Design your Design Organization

Workshop by Kristin Skinner
Hosted by: Intergalactico
Address: Nordcloud HQ - Antinkatu 1, 00100 Helsinki

Organizations of all sizes are investing in design like never before. This has led to companies building in-house digital/experience design teams at unprecedented rates, but many of them don’t understand how to get the most out of their investment. For design organizations to successfully deliver value to customers and to the business, design teams need the support of strong operations.

This workshop will focus on how to establish best practices for end-to-end experience oversight, and all the critical pieces together – strategy, business goals, design, execution, technology, and customer needs – to produce amazing experiences for multiple platforms.

Kristin Skinner, Executive Director, Head of Design Management at Chase, former Head of Design Management at Capital One, and co-author of Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams, will shine a light on the operational challenges and considerations of running a design organization, and what works and what doesn’t. Drawing on her experience managing design teams and organizations at Microsoft’s Pioneer Studios, Adaptive Path, Capital One, and Chase, Kristin will discuss how what happens “behind the scenes” and how a focus on design management and operations can ultimately affect a design organization’s output, quality, and effectiveness.

This workshop is for people who are establishing or reimagining the design practice in their organizations. While well-suited for in-house design teams, we’ll also discuss practices and methods applicable to consultancies.

We will discuss:
- The 5 stages of design organization evolution
- When and how to introduce roles including research, content, service design, and design management and operations
- Design roles and a career ladder framework
- How to lead and support the team through growth and evolution

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP LEADER

Kristin Skinner

Head of Design Management, Chase

Kristin Skinner is a design management executive and recognized thought leader in design operations and design program management. She is co-author of Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Design Teams, the first book dedicated to the organization, management, and operations of in-house design teams.

A frequent conference keynoter and workshop leader, Kristin co-created and co-curates the DesignOps Summit series—the foremost design operations event—and has curated the Leading Experience conference. Her executive experience includes senior design management and leadership roles at Chase, Capital One, Adaptive Path, and Microsoft.