Design Lead

The Design Lead Role

The Design Lead is responsible for ensuring that the research and design work conducted by the designers in the Stream Teams is of high quality and that the team are effectively uncovering customer needs and validating their assumptions with customers and stakeholders. To achieve this the Design Lead recruits, manages and coaches the Designers in the Stream Teams and the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team, who in turn coaches the designers across the Stream Teams on research craft. The Design Lead also defines the design and research principles that guide all of this work.

In addition, the Design Lead is responsible for product-level research — including Market Trend Analysis, Competitive Analysis, and User Segmentation — and contributes to the product strategy by providing insights from across the design and research work conducted.

Key Responsibilities

1. Defining Design and Research Principles: Defining the design and research principles that guide the work of the designers in the Stream Teams and the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team.
2. Contributing to the Stream Team Structures: Assisting with the value stream definition, Stream Team allocations and ongoing management of the structures.
3. Researching Customers at the Product Level: Leading research at the product level, including Market Trend Analysis, Competitive Analysis, and User Segmentation.
4. Contributing to the Product Strategic Direction: Contributing to the product vision, strategy, Stream Team objectives and tracking the progress of the Stream Teams.
5. Tracking Product Performance: Monitoring the performance of the product in the market and the performance of the Stream Teams in delivering the product.
6. Recruiting: Recruiting designers for the Stream Teams and the senior researcher for the Research Enabling Team, and ensuring effective onboarding to get them up to speed quickly.
7. Coaching: Setting clear expectations for the designers in the Stream Teams and the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team and providing regular feedback and support to help them improve.
8. Managing Performance: Looking after the performance of the designers in the Stream Teams and the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team including conducting performance reviews and managing any performance issues.
9. Collaboratively Designing the Culture: Working with the other Product Team members to define, design and implement the culture of the Stream Teams.

Key Artifacts Produced

1. Design Principles: A document outlining the design principles that guide the work of the designers in the Stream Teams.
2. Research Principles: A document outlining the research principles that guide research across the Stream Teams and the Research Enabling Team.
3. Market Insights: A document outlining the current state, competitive landscape, and trends in the market.
4. Product Strategy: A document outlining the current diagnosis of the market, the areas of focus and the actions required to achieve the product vision.
5. Skills Gaps Analysis Report: A document outlining the design and research skills gaps in the Stream Teams and the actions required to close them.
6. Candidate Pipeline: A continuously updated list of potential candidates for the Stream Teams and the Research Enabling Team.
7. Detailed Job Descriptions: A document outlining the roles and responsibilities of the designers in the Stream Teams and the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team.
8. Performance Levels: The different performance levels of the designers and the senior researcher and the expectations for each level.
9. Design Capability Assessments: Assessments of the design capabilities of designers in the Stream Teams to guide coaching and development.
10. Research Capability Assessments: Assessments of the research capabilities of designers in the Stream Teams to guide coaching by the Research Enabling Team.
11. Individual Career Development Plans: A document outlining the career aspirations of the designers and the senior researcher and the actions required to achieve them.

Should the Design Lead be a Designer?

Going from a designer to a design lead is a career change. You are no longer responsible for the design work but for the people who do the design work. In essence, you are a people manager. Therefore, while helpful, it is not necessary for the Design Lead to be a designer themselves. The same principle applies to research craft — the Design Lead does not need to be a researcher either, because the senior researcher in the Research Enabling Team carries the live craft.

A deep understanding of design and research principles will help the Design Lead to more effectively recruit and manage designers, but these skills can be learned. As people grow through the ranks of people management, they will increasingly need to manage areas where they do not have any expertise and will need to learn the necessary skills to do so.

Some companies insist on the player-coach model where the Design Lead is also a designer. This can work but the needs of the two jobs are very different and it can be difficult to balance the two. The intent behind this is that you need someone who knows the craft to lead and grow the performance of the team. ZeroBlockers achieves this goal with a separation between Design Leads on Product Teams and experienced designers and researchers on Enabling Teams.

Enabling Teams are functionally aligned teams staffed with the most senior and experienced individual contributors in the company. They are responsible for defining the functional standards and best practices for the Stream Teams and coaching designers to improve the quality of the design and research craft.

On top of allowing people to focus more and be more effective in their respective areas, this separation delivers a secondary benefit: it provides an alternative career path for designers and researchers in the company. You can choose to move into people management and look more into the strategy of the product or you can choose to stay in the craft and become an expert in your field. Both options provide an opportunity for people to leverage their skills and experience.