Elevating UX Across a Scaling Organization
At symplr, I scaled and transformed a rapidly growing design team from an emergent, fragmented group into a cohesive, high-performing organization capable of delivering complex and quality work under aggressive timelines.
Overview
Role: UX Design Leader
Team: 5 → 20 designers
Scope: UX across cloud migration + net-new product development
Context: Rapid scaling, high delivery pressure, low design maturity
Impact: Built a best-in-class UX organization with increased demand, stronger alignment, and measurable business influence
Design was struggling to scale with the organization.
The Situation
symplr was undergoing significant growth and transformation:
Migrating legacy products to the cloud
Redesigning complex, hard-to-use modules
Delivering net-new functionality on tight timelines
At the same time, I inherited not just an eclectic product suite, but an equally eclectic team of designers.
The design team was scaling quickly:
Grew from 5 → 20 designers in a short period
Supporting hundreds of engineers
Operating under 3-month delivery cycles
But both the product and the team lacked maturity:
Inconsistent workflows and unclear priorities
Limited visibility into work across the team
No shared understanding of UX’s role in the business
Wide variation in skillsets and experience across designers
Design—and the team itself—was struggling to scale with the organization.
The Problem
This wasn’t just a growth challenge—it was a maturity gap across both product and people.
1. Fragmented Team Operations
Designers worked in silos with inconsistent processes and no shared standards.
2. Low Design Influence
UX was not consistently seen as a strategic partner.
3. Inefficient Use of Resources
Designers were overloaded, misaligned, and often working on the wrong problems and priorities.
4. Lack of Feedback and Growth Systems
No critique culture, unclear expectations, and limited opportunities for skill development.
5. Misaligned and Uneven Skillsets
There was no clear understanding of the team’s capabilities relative to business needs.
Through assessment, I identified that:
Some designers were true full-stack (UX, UI, research, strategy)
Some were strong in UI but lacked UX depth
Some were strong in UX but lacked visual/UI skills
Some had research experience, while others had none
This created inconsistency in output quality and made it difficult to staff projects effectively.
Why This Was Hard
Rapid team growth without infrastructure
High delivery pressure across multiple large initiatives
Supporting a wide and complex product ecosystem
Need to scale both people and process simultaneously
Balancing team development while continuing to delivery
We needed to transform how the team worked, without slowing down delivery.
Strategy
I focused on one core goal:
Move the team from emergent to integrated by building structure, clarity, and influence.
This included not only maturing the product experience—but intentionally maturing the team itself.
This translated into four priorities:
Establish consistent systems and standards
Align design work to business impact
Build a culture of collaboration and accountability
Align team skillsets to current and future business needs
Key Decisions
1. Overhaul the UX Program (Not Just Tools)
I redefined how design operated across the organization—introducing structure, expectations, and shared practices.
Why: We needed consistency and clarity at scale
Tradeoff: Required change management across a large, active team
2. Align Work to Business Priorities
I introduced a resourcing model to ensure designers were working on the highest-impact initiatives.
This included strategically placing designers on projects based on their strengths, ensuring the team I had could operate effectively while we matured capabilities.
Why: The team was busy—but not always effective
Tradeoff: Required more prioritization and reallocation decisions
3. Right-Size and Evolve the Team
After evaluating team capabilities against business needs, I made strategic decisions about team composition.
Leveraged existing strengths by aligning designers to work that matched their skillsets
Identified gaps where certain designers were not meeting expectations across core areas
Made the difficult decision to part ways where necessary
Rehired for more full-stack talent aligned to the future direction of the organization
Why: The business required a higher baseline of capability to scale effectively
Tradeoff: Required balancing team morale with long-term performance needs
4. Invest in Targeted Skill Development
As new business needs emerged—such as accessibility compliance and AI—the team initially lacked experience in these areas.
Rather than replacing the team, I introduced lightweight, focused bootcamps to quickly upskill designers in:
Accessibility standards and compliance
Emerging AI technologies and design considerations
Why: Upskilling the existing team was more efficient and preserved team continuity
Tradeoff: Required time investment alongside active delivery work
5. Build a Strong Feedback Culture
I introduced design critiques and a team manifesto centered on trust and growth.
To support designers with varying skill levels—and to create more cohesion across our product experiences—I implemented lightweight checks and balances, including:
Weekly design critiques
Peer reviews across teams
These forums served multiple purposes:
Helped designers strengthen weaker skill areas through shared feedback
Created visibility into work happening across different products
Enabled the team to identify overlapping patterns and flows
Encouraged reuse of proven solutions to drive consistency across the product suite
Why: Quality, growth, and cohesion depend on shared standards, visibility, and open feedback
Manifesto
Critique
6. Implement Light Weight Checks and Balances
We established non-negotiable standards across:
Design system usage (for adopting products)
Accessibility
Engineering feasibility
Why: Consistency and scalability required guardrails
7. Increase UX Visibility Across the Organization
We made design work visible through:
Presentations
Case studies
Cross-team engagement
Why: Perception of UX needed to shift from tactical → strategic
8. Protect Designer Time
We reduced time spent on post-handoff issues by introducing faster defect workflows.
Why: Designers needed to focus on high-impact work
How I Led the Work
I balanced team transformation with ongoing delivery:
Assessed and aligned team skillsets to business direction
Made strategic decisions on hiring, placement, and team composition
Created clarity around priorities, roles, and expectations
Introduced lightweight systems (critiques, peer reviews) to drive continuous learning and cross-product alignment
Enabled faster decision-making through structure and systems
Maintained alignment across design, product, and engineering
Reinforced a culture of ownership, feedback, and continuous improvement
This allowed the team to scale quality at higher velocity without scaling chaos.
Outcomes
Team Transformation
Shifted from fragmented → highly integrated and collaborative
Established consistent workflows and shared standards
Built a strong culture of feedback, growth, and accountability
Increased overall team capability through targeted hiring and upskilling
Organizational Impact
UX became a strategic partner across the business
Designers were in high demand across teams
Increased trust and engagement from cross-functional partners
Product Impact
More consistent, high-quality user experiences
Better alignment between design work and business goals
Stronger foundation for future product scalability
What This Enabled
A scalable UX organization capable of supporting rapid growth
Designers who operate as leaders, not just contributors
A team with the skills to adapt to evolving business needs (e.g., accessibility, AI)
A shift in perception: UX as a core driver of business value
What This Demonstrates
Scaling teams through structure—not just hiring
Leading organizational transformation under pressure
Making strategic decisions about team composition and capability
Aligning design work to business impact
Building systems that turn teams into force multipliers
Elevating UX from execution → strategy
Designers not only felt more confident in their roles but were also able to protect their time, maintain focus, and elevate their work. The clarity around priorities and the increased training contributed to their overall growth, making them more strategic in their approach.
