Differentiated
Established
Ad Hoc
Absent
1. To begin, how would you rate design in your organization?
-
A
Absent — Design is mostly outsourced, or done by non-designers.
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B
Ad Hoc — Design happens in pockets, but the quality is inconsistent.
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C
Established — We have a design process that works and design staff to do it.
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D
Differentiated — We do top notch design and it’s integral to our strategy.
2. How do your co-workers feel about helping our customers?
-
A
Like they’re a necessary evil.
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B
It depends who you ask. Some advocate for customers. Others have more of an ‘us versus them’ mentality.
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C
We all agree that our customers are important, but their needs are often in tension with the needs of our business.
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D
Passionate. (Really!) Helping your customers is why we all work here.
3. Recall the last time you had a conversation at work about the value of design. Was it more like….
-
A
“Design? Great in theory, but we don’t have enough time or money.”
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B
“We really need to improve the usability of our products.”
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C
“Design has the potential to save a lot of time and make us more money.”
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D
“We want to make great things that people love. To do that, we use design to reimagine everything.”
4. When you think about your organization’s best design success stories, they are…
-
A
Non-existent — we don’t have any design success stories.
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B
Anecdotes about improvements.
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C
Tied to product metrics like conversion and engagement.
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D
Inspiring! They’re stories of making things better for people, with big numbers to prove it
5. What does a typical design project look like where you work?
-
A
Hard to say — design projects aren’t typical for us.
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B
We get right to designing the finished product (wireframes, design comps), etc.
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C
We have an iterative design process that includes design research and usability testing.
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D
Multiple forms: iterative design, of course, but also design strategy, design systems and patterns — even design thinking.
6. Organizations make investments in many forms. Which best reflects how your organization invests in design?
-
A
Purchase orders — special projects with outside vendors.
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B
Time — we have a few employees who work on design as part of their jobs.
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C
Headcount — we staff full design teams.
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D
Programs — design studios, innovation labs, training programs, talent acquisition, etc. (Plus headcount, too.)
7. If you think about when design activities take place in your organization, is it…
-
A
Never — we outsource that (or don’t do it at all).
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B
Near the end of some projects, when it’s important how it looks.
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C
It starts early, when we begin to think about strategy, and runs through the end of projects.
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D
All the time in lots of ways — we use design as a multi-purpose problem-solving tool.
8. Thinking about the software tools your company employs for design, are they…
-
A
Not design-specific — a lot of Microsoft Office.
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B
Piecemeal design tools selected by individual employees.
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C
The industry standard set of design, prototyping, and testing tools.
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D
The industry standard design tools, plus additional tools to promote collaboration and sharing assets.
9. If you were to bring all your company’s design employees together, it would look like…
-
A
An empty room — we don’t have design employees.
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B
A dinner party — it’s a small group, and we bring in extra guests from time to time.
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C
A family reunion — we have multiple teams with diverse skills, but we’re all connected.
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D
A movement — in addition to multiple design teams, we have specialized design services that help us scale. Altogether, we’re a pretty big group
10. Who is in charge of design in your company and what do they do?
-
A
Non-designers (e.g., managers in IT or marketing).
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B
Low and mid-level design managers who help manage the workload against shifting priorities.
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C
Mid- to upper-level design managers who spend a lot of time interviewing, hiring, and planning.
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D
VP or C-level design leaders who work to make design practices standard operating procedure throughout our company.
11. Designers obviously care about design. But how do the rest of the people in your company feel about it?
-
A
Mostly disinterested.
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B
Interested if it seems relevant to their work. Otherwise, meh.
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C
Positive and curious — they have fun when they get involved in the design process.
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D
Masterful — they know a lot about design and design thinking, and feel empowered to get involved.