My presentation focusing on building your best design team, and providing a framework for framing your team. As prepared exclusively for the Leading Design Conference in London.

1. Building your A-Team
25 October 2016 | Leading Design conference 2016
Jason Mesut
Resonant Design and Innovation
@jasonmesut

2. We’re in interesting times
Exciting & challenging

3. There is
Growing demand

4. Organisations have
Desire to scale

5. A frustrating
Shortage of supply

6. A s**storm of
Charlatans
Product designers
UX/UI designers
UX engineers
Post discipline designer
UX architects

7. Ever-changing
Fierce competition

8. People that don’t stick around
Fickle talent
More money
Better process
Nicer office
Bigger team
More worthy projects
Variety

10. Packed diary
Never enough time

11. How do you
Build a
great team
that lasts?
Q:
Given…
– High demand
– Supply shortage
– S**tstorm of charlatans
– Fierce competition
– Fickle talent
– Never enough time
– Desire to scale

12. How do you
Build your
A-Team?
Q:

13. – London focus
– 17 years experience
– Mostly agency/consultancy
– Long-term projects
– Hired 100s of designers
– Reviewed 1,000s of cvs + folios
– Built small and large teams
– Advise others
Caveat
Personal
perspective

14. Caveat
Haven’t built a
team in years*
* Yes, I got sick of it

15. Caveat
No silver
bullets

16. Given the complexity
Where should
you focus?

17. Key team building activities
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Manage those that don’t and can’t fit into your team
Develop individuals, scale the team, increase its presence it
Flex to changing needs and the team dynamics itself
Get out to let others grow and shape things without dependence on you

18. They are parallel, not sequential
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Join date
Changing context over time

19. A focus for the next 15 minutes
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Manage those that don’t and can’t fit into your team
Develop individuals, scale the team, increase its presence it
Flex to changing needs and the team dynamics itself
Get out to let others grow and shape things without a dependence on you

20. A focus for the next 15 minutes
Frame
Hire
Scope and position the team and the roles within it
Attract and assess the fit of people to your team
Sets the direction
for everything else

21. Frame
Understand and position your team
within its current and future context

22. How framing helps
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit
Helps all key steps of building your A-Team
Sell to and assess candidates
Manage performance and fit against
Defines shape of future team, how you sell it and how you develop others
Gives you something to adapt from and to
Gives you clarity on whether to stay, go or move

23. Hire
Honestly represent your positioning to
others to ensure the right fit and manage
expectations

24. You want to
Attract and assess
talent to your frame

25. You should
Create a positive
environment
Honest
Fair
Respectful
Professional
Open

26. So that
People have the best
opportunity to shine

27. Clarity helps the hiring process
A good framing of your team helps you
1. Write a unique job spec
2. Review cvs and folios
3. Interview candidates
4. Profile them
5. Assess their skills
6. Check references
7. Negotiate a package

28. How should you
frame and hire
your A-Team?

29. Think
W A T C H

30. Think
W A T C HWork Approach Team Career Help

31. W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
What type of work do
you (want to) do?

32. – Research
– Strategy
– Concept
– Delivery
– Optimisation
– Web
– Mobile
– Desktop
– Products
– Environments
– eCommerce
– Marcomms
– Enterprise apps
– Financial tools
– Consumer apps
– Finance
– Healthcare
– Retail
– Startups
– Big brand…
Frame
Hire
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Level of
innovation
Medium Nature Who for

33. Frame
Hire
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Relevant or transferable
experience
Interests and
reservations
Level of
innovation
Medium Nature Who for

34. .wordpress.com
slideshare.com/
81,765 views
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Introduce yourselfEmployers will want to know who you are, and if people
(the team and your clients) are going to get along with you.
They also want to know what makes you different to
everyone else.
blog posts you have written)
LinkedIn references)
Demonstrate your working
the result
Share your project experience
and structured case studies that
research or analysis uncovered)
involvement (e.g. increased revenue, happier customers)
Structure with a clear journey and strong narrative
Work out a clear structure, and try to stick to it throughout
Don’t let the medium or the design get in the way
access to your content?
Keep it real
UX Portfolio Tips
2
1
3
includ

37. W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
How do you approach
the work you do?

38. – UCD
– Service Design
– Lean
– XP / SCRUM
– Organisation
– Proximity
– Philosophies
– Time
Methods + mindset Inter-team collaborationFrame
Hire
– JTBD
– JFDI
– CHAOS
– Double Diamond
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help

39. Methods + mindset Inter-team collaborationFrame
Hire Alignment Flexibility to change
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help

40. It’s hard to assess
someone’s approach

41. Assessing approach
Design challenges
offer context control

43. Design challenges
They are
flawed
– False negatives + positives
– False context
– Take time
– Puts people off

45. Design challenges
Not all bad – Understand their flaws
– Appreciate the positives
– Focus on approach
– Use sparingly

46. W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
What’s your
team like?

47. Frame
Hire
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
– Individuals
– Skills
– Quality bar
– How you talk
about them
– Shape
– Reporting lines
– Project vs.
functional
– Culture
– Socials
– Official get
togethers
People Structure Intra + inter
team

48. Frame
Hire Role they play Informal references
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
People Structure Intra + inter
team

49. Profile
Soft skills
How do they engage with others and how do they think?

52. Profile
Hard skills and
expertise
The craft execution skills

53. Popular, reductive, bastardisation of Adaptive Path framework

58. Profile
Shape the role
and the talent
–What do you need?
–Where do you/they think they are?

60. How do you support
career development?
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help

61. Frame
Hire
– Train
– Advise
– Coach
– Monitor
– Review
– Assess
– Progress
– Incentivise
– Praise
Develop
individual
Manage
performance
Reward and
recognise
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help

62. Frame
Hire
Journey
Develop
individual
Manage
performance
Reward and
recognise
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Work / life
balance
Future Personal
situation

63. Experience
Aptitude
Aspiration
What have they got evidence of doing?
Where do their skills and temperament seem to align?
Where do they want to develop?
Identify capabilities
and growth areas

64. Over 70 areas and growing
Techniques, methods, approaches

65. W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Where do you
need help?

66. Frame
Hire
– Competition
– Pace
– Quality
– Role
– Culture
– Expertise
Organisation
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Team You
– Time
– Support
– Sounding board

67. Frame
Hire Experience
Organisation
Skills
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help
Team You
Perspective Desire

68. Key takeaways
– Create a positive environment to assess people fairly
– Profile what you need and assess against that
– Use design challenges to understand approach but
beware false positives + negatives
– Frame your A-Team and the roles within it

69. 6 key activities for growing a team
Frame
Hire
Fire
Grow
Adapt
Exit

70. To frame, think
W A T C H
Work Approach Team Career Help

71. Thank you
Jason Mesut
Resonant Design and Innovation
@jasonmesut
slideshare.com/jasonmesut
betteruxportfolios.wordpress.com