UX/Design Org Health Assessment
When we think of tools and frameworks that enable UX/Design organizations to consistently deliver high quality work, we typically think of design systems, experience principles, heuristic guidelines. All of them are valuable, but they also focus on only part of the equation.
The factor that most contributes to the quality of a team's output is the mindset of the people doing the work. How is their morale? What are their levels of engagement and motivation? If these are high, then much of the rest takes care of itself, as these folks won't be satisfied with delivering sub-par work. If these are low, though, then people will give just the bare minimum necessary to get by.
Organizational health is a way to understand that collective mindset. Many companies conduct some form of internal engagement survey (sometimes called a Pulse survey, as in 'taking the pulse' of the organization), but, as with so many HR tools that are meant to serve an entire company, these surveys lack the necessary specificity to make them truly applicable to understanding a Design organization.
So, I've created my own survey. The idea is to probe design team member morale, engagement, motivation, and belonging across a range of factors, some of which may not be evident in day-to-day interactions. The collective response will identify where team leadership should focus its efforts to realize the greatest positive impact.
The survey took as a starting point Chapter 3 in Org Design for Design Orgs, The 12 Qualities of Effective Design Organizations. I then added questions that provided a fuller picture of how the organization is operating.
I've created the survey in Google Forms. Click this link to copy an editable version of it for your own use.
What I'm sharing is a solid place to start, and you could distribute it unchanged. You may want to tailor it to better reflect the specifics of your organization. I explain each segment in detail so that you understand what it's trying to elicit, and can make informed changes if your needs differ.
The Survey
Section 1: The UX/Design Organization
The survey begins by having respondents describe their feelings about a series of statements about the UX/Design organization. For each statement, there is a Likert scale: Strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor disagree, agree, strongly agree. I have also added "I don't know" if the respondent feels they simply don't have enough information or awareness to answer responsibly.
Each statement addresses different qualities of the UX/Design organization.
The UX/Design Organization has its own clear sense of purpose (separate from the broader company/organizational mission).
A "shared sense of purpose" is the #1 quality of an effective design organization—so let's find out if people think this org has it! (It would be even better to ask people to articulate what they think the purpose of the org is, but analyzing the responses to that, especially in a scaled org, could be quite cumbersome.)
We use deep understanding of our users' and customers' contexts to inform our decisions and solutions.
This is asking: are we user-, people-, human-centered? A UX/Design organization is only as effective as the quality of insights it's able to glean from authentic user understanding.
We connect our work to business value.
UX/Design operates within a business context. How well does it's work align with broader organizational expectations? Can we show how the work we do drives the kind of business impact our stakeholders seek? Does our understanding of business help us focus our efforts on that which is important?
We contribute to the strategic direction of the broader organization.
Too often, UX/Design organizations have been relegated production or delivery functions. An effective organization influences 'upstream' decisions, informing roadmaps and product portfolios.
We have clear, explicit standards of UX/Design quality.
A UX/Design team is only as good as what it produces. And it can only reliably produce good work, when it has clear, explicit quality standards.
We only ship experiences that meet our standards of UX/Design quality.
It's one thing to have quality standards. Are you able to uphold them? Or are other teams able to overrule UX/Design's concerns?
After we ship an experience, we iterate and improve it based on what we've learned.
Effective organizations are learning organizations—they take in new information, and improve based on it. Many organizations simply ship and move on.
Section 2: You (Your role, your work, your career, your belonging)
We then go from the whole org to the respondent's specific place within it. We start with a few questions about the respondent, their practice, and experience. This information isn't interesting in itself, but could prove valuable in identifying how disciplines, career level, and years at the company correlate to aspects of organizational health.
This is followed by a set of questions about how they feel about their work and career.
Your Role, Part 1: Disciplines
A list of disciplines found within UX/Design organizations is provided, and the respondent is asked to "Choose the discipline(s) that best describe(s) your personal area(s) of focus, and for which you are held responsible." There are likely way more disciplines shown than are in your organization—remove those that are irrelevant. Make sure you allow people to choose multiple disciplines, as, regardless of job title, people are typically responsible to deliver in more than one area.
Your Role, Part 2: Current career level
This is straightforward: what's the respondent's current level of seniority? I've provided industry-standard labels, but you should change these to reflect the language and leveling in your current organization. For the sake of simplicity, I have lumped together senior IC and Management track levels. Feel free to separate them.
Your Role, Part 3: How long have you been at this company?
The idea behind this is simple: how does longevity within the company correlate with one's feelings about working there?
Doing the Work
A person's engagement is directly related to how they feel about their ability to work effectively in the UX/Design organization.
I have the tools and resources to do my work well.
Practitioners such as designers and researchers need access to what may be seen as specialist tools or other resources. How easy is it for them to freely use those tools? Are they having to spend a lot of time adopting workarounds, or can they focus on work because they have what they need?
I have the time and focus to do my work well.
UX/Design practice benefits from protected time, enabling practitioners to explore directions and complexity to arrive at the best solution. If people are pulled into too many meetings, or expected to be 'present' on Slack, those interruptions will inhibit their output.
I am free to determine how best to approach and solve the problems I’m responsible for.
In Daniel Pink's book Drive, he identifies the three aspects of work that keep people engaged: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. This statement gets at autonomy. As creative problem solvers, people in UX/Design want determination in how the work gets done.
The work I’m asked to do matches my level of experience and expertise.
This statement gets at mastery. A challenge I see in UX/Design is, with teams biasing towards senior practitioners, those practitioners end up doing a lot of junior-level work, because that work still needs to get done. On the flip side, I've also witnessed junior designers who are in over their head, whether it's the complexity of the problem at hand, or handling relationships with cross-functional peers. Practitioners seek to perform at their level of mastery (maybe a bit above) so that they can deliver optimal impact, and continue to grow.
I take pride in the work I deliver.
This is key. Practitioners crave satisfaction in what they create. Do they feel good in telling other people about it? Would they want to add it to their portfolio? If not, following up with discussions as to why will barriers to quality, and opportunities for improvement.
The work I do has a positive impact on our users.
This statement addresses two matters. The work of UX/Design requires coordination with other functions (product management, engineering) to ship and ultimately be made available to users. Are UX/Design practitioners able to see how their efforts make it through to the final product, and in a state that positively impacts the people using it? It's always frustrating for UX/Design practitioners when they don't see their work reflected in what gets shipped.
Additionally, is there instrumentation, and do we have measures that show how this work is having this positive impact? Too often, UX/Designers feel like they're shipping into the void. They want to know they've moved the needle.
In my work, I collaborate with other members of the UX/Design organization.
A common frustration I hear from UX/Design practitioners is that they don't get to work with and learn from one another, but find themselves isolated as the 'lone designer,' working with product management and engineering. Healthier organizations are those where there are opportunities for practitioners to occasionally collaborate or, even better, work together as a team.
When things get difficult, I am supported by others, and can support others in my UX/Design organization
A true measure of a healthy organization is how well it supports folks who are grappling with some kind of challenge. If folks feel isolated and with nowhere to turn, they'll quickly become disengaged. If they feel connected to a pro-social team that aids one another and makes everyone stronger, that enhances engagement.
Professional Development
A top reason that people disengage, and even leave a company, is that they don't feel like they have a path for professional growth within the organization. These two statements get at that.
I understand what's expected of me, and how my performance is measured.
Even when handled well, performance management is a fraught process. More than anything, people want the process to be fair and informative. Unfortunately, too often, people don't know what's expected of them, and are surprised at how they're evaluated.
I know what growth looks like in my role and how to navigate my professional development path.
The prior statement was about looking backward. This statement is about looking forward. Do they understand what's expected as they develop in their career, and the paths that are available to them.
I receive support in achieving my career goals.
Support can come in many forms—active manager engagement, mentorship, learning and development. Does it feel like the organization is investing in their development?
Inclusion and Belonging
People crave places and spaces where they belong, where they feel they can be who they are, and not have to pretend to be someone they're not.
I am respected as a distinct individual and person, not just a resource.
Bureaucracies tend to reduce people to their job title, considering them fungible or interchangeable resources. However, people crave acknowledgment and recognition as individuals, with distinct abilities, interests, and concerns. The more they feel 'seen,' the more engaged they are.
I can take risks, admit mistakes, and push back without fear negative consequences.
This gets at the heart of psychological safety. Given the generative, exploratory, and often uncertain aspects of their work, UX/Design practitioners thrive in psychologically safe environments where they can try things, make mistakes, challenge one another (including their leadership) without any concern for retribution.
I can be myself at work.
To what degree can people show up as authentic to who they are? Do they have to mask or otherwise pretend they're something they're not? The truer to themselves, the more they can put their energy into the work, not their presentation.
I feel like I belong in my UX/Design organization.
Does the team provide a sense of connection and belonging? Does it's values align with my own?
I am fairly compensated for the work I do.
In a capitalist society, a key indicator of belonging and inclusion is pay, because that's how companies and the teams within them signal how they feel about people's contributions.
People from all backgrounds have equal opportunities to succeed in the UX/Design organization.
UX/Design work benefits when a diversity of perspectives and experiences are brought to bear, such that the population that creates the service reflects the population that uses or consumes it.
Fielding the Survey
Before conducting the survey, work with your HR colleagues to review the material, provide suggestions, make sure it's not redundant with any internal surveys they have planned, and check it for compliance.
Surveys such as this are best fielded every 6 months—more than that, you won't see much variance (and you'll be annoying your team); less than that, and you may get negative health signals too late.
Keep answers confidential. You want people to be as forthright as possible.
After conducting the survey, analyze the results, identifying which areas are of most acute concern. Develop plans for addressing those areas, and then share the analysis and plans with your team. It's crucial that they know they've been heard, and that action will be taken.