A five stage framework for evaluating where your design organization sits and what to invest in next. We use it on every discovery call. Free to apply yourself.
There is no designer on the team. The product is built by engineers who pick patterns from frameworks or competitors. The interface works but feels generic. UX decisions happen as a side effect of engineering decisions.
"Hire or embed one senior designer. Their first job is not designing features, it's establishing what design even means in your org. Foundations: tokens, components, naming, handoff. Pretty mockups can wait."
A designer exists. They are brought in late to make engineering's work look better. The product is functional but inconsistent, different pages feel like different products. Design rarely shapes what gets built, only how it looks once built.
"Build foundations. Tokens, components, type system, handoff protocol. This is the unglamorous work that compounds. Without it, every feature reinvents the wheel."
There is a small design team. Engineering knows when to involve them. There's a basic design system. The product looks consistent. Design is treated as a competent service function, not a strategic partner. Designers respond to roadmap; they don't shape it.
"This is the most common stage and the hardest to leave. The investment is structural: bring design into roadmap discussions before specs. Establish design rituals. Make research a standing practice, not an exception."
Design contributes to roadmap before specs are written. Designers are paired with PMs and engineers throughout the lifecycle. Research is continuous. The design system is mature and actively maintained. Design has voice in tradeoff conversations, not just execution conversations.
"Connect design to business outcomes. Build the muscle of articulating design's contribution in revenue, retention, and growth terms. Move from 'design serves the roadmap' to 'design shapes the roadmap.'"
Design is a strategic function reporting to the executive table. UX research informs business strategy, not just product features. The design org owns outcomes, not just artifacts. The product's experience is a primary moat, recognized as such by leadership and the market.
"The work at this stage is about institutional design, the structures that keep the function generative as the company scales. This is where most companies fail not by missing the bar but by gradually drifting back to Stage 4."
Book a 30 minute call. We'll walk through the model with you and map your current stage and the highest leverage move from here.
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