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Design Org Dimensions

The Hidden Architecture that Lets Design Thrive

Welcome to Design Org Dimensions, a kind of living digital book, incorporating not just writing, but the actual tools and references Peter Merholz has created in his work shaping design organizations.

This material builds on Org Design for Design Orgs, still the canonical book for building in-house design teams. Since that time, Peter has continued his efforts on organization design, developing numerous tools, approaches, and practices for creating effective and impactful design organizations.

To work it takes to prepare these resources for public consumption is significant, so Design Org Dimensions is a subscription product. Support independent creators!

This book will continually evolve as Peter both adds to it and updates older material. Below is the current table of contents. Any linked item has been written (though some of them will be updated). Subscribers will be notified as articles are written or re-written, ensuring you're kept up-to-date.

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Dimension 1: Definition
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Dimension 2: Structure
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Dimension 3: People
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Dimension 4: Quality

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Dimension 5: Design Management
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Dimension 1: Definition

Lay the foundation for your Design organization: it's role, it's purpose, and its performance.

Dimension 2: Structure

How is the Design Org structured? Centralized, decentralized, hybrid? Organized by subfunction, product, stage in the journey?

Dimension 3: People

The happier and more engaged people are, the better the work they'll do. Here, we focus on the People Dimension of design orgs, including how they grow in their careers, and thoughtful and intentional recruiting approaches.

Dimension 4: Quality

At the end of the day, all a design org has to stand by is the quality of the work it produces. Most orgs, though, lack quality standards, instead relying on experience and taste, which can vary widely. In this dimension, we explore ways to rigorously define quality standards.

Dimension 5: Design Management

With all the elements in place, there is the work of actually running the design org. In the Design Management dimension, will explore strategies and tactics for doing so successfully.