019