Design Operations
Across his career, Joe has been a Designer, Illustrator, Researcher, Individual Contributor, Manager, and Director. He has seen patterns and anti-patterns play out at scale in various roles. As an individual contributor, he was on a senior team of Principals that shaped the IBM Design Studio. He created Scorecards to evaluate team performance at scale and wrote guides to Critiques and Design Strategy.
He has worked closely with Managers reporting to him on onboarding guides and roadmap templates to accelerate outcomes. As a Director, he oversaw the design of IBM Design dot com. He worked closely with recruiters on portfolio rigor and the hiring criteria to grow IBM Design from a dozen to several thousand within a few years’ time.
Craft & Culture Support
Role
Design Principal
Objective
Set a high bar for quality for design and work with teams of designers to scale it across all touchpoints, both digital and physical.
Context
The job varied from facilitating Design Thinking workshops with PMs and Developers every other week to creating seating charts. If you had a problem, Joe and his peers would solve it.
Outcome
Joe became an accidental educator, trained trainers, mentored dozens of designers, and fostered the integration of design across a global portfolio.
Scorecards
Role
Design Principal
Objective
Create a rubric for the quality of outcomes. Track the effectiveness of designers deployed to various business units across IBM.
Context
Measuring impact in an organization that ships outcomes at uneven intervals was a challenge. The quality of design progress required an objective definition to determine effectiveness.
Outcome
Explicit criteria for successful integration of designers for our GM to have discussions with their peers. Clear communication around design, designers, and headcount allocations to address business needs.
Onboarding & Growth
Role
Design Principal, Design Director
Objective
Two decks for two audiences. Make designers feel welcome in a new organization and answer commonly asked questions. Justify continued investment in Design.
Context
IBM was hiring and team building at unprecedented rates. We needed to onboard with efficiency, monitor the quality of outcomes, and reinforce the need to continue the growth of the practice.
Outcome
Business and organizational context for new designers. Clear communication around design, designers, and headcount allocations to address business needs.
How to work with Design
Role
Design Director
Objective
Drive clarity of what outcomes executives can expect by funding Design headcount, and how their direct reports can collaborate effectively with designers.
Context
Massive budget was allocated to increase the number of designers at the corporate level, but business units were unclear on the role of modern Designers.
Outcome
Executives became familiar with different types of Designers, their skills, and how they can drive value. Misconceptions were handled and RACI was mapped to the Developer Career Ladder.
Design Strategy Guide
Role
Design Strategy Director
Objective
Guide Designers to better understand and integrate with IBM. By having empathy and speaking the same language, Designers could become better partners to non-Designers.
Context
Product Managers, Developers, and Marketing teams had challenges in understanding what Product Designers did. The reverse was also true, so a guide was written to help Designers understand their role in the business.
Outcome
By understanding the language, competition, and how their contributions are measured, designers can better collaborate meaningfully with non-designers at scale.
Guide to Critique
Role
Design Principal
Objective
Encourage the sharing of working artifacts amongst designers to drive higher-quality outcomes.
Context
IBM may have had the largest product design organization, but size didn’t result in individuals feeling comfortable sharing their work. This guide provided a framework for eliciting and leveraging peer feedback at scale.
Outcome
The guide went live on the IBM intranet and experienced a 20x traffic spike compared to similar URLs. The content has been shared with the Product Management and Development organizations, resulting in dedicated internal learning modules.
IBM Design Dot Com
Role
Design Director
Objective
Create the first external-facing website for the IBM Design organization. Educate site visitors on the organization's mission and drive applications to join IBM. Drive applications.
Context
Candidates needed a website to go to that reflected the organization’s charter to disrupt IBM from within. A presence reinforcing the drive for excellence and a fresh perspective was essential.
Outcome
A digital experience that leveraged the foundation of IBM’s legacy in design and reflected a fresh perspective. 100x% increase in completed online applications, partially due to avoiding general-purpose HR systems.