This post is based on chapter 4 of the book “Org Design for Design Orgs: Building and Managing In-House Teams,” by Peter Merholz and Kristin Skinner. Overall, that book is one I’d highly recommend to anyone who leads design, or anyone looking to be a design lead. This is just my interpretation of a small piece of it.
The book covers everything from design organization best practices, to team roles, to recruiting, to professional growth, and more.
Where should design go?
As companies come to understand the value of design, more are adding and growing their in-house design teams. However, companies are not always clear on how to gain the most value from these design teams. Where should these teams sit in comparison to the rest of the company? How should they be organized?
Merholz and Skinner have explained two common models, and recommended a model that seems to combine the best of both worlds.
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