Building a federated design organisation

Teams asked designers for help too late. Designers had little say in plans, and quality varied by team.

Give product teams design ownership while keeping quality high across the company.

Designers joined product teams. Shared reviews kept the work consistent.

• Designers embedded continuously from discovery through delivery
• Strategic influence built into roadmap formation, not requested afterwards
• Shared systems kept design, research, content and brand aligned
• Team reviews and launch checks kept quality high

I set clear standards for hiring, levels, growth and performance.

Teams made faster choices and shipped more consistent work.

• Faster, squad-level decision-making with centralised craft standards
• Higher release confidence across product teams
• Stronger roadmap influence tied to revenue initiatives