Design at Scale 2021-Scaling Design Capabilities at BBVA Through a Self-Service Design Model (Nora Tejada and Giovanna Alonso)

—> Thank you, today we are sharing what we’ve done in scaling design capabilities at BBVA

 

—> Internal name of our BBVA project was Design at Scale, and talking about Design at Scale conference, so we appreciate the similarities

 

—> We will be starting with a story,  like all projects do

 

 

—> BBVA is the largest bank in Mexico, that wanted to change
  • Pillars of change strategy was design, and BBVA had goal of being more user-centered
—> So BBVA established a great design team to lead the process of transformation

 

—> What happened was that design changed from focus on visual aspect of experience, to bringing in a user designed process to creating BBVA products and services

 

—> The design team rapidly grew to over 200 people today

 

—> By 2018, the design team had established itself to tackle challenges within the org

 

—> The design team did so well, that there weren’t enough designers to cover all the needs

 

—> Seemed like a happy problem, but the project teams including developers started doing design themselves. The problems with this approach included:
  • No design principles
  • No design system
  • No talking to users
  • No design consitency
—> So what could design do?
  • We couldn’t be the bottleneck for developer projects, but we couldn’t grow our team fast enough.
—> So why don’t we help developers do better design?

 

—> Enter “Design at Scale @BBVA”: a project to develop a model to help developers fulfill design needs in semi autonomous way

 

—> From beginning there were purists in team, who resisted giving non-designers our design  skills
  • However, wehought that developers would keep doing the design work, and wanted to make sure the developers would follow best practices
—> We will share how the model was defined, how it works to this day, what we’ve learned in the process of implementation

 

 

—> How did we scale design at BBVA?
  • Needed to promote user-centered vision
  • Enabling teams to fulfill design needs
  • And doing all of this while maintaining quality

 

—> Used the design process to meet these needs to understand scrum, developer teams
  • Ideated self-service model work that was needed
  • Then did prototyping and testing the work with scrum teams who needed the help, to show what training and resources were needed

 

—> So did every project fall under self-service model?

 

—> No, we built a matrix to identify what projects fell under self-service
  • Simple projects that could fall into self-service model, while complex projects needed a fully designer

 

—> We turned our model into a framework, with design needs and objectives at the bottom layers, which were most abstract

 

—> Simple projects had concrete needs, while complex projects had more abstract ones

 

—> The things needed to build “packages” were as follows:
  • Design objectives
  • Channels
—> Mixture of channels and design objectives were provided way to meet needs, like creating flows in a mobile app
  • Specific apps for specific needs

 

—> So how was the framework formed?

 

—> There were three main actors in the self-service model
  • Scrum: Executing all design work
  • DoS Advisor: Designer assigned to self-service model
  • The Framework: To manage self-service model

 

—> The advisor was a full designer for the team. They trained the Scrum team, gave them resources and tools, and offered support for the Scrum team

 

—> The advisor changed design’s relationship to Scrum team, where the designer was not just a designer, but rather a guru and counselor for the team to fulfill their needs
  • Changed perception scrum team had of design, as they started seeing the overall value design brought

 

—> Now, about the framework
  • We need to point out  this was only for self-service model projects, since not all projects fell under it
—> Empathy session to understand what Scrum team wanted to accomplish,
  • What they wanted and what they needed

 

—> Then once design needs were articulated, there was technical design training provided to the team
  • They were taught design, how the design process works, and were shown the importance of design

 

—> Training included wire framing and conducting usability studies

 

—> We had work sessions for the scrum team to identify what was needed, and resources like handbooks to clarify things like managing brand guidelines for clients,
  • Also we gave access to design libraries in Figma for the Scrum team to design their UI in Figma without direct design help
—> We also had DIY Tools like a mailing template that could be customized

 

—> We then had reviews, where design provided feedback as to whether Scrum was meeting the design team’s standards

 

—> Finally we had a final review, to make sure Scrum met design standards, and certificate awarded that team passed quality standards

 

—> How did this integrate into BBVA?
  • We could either have full-time designer with team
  • Or the Scrum team would have projects they could work on in a self-service model
—> By the first quarter of 2021, we had 37 projects, or 15% done of all work, done in the self-service model
  • Measured impact of this is to stay that work was done with only three design at scale advisors
  • Real scale of model comes into play, as DaS advisors are far smaller than normal, while also keeping quality of deliverables
—> There is also a change in mindset from developers, who take the design training to future projects

 

—> Here are  things we’ve learned to help you with our scalability journey
  • Regular and Self-Service Design Work can be confusing: Some teams have designers assigned to the project, and they are often confused, as the self-service model is different
    • Be emphatic about communication before and during projects to clarify what’s expected in terms of processes
  • Things that appear simple can become really complicated: See the screening process for self-service projects. But even if careful, there are things that can make a design process more complex for product team and DaS advisor
    • Can result in projects that are more complex than anticipated
    • To manage this, we’ve worked to iterate the screening project to capture complexities, and developed courses of action for what could be done for things that can’t be covered to self-service, such as adjusting the scope of the project
      • Along with agreement and negotiation with the project teams
  • Many things teams can achieve with self-service is limited: Mostly they were projects that had clear parameters about what could be done
    • As we’ve learned things, we’ve tried to do new things with DaS model, and to expand it further
    • However, we’ve learned that the limits of DaS are real, so we should focus on more concrete goals
    • Still, there are additional things that can be tackled via self-service
  • Working with so many projects can be overwhelming for designers
    • High number of projects come at cost, even with strict self-service parameters.
    • There is a cognitive load of understanding so many different projects over three months
      • Each DaS is juggling 12 projects in three months
      • They require a thorough understanding of each project
      • Work is rewarding but demanding
    • To manage this, limited number of projects that a designer can work with at any time.
      • Magic number hasn’t been found, and personality of project teams and designer influences what can be done
    • We also keep iterating the framework for DaS advisors
  • Found DaS helped designers and developers work together as a team
    • Designer becomes more like a guru
    • Both groups understand what each does and why
    • We came to the conclusion that we are all on the same side and team to make positive impact on the organization
    • From design perspective, this boosts the role design has on the team, and helps drive a user-centered transformation
    • Developers understand the value design can bring to their projects

—> I’ll finish this talk by asking about scaling design capabilities

 

—> Our learning is that you need to understand organization, and the people in it, beyond the design team
  • We’ll keep improving on this
—> Thank you very much for your time

 

 

Q&A

 

  1. What kind of skillsets should the DaS advisor have? If we were to hire someone specific for advising DaS, what should we be looking for?
—> Have different kinds of DaS Advisors, depending on design needs
  • Some UX versus content strategy focused
  • Most are UX
—> We found that we need people who are comfortable with their knowledge so that they can share it, and who have their ego in check,

 

—> We want designers who are willing to learn and relearn their design skills and who relate to project teams as equals

 

—> Change in mindset to helping others learn design, so this is why a rigorous screening process is so important

 

2. Can you please share the inventory of design documentation that you had in place before starting the DaS process, such as brand guidelines or component wireframes? Were there kinds of documentation that you wish you had at the start that you have added as the process has evolved?

 

—> Stated by transforming matrix to reflect layers of UX

 

—> Developed a  playbook to provide training for each design layer from user journeys to wireframing

 

—> Inventory of packages, tools, and resources has grown as we identify more projects that enter self-service model

 

3. Our DaS Advisor sounds like what other companies call a Design Program Manager, does that sound right?

 

—> I don’t know, so I’ll leave that answer pending

 

4. Do you have one DaS advisor per scrum team?

 

—> Have advisor that is assigned for twelve different scrum teams, which can be difficult, as people have to learn about multiple business segments
  • Need to switch context knowledge a lot

 

5. How do you measure design quality at BBVA?

 

—> Design team is measured differently compared to self-service model
  • In self-service, DaS tells scrum team if they are adhering to the design team’s principles and overall design system