This document outlines a proposed career progression model for designers at a company. It includes 12 levels from Assistant Product Designer to SVP of Product Design. Each level provides details on functional knowledge and scope, with higher levels taking on more strategic work, leadership responsibilities, and external representation. The goal is to formally define expectations and provide guidance for career growth to help connect people to purpose and address issues like high employee turnover rates.
As leaders, creating equity and connecting our people to purpose is one of our most important responsibilities. In this talk, I share the impact that career progression ladders have and some guiding principles on developing one for your organization.
Presentation from my keynote at the Idean UX Summit 11 in San Francisco. This presentation shares IBM's journey to drive delightful experiences at scale across its products and offerings. This presentation details IBM's investment in design thinking and user experience (UX), in terms of talent, design studios, and best practices. This presentation also shows a preview of the IBM Design Language.
Pushing DesignOps’ Influence into New Global Markets - P. Bertini & A. Mengon...Patrizia Bertini
DesignOps is a fast-growing discipline throughout the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. However, in many countries DesignOps is still an immature and emerging discipline. What are the key challenges and what’s missing in the DesignOps’ narrative to support the development of the practice in new global markets? We’ll look at two case studies in Latam and Italy to identify the trends and the ways to push DesignOps boundaries around the world.
Presented by Patrizia Bertini and Alexandra Mengoni Leon at Rosenfeld DesignOps Summit 2022
DesignOps supports design teams (Interaction'23)Peter Boersma
Recently, several responsibilities of design managers, particularly those that focus on improving the organization of design work, have been re-assigned to DesignOps specialists. By now, the field of DesignOps has its own communities, conferences, and education programs.
This talk gives an overview - and some details - of how DesignOps specialists can support design teams and is based on the presenter’s experience as someone who has had the DesignOps mindset forever, who needed DesignOps services for his teams, and who has had the role of DesignOps Manager at Miro.
This is a condensation of InVisions DesignOps Handbook on https://www.designbetter.co/designops-handbook plus some additionel notes and quotes from podcasts and articles. These slides are put together in order to create a better overview of all the areas and focuses in DesignOps
As leaders, creating equity and connecting our people to purpose is one of our most important responsibilities. In this talk, I share the impact that career progression ladders have and some guiding principles on developing one for your organization.
Presentation from my keynote at the Idean UX Summit 11 in San Francisco. This presentation shares IBM's journey to drive delightful experiences at scale across its products and offerings. This presentation details IBM's investment in design thinking and user experience (UX), in terms of talent, design studios, and best practices. This presentation also shows a preview of the IBM Design Language.
Pushing DesignOps’ Influence into New Global Markets - P. Bertini & A. Mengon...Patrizia Bertini
DesignOps is a fast-growing discipline throughout the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. However, in many countries DesignOps is still an immature and emerging discipline. What are the key challenges and what’s missing in the DesignOps’ narrative to support the development of the practice in new global markets? We’ll look at two case studies in Latam and Italy to identify the trends and the ways to push DesignOps boundaries around the world.
Presented by Patrizia Bertini and Alexandra Mengoni Leon at Rosenfeld DesignOps Summit 2022
DesignOps supports design teams (Interaction'23)Peter Boersma
Recently, several responsibilities of design managers, particularly those that focus on improving the organization of design work, have been re-assigned to DesignOps specialists. By now, the field of DesignOps has its own communities, conferences, and education programs.
This talk gives an overview - and some details - of how DesignOps specialists can support design teams and is based on the presenter’s experience as someone who has had the DesignOps mindset forever, who needed DesignOps services for his teams, and who has had the role of DesignOps Manager at Miro.
This is a condensation of InVisions DesignOps Handbook on https://www.designbetter.co/designops-handbook plus some additionel notes and quotes from podcasts and articles. These slides are put together in order to create a better overview of all the areas and focuses in DesignOps
Measuring & Evaluating Your DesignOps PracticeDave Malouf
This premiere version of this talk was given at WAQ in Quebec City on April 10, 2019.
It has a brief introduction to DesignOps and then goes into how to measure and understand value of designOps to the team and business.
Project To Product: How we transitioned to product-aligned value streamsTasktop
The project to product movement is quickly gathering speed - a recent Gartner report found that 85% of respondents are shifting to a product-centric mentality. However, the complexity and uncertainty of software delivery at scale, coupled with the sheer number of people involved in the process, is too much for traditional project management techniques. Motivation is not enough to achieve a successful transformation—the product-centric model requires new skill sets, different investments and a change in culture.
What does the shift away from project-thinking really look like?
During this webinar, Tasktop VP of Product Development, Nicole Bryan, combines our own journey with the experience of working with our enterprise customers, to paint a clear picture of the cross-organizational challenges in store - and how you can address them by:
- Adopting a “customer-first” mindset
- Appointing a Product Value Stream Lead and a Product Manager
- Implementing the Flow Framework™ to align the language of IT with the language of the business
You can do better! Improve your design process (UX South Africa)Peter Boersma
In order to do great work you need to influence more parts of the design process than creating wireframes or front-end code. In this interactive presentation (have pen & paper ready!), I will walk you through the expanded sphere of influence on the user experience. I will encourage you to look beyond your deliverables, outside of your department, and past your current way of working. I will help you spot opportunities and draft a plan to improve your design process.
Applying ResearchOps and DesignOps in globally distributed teams @ the Global...Patrizia Bertini
How can we organise and manage globally distributed teams, harmonise design and research processes and tools, increase spending efficiencies, boost teams’ productivity, decrease research and design lead time, and create a OneTeam mentality? How can we foster a rapid experimentation mentality, increase our data informed, customer-backed, and insight lead approach to design across 7 regions? These were few of the challenges I faced when I started my journey in DesignOps leading the designOps for 7 teams across the globe. This talk will highlight the strategic planning and execution behind the establishment of a global DesignOps practice through a case study that will describe how we identified the priorities and executed a global roadmap and how we have been promoting an insight and research focused approach to design to empower designers and to strengthen Design’s strategic role within the company.
Efficient Teams Do Not Happen. They are Designed. It's called DesignOpsPatrizia Bertini
There's an art behind happy and efficient teams and it's called DesignOps. Several studies demonstrate that designers spend up to 60% of their time doing non-design work.
But do you know where your team is spending their time instead of working on doing great design? Have you ever thought to measure your teams' inefficiencies?
DesignOps is the facilitating function that supports design teams to scale by improving ways of working, x-functional collaboration and processes so that designers can focus 100% on doing design.
This talk, based on first-hand experiences and learnings, will focus on key best practices to help position DesignOps at the right altitude, identify the right allies, and assess design teams’ performance and opportunities.
Drew has spent the better part of the last two years leading the charge on launching and managing the global design system at AIG. Learn some of the battle-tested tips, tricks, and methods gained during the process including how to:
- Manage contribution and intake
- Manage “snowflake” vs system components
- Support multiple brands with a single system
- Track and measure the ROI of your system
- Perpetuate buy-in
Bio
Drew Burdick is a multi-faceted design leader with over a decade of experience. He founded and led a creative agency, led top accounts at Red Ventures, and most recently helped to transform product design at AIG by leading a team to establish their global design system. He is now a leader with the Experience Design practice at Slalom, helping to drive client engagements in the Charlotte market.
From Konami Code to Peter Principle - Leadership Responsibilities (EuroIA 2020)Peter Boersma
In this talk, presented at EuroIA 2020, I share leadership tips & tricks for when your responsibilities change, no matter in what direction:
moving in: trying out mentoring and leading
moving up: you got promoted; now what?
moving left and right: adding skills, broadening your horizon
moving down: adjusting and going for principal
moving out: changing environments, freelancing
This is the updated version of my successful Interaction 14 talk: http://www.slideshare.net/folletto/the-shift-ux-designers-as-business-consultants
UX is a broad field and designers are increasingly playing a strategic role in many companies. Be that designer.
Businesses are increasingly adopting user-centered approaches to create experiences, moving UX design to be one of the core activities driving the company strategy and operations.
This is an incredibly valuable opportunity that we designers can take to step up and contribute to create the great experiences and services they envision, taking our vision, tools and understanding to a different level. But we need to learn the new skills to play at this table, a table that's often speaking a different language with a lot of politics and different stakeholders.
Getting Involved: How to Embed and Manage Service Design in Large Organisatio...Service Design Network
Niels Corsten from Koos Service Design speaks at SDGC19 in Toronto.
'In this talk, I will be sharing the Service Design Maturity Model, a framework that gives structure and helps large organisations to implement and scale service design. I will elaborate on the different maturity stages and four identified factors that indicate the maturity of your organisation and serve as guidelines for further maturation. Using a range of real-world cases, we will share our thoughts on common barriers to maturation and share strategies on how to grow your company’s maturity.'
Become a member!
https://www.service-design-network.org
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sdnetwork
Or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2933277
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceDesignNetwork/
Behind-the-scenes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicedesignnetwork/
Impact Mapping - delivering what really matters!Christian Hassa
Product backlogs are much too often flooded with user stories, thwarting the basic agile tenet “Build – Measure – Learn”. Diligent adherence to agile rituals and short iterative cycles will not help if this driving factor is missing. This often leads to efficient teams building the wrong product, or, even worse, just investing into iterative delivery without reaping any of its benefits.
Impact mapping is a method that can spark this drive: it supports an iterative approach to product design that is often neglected when user story lists are simply prioritised in the product backlog. The method is highly visual and supports the entire project team throughout the process of discovering, prioritising and detailing customers’ requirements together.
Designing designer's time - Tin KadoicWeb à Québec
What does a week in a life of a designer look like? How successful are we in managing the complexities that come with designing for society-first, user-centric experiences while still maintaining collaboration, creativity and innovation. How do we invest our time throughout the (work) day, and what are the challenges behind connecting our micro-actions, habits, and how we spend our hours to the impact we have on our projects, teams, and communities.
Drawing inspiration from 15y of experience working as a freelancer, studio owner, consultant, lecturer, startup designer, and in-house designer, the goal is to deconstruct how vastly different our activities might be – ranging from craft to strategy, from IC to mentorship, from prototyping for usability testing to facilitating ice breakers.
This talk will walk the audience through a real-time job description of a designer in 2019 – one that can thrive only if it continues to adapt.
Measuring & Evaluating Your DesignOps PracticeDave Malouf
This premiere version of this talk was given at WAQ in Quebec City on April 10, 2019.
It has a brief introduction to DesignOps and then goes into how to measure and understand value of designOps to the team and business.
Project To Product: How we transitioned to product-aligned value streamsTasktop
The project to product movement is quickly gathering speed - a recent Gartner report found that 85% of respondents are shifting to a product-centric mentality. However, the complexity and uncertainty of software delivery at scale, coupled with the sheer number of people involved in the process, is too much for traditional project management techniques. Motivation is not enough to achieve a successful transformation—the product-centric model requires new skill sets, different investments and a change in culture.
What does the shift away from project-thinking really look like?
During this webinar, Tasktop VP of Product Development, Nicole Bryan, combines our own journey with the experience of working with our enterprise customers, to paint a clear picture of the cross-organizational challenges in store - and how you can address them by:
- Adopting a “customer-first” mindset
- Appointing a Product Value Stream Lead and a Product Manager
- Implementing the Flow Framework™ to align the language of IT with the language of the business
You can do better! Improve your design process (UX South Africa)Peter Boersma
In order to do great work you need to influence more parts of the design process than creating wireframes or front-end code. In this interactive presentation (have pen & paper ready!), I will walk you through the expanded sphere of influence on the user experience. I will encourage you to look beyond your deliverables, outside of your department, and past your current way of working. I will help you spot opportunities and draft a plan to improve your design process.
Applying ResearchOps and DesignOps in globally distributed teams @ the Global...Patrizia Bertini
How can we organise and manage globally distributed teams, harmonise design and research processes and tools, increase spending efficiencies, boost teams’ productivity, decrease research and design lead time, and create a OneTeam mentality? How can we foster a rapid experimentation mentality, increase our data informed, customer-backed, and insight lead approach to design across 7 regions? These were few of the challenges I faced when I started my journey in DesignOps leading the designOps for 7 teams across the globe. This talk will highlight the strategic planning and execution behind the establishment of a global DesignOps practice through a case study that will describe how we identified the priorities and executed a global roadmap and how we have been promoting an insight and research focused approach to design to empower designers and to strengthen Design’s strategic role within the company.
Efficient Teams Do Not Happen. They are Designed. It's called DesignOpsPatrizia Bertini
There's an art behind happy and efficient teams and it's called DesignOps. Several studies demonstrate that designers spend up to 60% of their time doing non-design work.
But do you know where your team is spending their time instead of working on doing great design? Have you ever thought to measure your teams' inefficiencies?
DesignOps is the facilitating function that supports design teams to scale by improving ways of working, x-functional collaboration and processes so that designers can focus 100% on doing design.
This talk, based on first-hand experiences and learnings, will focus on key best practices to help position DesignOps at the right altitude, identify the right allies, and assess design teams’ performance and opportunities.
Drew has spent the better part of the last two years leading the charge on launching and managing the global design system at AIG. Learn some of the battle-tested tips, tricks, and methods gained during the process including how to:
- Manage contribution and intake
- Manage “snowflake” vs system components
- Support multiple brands with a single system
- Track and measure the ROI of your system
- Perpetuate buy-in
Bio
Drew Burdick is a multi-faceted design leader with over a decade of experience. He founded and led a creative agency, led top accounts at Red Ventures, and most recently helped to transform product design at AIG by leading a team to establish their global design system. He is now a leader with the Experience Design practice at Slalom, helping to drive client engagements in the Charlotte market.
From Konami Code to Peter Principle - Leadership Responsibilities (EuroIA 2020)Peter Boersma
In this talk, presented at EuroIA 2020, I share leadership tips & tricks for when your responsibilities change, no matter in what direction:
moving in: trying out mentoring and leading
moving up: you got promoted; now what?
moving left and right: adding skills, broadening your horizon
moving down: adjusting and going for principal
moving out: changing environments, freelancing
This is the updated version of my successful Interaction 14 talk: http://www.slideshare.net/folletto/the-shift-ux-designers-as-business-consultants
UX is a broad field and designers are increasingly playing a strategic role in many companies. Be that designer.
Businesses are increasingly adopting user-centered approaches to create experiences, moving UX design to be one of the core activities driving the company strategy and operations.
This is an incredibly valuable opportunity that we designers can take to step up and contribute to create the great experiences and services they envision, taking our vision, tools and understanding to a different level. But we need to learn the new skills to play at this table, a table that's often speaking a different language with a lot of politics and different stakeholders.
Getting Involved: How to Embed and Manage Service Design in Large Organisatio...Service Design Network
Niels Corsten from Koos Service Design speaks at SDGC19 in Toronto.
'In this talk, I will be sharing the Service Design Maturity Model, a framework that gives structure and helps large organisations to implement and scale service design. I will elaborate on the different maturity stages and four identified factors that indicate the maturity of your organisation and serve as guidelines for further maturation. Using a range of real-world cases, we will share our thoughts on common barriers to maturation and share strategies on how to grow your company’s maturity.'
Become a member!
https://www.service-design-network.org
Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/sdnetwork
Or on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2933277
Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ServiceDesignNetwork/
Behind-the-scenes on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/servicedesignnetwork/
Impact Mapping - delivering what really matters!Christian Hassa
Product backlogs are much too often flooded with user stories, thwarting the basic agile tenet “Build – Measure – Learn”. Diligent adherence to agile rituals and short iterative cycles will not help if this driving factor is missing. This often leads to efficient teams building the wrong product, or, even worse, just investing into iterative delivery without reaping any of its benefits.
Impact mapping is a method that can spark this drive: it supports an iterative approach to product design that is often neglected when user story lists are simply prioritised in the product backlog. The method is highly visual and supports the entire project team throughout the process of discovering, prioritising and detailing customers’ requirements together.
Designing designer's time - Tin KadoicWeb à Québec
What does a week in a life of a designer look like? How successful are we in managing the complexities that come with designing for society-first, user-centric experiences while still maintaining collaboration, creativity and innovation. How do we invest our time throughout the (work) day, and what are the challenges behind connecting our micro-actions, habits, and how we spend our hours to the impact we have on our projects, teams, and communities.
Drawing inspiration from 15y of experience working as a freelancer, studio owner, consultant, lecturer, startup designer, and in-house designer, the goal is to deconstruct how vastly different our activities might be – ranging from craft to strategy, from IC to mentorship, from prototyping for usability testing to facilitating ice breakers.
This talk will walk the audience through a real-time job description of a designer in 2019 – one that can thrive only if it continues to adapt.
The Career Pathways and Roles of In-house Designers in the Services Sector in...Erik Chua
Presented at International Association of Societies of Design Research Conference 2019 at Manchester School of Art, Manchester Metropolitan University on 04 September 2019
Managing The Design Process oleh Terry Lee Stones
Mengoptimalkan penggunaan design grafis dalam cara yang praktis dan nyata. Memahami bagaimana proses kolaborasi yang berlangsung akan perlu mempelajari beberapa bahasa baru, juga tools dan teknik, dalam mengaplikasikan menejemen design dan hubungannya dengan konsep kepemimpinan design
MBA Certificate in Design and Innovation Management Dean Miller
The Certificate in Design and Innovation Management is offered at Kendall College of Art and Design through Ferris State University's College of Business.
The MBA Certificate in Design and Innovation Management is for business professionals and creative professionals who want to differentiate themselves and get an edge in the marketplace. It’s for people who want to become more user-centered, leading with logic. If you want to be a problem solver, critical thinker, and challenge ideas and processes, then you’ve found your place.
Companies garnering worldwide recognition for innovation are the ones embracing design thinking. Design is at the root of everything they do. They have built and sustained a culture of innovation. That approach to success began with someone who saw the big picture.
The Certificate in Design and Innovation Management will help you shape your company, breeding innovation. You’ll be able to measure the impact of design and innovation on the bottom line. You’ll have sustainability know-how. You’ll know the questions to ask to improve your products, services, and systems. Integrated thinking will help you offer real, insightful solutions and convince decision-makers. People will look to you for unique input on a project, increasing your value around the table.
Designing and Driving UX Careers: A Framework for Empowering UX Teams (Ian Sw...Rosenfeld Media
Ian Swinson: "Designing and Driving UX Careers: A Framework for Empowering UX Teams"
Enterprise UX 2016 • June 8, 2016 • San Antonio, TX, USA
http://2016.enterpriseux.net
I concise and easy to follow guide showing the value of design and creativity to business with some helpful tips and advice on implementing a more creative business strategy and choosing a creative partner.
In this document you will find details about the KTN Design Mentors programme. The objective of the KTN Design Mentors programme is to offer expert coaching and advice to those leading innovative R&D projects and ensure the projects are completed to a high-standard, within time and within budget. The mentors have been selected based on their in-depth knowledge of design methods and vast experience in bringing products and services to market.
Find out more: https://ktn-uk.co.uk/news/did-you-know-ktn-can-help-make-introductions-to-design-companies
In service innovation projects complexities abound, both within the boundaries of the organization and outside of them: value chains have become value networks, target customers have contextual and situational preferences in their complex experience journeys, and interactions with the organization involve many channels and touch points. Customer centricity is a prerequisite but it requires various cross sections through the organization to cooperate smoothly.
In his keynote, Erik will discuss the glue that holds these complex processes together. On the basis of case studies from his service design consulting practice, and insights from his teaching at the Delft University of Technology, Erik will dive deeper into how to align various enterprise functions around a shared and actionable vision and towards a coherent and tangible end-result. He will show through analysis of these various cases that a shared, actionable, and congruent enterprise vision is of vital importance for innovation success, and can be steered and managed effectively.
To widen the market on various creative courses and fields that are available. Future prospects and testimonials cited by professionals from these fields
Oprah Winfrey: A Leader in Media, Philanthropy, and Empowerment | CIO Women M...CIOWomenMagazine
This person is none other than Oprah Winfrey, a highly influential figure whose impact extends beyond television. This article will delve into the remarkable life and lasting legacy of Oprah. Her story serves as a reminder of the importance of perseverance, compassion, and firm determination.
Artificial intelligence (AI) offers new opportunities to radically reinvent the way we do business. This study explores how CEOs and top decision makers around the world are responding to the transformative potential of AI.
Senior Project and Engineering Leader Jim Smith.pdfJim Smith
I am a Project and Engineering Leader with extensive experience as a Business Operations Leader, Technical Project Manager, Engineering Manager and Operations Experience for Domestic and International companies such as Electrolux, Carrier, and Deutz. I have developed new products using Stage Gate development/MS Project/JIRA, for the pro-duction of Medical Equipment, Large Commercial Refrigeration Systems, Appliances, HVAC, and Diesel engines.
My experience includes:
Managed customized engineered refrigeration system projects with high voltage power panels from quote to ship, coordinating actions between electrical engineering, mechanical design and application engineering, purchasing, production, test, quality assurance and field installation. Managed projects $25k to $1M per project; 4-8 per month. (Hussmann refrigeration)
Successfully developed the $15-20M yearly corporate capital strategy for manufacturing, with the Executive Team and key stakeholders. Created project scope and specifications, business case, ROI, managed project plans with key personnel for nine consumer product manufacturing and distribution sites; to support the company’s strategic sales plan.
Over 15 years of experience managing and developing cost improvement projects with key Stakeholders, site Manufacturing Engineers, Mechanical Engineers, Maintenance, and facility support personnel to optimize pro-duction operations, safety, EHS, and new product development. (BioLab, Deutz, Caire)
Experience working as a Technical Manager developing new products with chemical engineers and packaging engineers to enhance and reduce the cost of retail products. I have led the activities of multiple engineering groups with diverse backgrounds.
Great experience managing the product development of products which utilize complex electrical controls, high voltage power panels, product testing, and commissioning.
Created project scope, business case, ROI for multiple capital projects to support electrotechnical assembly and CPG goods. Identified project cost, risk, success criteria, and performed equipment qualifications. (Carrier, Electrolux, Biolab, Price, Hussmann)
Created detailed projects plans using MS Project, Gant charts in excel, and updated new product development in Jira for stakeholders and project team members including critical path.
Great knowledge of ISO9001, NFPA, OSHA regulations.
User level knowledge of MRP/SAP, MS Project, Powerpoint, Visio, Mastercontrol, JIRA, Power BI and Tableau.
I appreciate your consideration, and look forward to discussing this role with you, and how I can lead your company’s growth and profitability. I can be contacted via LinkedIn via phone or E Mail.
Jim Smith
678-993-7195
jimsmith30024@gmail.com
The Team Member and Guest Experience - Lead and Take Care of your restaurant team. They are the people closest to and delivering Hospitality to your paying Guests!
Make the call, and we can assist you.
408-784-7371
Foodservice Consulting + Design
The case study discusses the potential of drone delivery and the challenges that need to be addressed before it becomes widespread.
Key takeaways:
Drone delivery is in its early stages: Amazon's trial in the UK demonstrates the potential for faster deliveries, but it's still limited by regulations and technology.
Regulations are a major hurdle: Safety concerns around drone collisions with airplanes and people have led to restrictions on flight height and location.
Other challenges exist: Who will use drone delivery the most? Is it cost-effective compared to traditional delivery trucks?
Discussion questions:
Managerial challenges: Integrating drones requires planning for new infrastructure, training staff, and navigating regulations. There are also marketing and recruitment considerations specific to this technology.
External forces vary by country: Regulations, consumer acceptance, and infrastructure all differ between countries.
Demographics matter: Younger generations might be more receptive to drone delivery, while older populations might have concerns.
Stakeholders for Amazon: Customers, regulators, aviation authorities, and competitors are all stakeholders. Regulators likely hold the greatest influence as they determine the feasibility of drone delivery.
3. We have a career progression for
engineering and product management,
but not for design.
4. I’ve never seen anyone survive that.
Good luck.
Bob Baxley, Design Executive
5. The most valuable assets of the 20th-
century company were its production
equipment. The most valuable assets of
the 21st-century institution will be its
knowledge workers and their
productivity.
Peter Drucker
6. What are we doing
to connect people to
purpose?
12. SOURCE: Josh Bersin, Deloitte Consulting LLP
TOTAL COST OF LOSING
AN EMPLOYEE
• 40% of a mid-level
annual salary
• 125-150% of a
senior level or
manager annual
salary
• 213% of an
executives annual
salary
13.
14. Workforce Generation
Millennial
Gen X
MILLENNIALS NOW
REPRESENT 51% THE
WORKFORCE.
THEY PLACE AN EVEN
HIGHER VALUE ON
PEOPLE AND PURPOSE
THAN PREVIOUS
GENERATIONS.
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
15. Our music is on Spotify. Our hotels are
AirBNB. Our cars are Über and Lyft. We
are a generation that owns nothing.
B. Evans
18. Top Reasons People Left Their Last Job
47%
35%
Poor leadership or management
Lack of career ladder/opportunity
31%Lack of meaning/purpose
28%
18%
Stopped learning
Better pay/opportunity
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Employees are looking for
meaning, purpose, and growth.
This aligns with the top two
levels of Maslow’s Hierarchy of
Needs—importance and self
actualization.
20. Companies with career ladders had
higher employee engagement, lower
attrition, and a higher representation of
people in design leadership roles.
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
21. We’ve been working on a career ladder
for the past year-and-a-half. Other
priorities keep getting in the way.
22. Most companies lack a
formal career progression
A key part of connecting people
with purpose is through a
documented career progression
model.
Unfortunately, only 19% of all
career ladders provide a set of
competencies or rubrik for
measuring progress and growth.
1% have a measurable
progression model
18% have a
competency model
81% have a pay
bands model
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
23. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Patreon
Career progression for Engineers
includes five pillars: technical,
execution, collaboration and
communication, influence, and
maturity.
24. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Monzo
Career progression for Engineers
includes five pillars: mastery, impact,
influence, communication and
feedback, and leadership.
25. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Spotify
Career progression for Engineers
includes five characteristics: holds
themselves and others accountable,
continuously improves self and team,
values team success over individual
success, thinks about business impact,
and mastery.
26. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Buzzfeed
Career progression for Designers
includes a list of 13 categories with a
general description.
27. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
Title
Product Design
Assistant
Associate Product
Designer
Product Designer Senior Product Designer Lead Product Designer Principle Product Designer
Distinguished Product
Designer
VP, Product Design SVP, Product Design
Functional
Knowledge
/ Scope
Helping others to execute and
assisting with whatever is needed
for the team to thrive. They
demonstrate an excellent capacity
to learn quickly and model after the
best people and practices around
them.
Learns to use good judgement
in visual hierarchy, layout and
information architecture to inform
their work. They are learning to
use Zendesk’s design system and
previous product design work to
build on Zendesk products. They
are familiar with sketching, flow
diagrams, interface design tools
and prototyping tools and use these
regularly in their work. They work
very closely with their manager to
solve problems.
Shows an understanding of visual
hierarchy, layout and information
architecture. They are comfortable
using Zendesk’s design system and
previous product design work to build
on Zendesk products. They consider
the holistic user experience in their
work and have a strong understanding
of the vision and key objectives for
their product area, taking cues from
their manager as well as their product
and engineering leads. Some working
knowledge of user reserch process
and methodoligies.
Expert level product designer with extensive
and demonstrated expertise in visual
hierarchy, layout and information architecture.
Displays an expert level understanding of
user-centered design methodoliges and a
willingness to help and mentor those around
them. They design for scale and consistenly
advocate for the use and contribution to the
Zendesk design system (Garden). They are
a respected partner amongst their peers in
product and engineering and demonstrate a
sophisticated grasp of the business objectives
for thier product area. They identify product
overlaps and gaps in their own work, and that
of other designers on adjacent products. They
are able to consider potential connections
platforms. They possess strong verbal and
written communication skills in both one-on-
one and group situations. They lead and direct
group design conversations keeping them
focused and on track.
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to our customers by investing
signifcant time observing them work, and
validating ideas with them.
Senior Product Designers may be given the
option to manage 1-2 people at this career
level
by their ability to own large, highly-strategic
projects. They posses the toolkit to not only
deliver design solutions, but also demonstrate
a well-rounded sense of business skills
ranging from project management to business
analysis which enables them to command the
confidence of their peers outside of the design
org.
These designers have developed expert level
communication skills and are able to represent
the design department with a wide variety of
stakeholders and have demonstrated their
ability to manage expectations of a diverse set
of individuals. Lead Product Designers excel in
their presentation skills and are able to present
their work in a clear and impactful manner to
stakeholders
They posses the relationship building skills
that allow them to forge deep alliances with
influential stakeholders outside the design
org and have the ability to influence decision
makers outside of the design organization.
They typically lead projects from a variety of
areas throughout the product and posses the
historical knowledge to contribute across
broad areas of the company.
They tirelessly contribute contstructive
solutions for how design process and practices
can be improved andhave the influence within
the design org to facilitiate change.
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to our customers by investing
signifcant time observing them work, and
validating ideas with them.
Though not a people management track role,
these designers are expected to provide
structured mentorship for 1-3 designers. This
could include specialized technical training,
personal coaching, etc.
Principal product designers are typically very
active within the design community and have a
well-established reputation.
Principal designers possess the ability to
conceive of, socialize, research and execute
on complex design projects that are critical to
Zendesk. They require little formal direction
and bring with them a broad history of best
practices from their past roles.
They are a recognized thought leader across
design and product, both within their local
These designers seek out ways of deepening
the connection between product design and
brand design
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to our customers by investing
signifcant time observing them work, and
validating ideas with them.
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to better using data to make
decisions. They invest their resources in
measuring their design work and the work of
others, and using those learnings to improve
our team as a whole.
These designers are expected to provide
structured mentorship for 1-3 designers. This
could include specialized technical training,
personal coaching, etc.
Distinguished Product Designers are active
conference speakers and writers/bloggers
on topics of design.
They raise awareness of the Zendesk
design team by facilitating a dialog/
awareness between our org and the
external design community. They
generously share their personal brand
to help elevate the brand of our design
department. They are able to function as a
spokesperson for the department at high
profile industry events.
These designers embody excellence in
product design at all levels. Can represent
the department at the highest levels within
the company.
These designers are expected to provide
structured mentorship for 1-3 designers.
This could include specialized technical
training, personal coaching, etc.
Manages and coaches other design managers
globally.
Avid writer/blogger and public speaker at design
industry events.
Sets vision and direction through resource
allocation decisions for a significant organization
or business unit.
Extensive and detailed hands-on financial
responsibility for the team budget
Heavy responsibilty for recruiting top talent and
managing the community facing brand of the
design organization
Works closely with Brand Team leadership to align
the groups and find opportunities for partnership
Develops and implements strategic plans and
objectives for the organization in alignment with
corporate strategy; oversees the direction and
approves tactical administrative or operational
policies and resource allocation decisions to
ensure achievement of objectives.
Job
Complexity
Executes on a variety of tasks of
minimal scope and complexity.
Works on problems of moderate
scope where analysis of situations
or data requires a review of a variety
of factors. Exercises judgment within
defined procedures and practices to
determine appropriate action. Builds
productive internal/external working
relationships.
Works on problems of diverse scope
where analysis of data requires an
evaluation of identifiable factors.
Demonstrates good judgment in
selecting methods and techniques
for obtaining solutions. Networks with
senior internal and external personnel
in own area of expertise.
Works on complex issues where analysis
of situations or data requires an in-depth
evaluation of variable factors. Exercises
judgment in selecting methods, techniques
and evaluation criteria for obtaining results.
Networks with key contacts outside own area
of expertise.
Works on significant and unique issues
where analysis of situations or data requires
an evaluation of intangibles. Exercises
independent judgment in methods, techniques
and evaluation criteria for obtaining
results. Creates formal networks involving
coordination among groups.
Works on issues that impact design/selling
success or address future concepts, products
or technologies. Creates formal networks with
key decision makers and senior leadership
team. May serve as a company representative.
Works on issues that impact design/
selling success or address future concepts,
products or technologies. Creates formal
networks with key decision makers and
serves as an external spokesperson for the
organization.
Develops strategic plans to ensure successful
implementation of action plans and objectives
where analysis of situations or data requires an
in-depth knowledge of the company, competitive
environment, technology and economic or social
implications of organization activities. Participates in
the development of corporate methods, techniques
and evaluation criteria for projects, programs, and
people. Approves budgets and schedules to meet
corporate requirements.
Consistently works with abstract ideas or
situations across functional areas of the
business. Through assessment of intangible
variables, identifies and evaluates core issues,
providing strategy and direction for major
functional areas. Requires in-depth knowledge
of the function, business strategies, and
the company’s goals as well as external
activities.
Consistently wo
situations acros
Through assess
identifies and e
strategy and dir
Requires in-dep
business strateg
of company act
Problem
Solving/
Discretion
Relies heavily on their manager to
solve problems.
Solves problems in straightforward
situations; analyzes possible
solutions using technical experience
and judgment and precedents.
Solves complex problems; takes
a new perspective on existing
solutions; exercises judgment based
on the analysis of multiple sources of
information.
Leads others to solve complex problems; uses
sophisticated analytical thought to exercise
judgment and identify solutions.
Solves unique and complex problems with
broad impact on the business; requires
conceptual and innovative thinking to develop
innovative solutions.
Solves unique and complex problems with
broad impact on the business; requires
conceptual and innovative thinking to develop
highly innovative and ingenious solutions.
Proactively identifies and solves the most
complex problems; uses ground-breaking
methods to think beyond existing solutions.
Extends knowledge in a given field by
developing novel concepts, theories, and
products.
Erroneous decisions will have a serious impact on the
overall success of long-term company operations.
Erroneous decisions will have an immense
impact on the overall success of long-term
company operations.
Decisions drive
and growth of th
Impact
Has limited impact on own
work. Contributes towards the
completion of routine technical/
functional tasks. Works within
standard procedures and practices.
Impacts quality of own work and the
work of others on the team. Works
within guidelines and policies.
Impacts a range of customer,
operational, project or service
activities within own team and other
related teams; works within broad
guidelines and policies.
Impacts the achievement of customer,
operational, project or service objectives; work
is guided by functional policies.
Impacts the direction and resource allocation
for program, project or services; works within
general functional policies and industry
guidelines.
Impacts business direction through the
development of innovative services or
products.
Impacts business direction through the
development of innovative services or
products.
Objectives directly tied to the overall performance of
the company. Makes final decisions, guided by only
the broadest policies and strategies.
Objectives directly tied to the overall
performance of the company. Makes final
decisions, guided by only the broadest policies
and strategies.
Takes action gu
by the CEO.
Supervision
/ Interaction
Normally receives detailed
instructions on all work.
Normally receives general
instructions on routine work,
detailed instructions on new projects
or assignments.
Normally receives little instruction on
day-to-day work, general instructions
on new assignments.
Determines methods and procedures on new
assignments and may coordinate activities of
other personnel (Team Lead).
Acts independently to determine methods and
procedures on new or special assignments.
May supervise the activities of others.
Exercises wide latitude in determining
objectives and approaches to critical
assignments.
Exercises wide latitude in determining
objectives and approaches to critical
assignments. Leads highly visible
multidisciplinary project teams or initiatives;
provides thought leadership.
Regularly interacts with executives and/or major
customers. Interactions frequently involve highly
visible activities such as speaking to or negotiating
with customers, influencing other executives and/or
academics, lobbying regulators or policy makers and
representing the organization on matters of great
significance to the organization.
Interacts internally and externally with
executive level management, consultants, and
corporate leaders, requiring negotiation skills
over extremely critical matters. Influences
long-term vision and strategy of corporate
consequence.
Interacts interna
level managem
leaders, requirin
extremely critic
vision and strate
Leadership
Directs and controls the activities of a complete
functional area through multiple levels of
management within the company. Has overall
expense priorities, and approving changes to
methods and practices.Manages a team of directors
and/or high-level individual contributors. Manages
primarily through a team of second-level managers
(aka Management Level 5 Directors). Reports to
functional-area senior VP, global corporate functional
Directs and controls the activities of
more than one functional area, division,
product group or service area through vice
president level executive leaders who have
overall operational responsibility for their
assigned functions, geographic regions, and
businesses. Generally reports to a global
corporate functional area executive or C-level
executive.
Directs and con
one functional a
or service area
executive leade
responsibility fo
geographic reg
the CEO.
W
ork in Progress
Design executive responsible for multiple
functions, departments and/or geographic
studios. Acts as a key delegate between Product
Design and the rest of the business. Regularly
interfaces with the CEO and members of C-Staff.
Zendesk
Career progression for Designers
includes six pillars: functional,
complexity, problem solving, impact,
supervision, and leadership.
28. SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
ct Designer Principle Product Designer
Distinguished Product
Designer
VP, Product Design SVP, Product Design CCO
rge, highly-strategic
he toolkit to not only
s, but also demonstrate
f business skills
anagement to business
them to command the
rs outside of the design
developed expert level
nd are able to represent
with a wide variety of
demonstrated their
ctations of a diverse set
duct Designers excel in
and are able to present
d impactful manner to
nship building skills
deep alliances with
outside the design
to influence decision
esign organization.
ects from a variety of
oduct and posses the
o contribute across
pany.
te contstructive
n process and practices
ve the influence within
ate change.
nstrate a deep
mers by investing
ng them work, and
em.
anagement track role,
pected to provide
or 1-3 designers. This
ed technical training,
Principal product designers are typically very
active within the design community and have a
well-established reputation.
Principal designers possess the ability to
conceive of, socialize, research and execute
on complex design projects that are critical to
Zendesk. They require little formal direction
and bring with them a broad history of best
practices from their past roles.
They are a recognized thought leader across
design and product, both within their local
These designers seek out ways of deepening
the connection between product design and
brand design
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to our customers by investing
signifcant time observing them work, and
validating ideas with them.
These designers demonstrate a deep
dedication to better using data to make
decisions. They invest their resources in
measuring their design work and the work of
others, and using those learnings to improve
our team as a whole.
These designers are expected to provide
structured mentorship for 1-3 designers. This
could include specialized technical training,
personal coaching, etc.
Distinguished Product Designers are active
conference speakers and writers/bloggers
on topics of design.
They raise awareness of the Zendesk
design team by facilitating a dialog/
awareness between our org and the
external design community. They
generously share their personal brand
to help elevate the brand of our design
department. They are able to function as a
spokesperson for the department at high
profile industry events.
These designers embody excellence in
product design at all levels. Can represent
the department at the highest levels within
the company.
These designers are expected to provide
structured mentorship for 1-3 designers.
This could include specialized technical
training, personal coaching, etc.
Manages and coaches other design managers
globally.
Avid writer/blogger and public speaker at design
industry events.
Sets vision and direction through resource
allocation decisions for a significant organization
or business unit.
Extensive and detailed hands-on financial
responsibility for the team budget
Heavy responsibilty for recruiting top talent and
managing the community facing brand of the
design organization
Works closely with Brand Team leadership to align
the groups and find opportunities for partnership
Develops and implements strategic plans and
objectives for the organization in alignment with
corporate strategy; oversees the direction and
approves tactical administrative or operational
policies and resource allocation decisions to
ensure achievement of objectives.
d unique issues
ions or data requires
bles. Exercises
in methods, techniques
or obtaining
networks involving
oups.
Works on issues that impact design/selling
success or address future concepts, products
or technologies. Creates formal networks with
key decision makers and senior leadership
team. May serve as a company representative.
Works on issues that impact design/
selling success or address future concepts,
products or technologies. Creates formal
networks with key decision makers and
serves as an external spokesperson for the
organization.
Develops strategic plans to ensure successful
implementation of action plans and objectives
where analysis of situations or data requires an
in-depth knowledge of the company, competitive
environment, technology and economic or social
implications of organization activities. Participates in
the development of corporate methods, techniques
and evaluation criteria for projects, programs, and
people. Approves budgets and schedules to meet
corporate requirements.
Consistently works with abstract ideas or
situations across functional areas of the
business. Through assessment of intangible
variables, identifies and evaluates core issues,
providing strategy and direction for major
functional areas. Requires in-depth knowledge
of the function, business strategies, and
the company’s goals as well as external
activities.
Consistently works with abstract ideas or
situations across functional areas of the business.
Through assessment of intangible variables,
identifies and evaluates core issues, providing
strategy and direction for major functional areas.
Requires in-depth knowledge of the function,
business strategies, and the company’s goals as
of company activities.
plex problems with
siness; requires
ive thinking to develop
Solves unique and complex problems with
broad impact on the business; requires
conceptual and innovative thinking to develop
highly innovative and ingenious solutions.
Proactively identifies and solves the most
complex problems; uses ground-breaking
methods to think beyond existing solutions.
Extends knowledge in a given field by
developing novel concepts, theories, and
products.
Erroneous decisions will have a serious impact on the
overall success of long-term company operations.
Erroneous decisions will have an immense
impact on the overall success of long-term
company operations.
Decisions drive the success, failure, profitability
and growth of the company.
nd resource allocation
services; works within
ies and industry
Impacts business direction through the
development of innovative services or
products.
Impacts business direction through the
development of innovative services or
products.
Objectives directly tied to the overall performance of
the company. Makes final decisions, guided by only
the broadest policies and strategies.
Objectives directly tied to the overall
performance of the company. Makes final
decisions, guided by only the broadest policies
and strategies.
Takes action guided by the general direction set
by the CEO.
determine methods and
pecial assignments.
ities of others.
Exercises wide latitude in determining
objectives and approaches to critical
assignments.
Exercises wide latitude in determining
objectives and approaches to critical
assignments. Leads highly visible
multidisciplinary project teams or initiatives;
provides thought leadership.
Regularly interacts with executives and/or major
customers. Interactions frequently involve highly
visible activities such as speaking to or negotiating
with customers, influencing other executives and/or
academics, lobbying regulators or policy makers and
representing the organization on matters of great
significance to the organization.
Interacts internally and externally with
executive level management, consultants, and
corporate leaders, requiring negotiation skills
over extremely critical matters. Influences
long-term vision and strategy of corporate
consequence.
Interacts internally and externally with executive
level management, consultants, and corporate
leaders, requiring negotiation skills over
extremely critical matters. Influences long-term
vision and strategy of corporate consequence.
Directs and controls the activities of a complete
functional area through multiple levels of
management within the company. Has overall
expense priorities, and approving changes to
methods and practices.Manages a team of directors
and/or high-level individual contributors. Manages
primarily through a team of second-level managers
(aka Management Level 5 Directors). Reports to
functional-area senior VP, global corporate functional
Directs and controls the activities of
more than one functional area, division,
product group or service area through vice
president level executive leaders who have
overall operational responsibility for their
assigned functions, geographic regions, and
businesses. Generally reports to a global
corporate functional area executive or C-level
executive.
Directs and controls the activities of more than
one functional area, division, product group
or service area through vice president level
executive leaders who have overall operational
responsibility for their assigned functions,
geographic regions, and businesses. Reports to
the CEO.
SVP, Product Design
W
ork in Progress
W
ork in Progress
Design executive responsible for multiple
functions, departments and/or geographic
studios. Acts as a key delegate between Product
Design and the rest of the business. Regularly
interfaces with the CEO and members of C-Staff.
Zendesk
Zendesk is one of the few public
examples that includes leadership
roles.
29. It takes more than perks to
keep people
While many companies are
investing in perks like snacks and
endless energy drinks, employees
are looking for meaning, purpose,
and growth opportunities.
Companies with documented
career ladders have higher
employee engagement, higher
retention, and a greater presence
of leadership in design.
of companies lack
any formal career
progression model
0.4% have a
measurable
progression model
5% have a
competency model
23% have a pay
bands model
95%
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
32. The Career Progression Framework
1
2
3
A set of established norms
Separate tracks for makers and managers
Rubric for assessing skill mastery and influence
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
34. Competency Index—Makers and
Managers
Makers—Establish a set of table stakes competencies.
These apply regardless of specialization.01
Managers/Leaders—Leadership requires a different
skillset with greater emphasis on influence.02
Craft
Product thinking
Process
Critique
Balance business + design
Communication
Storytelling
Presentation
Listening
Fluencey
Influence
Cultural stewardship
Mentoring
Change agent
Engagement
Relationships
Collaboration
Awareness
Ownership
Personal development
Manages priorities
Influence
Vision
Awareness
Cultural stewardship
Evangelism
Transparency
Relationships + diplomacy
Mentoring + coaching
Ownership
Manages priorities
Personal development
Business value
Communication
Listening
Presentation
Development
Empowerment
Recruiting
Career growth
Oganization design
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
38. Competency Assessment
4
3
2
5
1
Master—acts as an evangelist and develops new levels
of applying competency. Impact and influence at
industry level.
Proficient—leads and mentors others in
compentency. Impact and influence at company level.
Advanced—advocates for and demonstrates best
practices in competency. Impact and influence at
organization level.
Competent—initiates on their own and demonstrates
strong competency with minimal supervision. Impact
at team level.
Novice—learning and able to deliver on competency
with supervision. Impact at individual or sub-product
level.
SELF/PRODUCT
TEAM
ORGANIZATION
COMPANY
INDUSTRY
Reach of impact and influence
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
39. Ownership—Personal Development
Continuous learning. Actively participates in self improvement beyond day-
to-day tasks.
4
3
2
5
1
Proficient—leads and mentors others in
personal development. Sought out by others at
the company level.
BEHAVIORS
• Seeks personal development outside of the workplace
• Mentors others to find personal development opportunities
• Stays current on industry trends
• Has a coach, mentor, or personal board of directors
Craft
Communication
Ownership
Engagement
Influence
Development plan
Here are a few ways you can increase ownership of your personal growth and
development.
SOURCE: Design Career Index Report
40. This canvas model allowed me to
evaluate my entire team of 25 in under
15 minutes. I’ve been trying to do this
for three weeks with our previous
version.