I pondered and debated on writing about this topic, since there are so many great authors who have already addressed the people management topic. I personally have read and recommend Kim Scott’s “Radical Candor” and also Peter Drucker’s “The Practice of Management” (I have found Simon Sinek’s articles to be quite interesting as well) but one only has to google “books on people management” to get a deluge of recommendations on these. However one of the things that typically doesn’t come up with that much frequency is the management of Design Teams, and how that takes on certain nuances that hopefully I can showcase in this article. As usual, this article is a convergence of academic knowledge with my own personal professional experience in the Design field. I hope it makes for an interesting conversation starter.

Is Managing a Design Team the same as Managing any other team? The straightforward answer is of course, yes. But, and there’s always that reticence, there are nuances which makes that management process slightly different. It is similar to managing any other team in the sense that everyone wants to have ownership of their tasks, married with a perspective on evolution of their career path and also the inherent reward associated with everything they do. Everyone typically wants for their work to have visibility, and everyone wants for their career to flourish (everyone is essentially writing their own narrative, one way or another). These are common denominators for anyone independently of the industry in which people work on. With Designers and Design Teams this situation takes on a different meaning due to certain subtleties which invariably occur.

Depending on the Organization and their UX Maturity, Product Designers can be organized very differently, with some falling under the organizational paradigm of Pods/Squads, others falling under a centralized Service provider type of approach, and on other occasions Designers are simply directly embedded on diverse teams, without a connection with a Design practice in itself (and the scenarios can even multiply further, since they are also influenced by the maturity of the Organization itself). Therefore for a professional who has the responsibility to manage Designers, one of the first things to understand and take into consideration, is mapping how these professionals are currently deployed and how are they collaborating with each other and other professionals. Each Organization will have its priorities, budgets and focus, therefore for someone wanting to successfully manage Designers, it is wise to also understand and document these webs of relationships and factors. While gathering this information, it is also worthwhile to take note of expectations of professionals already working across that tissue (and on that note, document expectations of Designers, but also of other professionals in the Organization who are involved in the Product Design journey itself, even if some are more peripheral). Managing Product Designers also takes on an extra dimension since essentially these professionals can either be generalists or highly specialized, therefore understanding the path in which they are on, alongside their goals and where they want to ultimately be becomes of the utmost importance. Therefore in parallel with understanding Organizational Context, it’s fundamental to attain information on each team member, in terms of what their background is, what they’ve already done, what they’re currently focusing on, and what their goals are. This will allow for a closer alignment in terms of the relationship between career path/project assignment and also the ability to place professionals alongside teams which will both nurture and challenge that professional. Creating room for constant engagement with these professionals becomes something to constantly pursue and be mindful of. And just to reiterate, having an understanding of where professionals are on their career path, allows for a more tuned rapport between project ownership/growth/reward.

The case for Designers Managing Design Teams. This is always a tricky subject matter and one that is polarizing for many Designers. On one hand there are individuals in this field who firmly believe only Design professionals who evolve through the tiers of the professional echelon actually have the skills and understanding of the field itself which allows them to successfully manage their peers. On the other hand, there are professionals who believe that people don’t necessarily have to possess a background in Design in order to understand its principles and manage professionals in this arena. I’ll add to these two scenarios the following reflections. A professional in the Design field can excel and be a fantastically gifted full-stack Product Designer for instance, and yet that does not equate with someone instantly becoming a great Manager. The skills to be an effective Manager or Leader aren’t necessarily synonymous with someone who is an expert in their field. There are many professionals who are experts in what they do, but who aren’t necessarily the best communicators or even mentors (nor do they have the desire to do so). Back to additional reflections, someone can be a great inspirational leader and motivational speaker, and not necessarily the most versed and insightful professional in Design Thinking or product inception and development or even in understanding the intricacies of what it takes to actually build a product. I’ve personally been in both situations, and can honestly say they both have their challenges and rewards. I will say however that when there’s a balanced marriage of background in Design with a mature and sound perspective on leadership, it’s a tremendously beneficial opportunity for Designers, since in those occasions there’s a common language that is spoken by everyone and the professionals can truly soar (and again, my emphasis goes back to mature and sound perspective on leadership).

For Designers who want to pursue leadership positions, here are some things to keep in mind, that I personally learnt and benefitted from some of the fantastic mentors I’ve had and still have. A lot of what goes into leading Design teams and managing Designers in particular, when it comes to Leaders themselves, I’ve witnessed there has been a combination of humbleness, availability to listen, constant learning and growth, and being strategic about their vision of Design as a practice, but also as a part of a business engine. Design does not live in a vacuum, and much like Product, Development, Finance, Customer Support, Sales, Marketing, to name but a few departments, has accountability and ultimately a ROI perspective to it which is unavoidable. Design Leaders have to be able to both understand how to make collective contributions, process and teams operate efficiently, but also build up the whole deliverability stance, particularly when it comes to showcasing value.

Avoiding “do it yourself” and Educating. For many Design Leaders, particularly the ones who have progressed through the different tiers of the profession and are both seasoned and insightful on the topics and intricacies of building and delivering products, it can be at times challenging to accept the evolution of certain teams and their skill levels. I’ve witnessed leaders who typically choose a direction of inserting themselves sometimes excessively, solving the problems themselves, and forgetting in the process to actually train their teams and giving them the skills to solve the issues in the future. This is of course a tactic that people can choose to deploy, though in my personal experience I’ve witnessed one that is not scalable. On the other side of the spectrum, I’ve also witnessed Design Leaders who aren’t necessarily very familiar with certain aspects of the Design process and at times even of tools needed for teams to operate, who become increasingly frustrated with situations that they themselves should be more informed and prepared for, and invariably cause friction with the Designers on their teams (and again, going back to the previous point, this is where a mature and sound perspective on leadership comes in). This may be my background in education speaking more loudly here, but I’ve noticed that the most successful endeavors and teams are typically the ones where Leaders actively promote constant learning initiatives, sharing of knowledge and empower their teams to pursue different venues in which they can become better at what they do.

I’m always reminded of a documentary on the making of James Cameron’s “Aliens”, which was shot in England in the Fall of 1985. The director ran into friction with the British team who had their own particular way of working. At some point someone in the documentary says something akin to: “James Cameron can do pretty much anything and is incredibly prepared. If he had a team of people just like him, he could shoot the film in no time”. Some people on that team had to be replaced since there were budgetary and timing constraints that had to be accounted for, and some choices some of those professionals were doing were not aligned with their leader. I’m not going to be critical of the situation, nor Mr. Cameron, nor the teams involved. What I always take away from that situation is the fact that a good leader should always be prepared, and that includes not only with the knowledge to do and perform his own work, but also understand who and how is team operates. And then be able to empower, to motivate, challenge and also seek discussion. Only then can people actually feel actively involved and that their voice, point of view and expertise is accounted for.

Managing Designers, and I’m going to be more specifically addressing Product Designers, is always a challenging and rewarding experience. They walk hand in hand. This field is constantly evolving, and professionals need to be aware of it. For leaders, that becomes even more pressing, since they always have to keep in mind what keeps that team engaged, learning, motivated and apt to tackle any problem that appears. Awareness and knowledge of the Design field is of the utmost importance, as is the ability to be self aware, principled, deliberate, focused and adaptive (just like long lasting brands on the market).

I’m going to wrap this article with a quote from President John Quincy Adams:

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”