Upgrade Your Design Org

Through consulting and workshop offerings, Peter Merholz helps companies get the most out of their design organizations.

A little About Peter

Peter Merholz has worked at the intersection of design, technology, and humans for over 25 years. He co-founded Adaptive Path, the premier user experience consultancy, acquired by Capital One in 2014. 

Since leaving Adaptive Path, he’s worked as a design leader and executive, leading teams at Groupon, OpenTable, Jawbone, Capital One, Snagajob (now Snag), and Kaiser Permanente. 

Peter has long been a contributor to the professional design community, through his writing, conference speaking, and events hosting. 

In 2016 he co-wrote Org Design for Design Orgs, still the premier book on building in-house design teams.

Read more about Peter.

Blog

On the (f)utility of design maturity models

Nov 02, 2023

Thesis Design maturity models are oversimplified frameworks that mask the necessary nuance to understand and develop an organization’s ability to get the most out of a Design function. That said, used responsibly, they can be a helpful heuristic, particularly early on, for orienting yourself in an organization.  The futility of maturity models Hang Xu has identified design maturity as a frame for better understanding the challenges the

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UX/Design Leaders: Understand the motivation of your peers and stakeholders the same way you do your users and customers

Oct 30, 2023

UX/Design leaders often get caught up in their personal missions, their narratives of change and impact, and believe they just need to “educate”, “persuade,” “evangelize” their point of view, typically one of customer-centricity and the importance of quality, in order to influence those around them. This proves ironic, as these UX/Designers who espouse ‘outside-in’ when it comes to delivering customer experiences, now practice “inside-out” when trying to

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Consulting

Whether for 2 hours or 2 weeks or 2 months or 2 years, Peter adopts a consulting program that specifically meets your needs to help design organizations amplify their effectiveness. 

Read about how Peter can work with you.

Masterclasses

Peter has conducted training, both internally and at public events, for over 15 years. He has developed a set of workshops and structured conversations to help improve the operations of design organizations, and to improve practices of design leadership. 

Read about Peter’s masterclass offerings

Org Design for Design Orgs

The first book to help people understanding how to best establishing successful in-house design teams. Co-written by Peter Merholz and Kristin Skinner, and drawing on their experience from building Adaptive Path, and working in-house at such companies as Capital One, Groupon, Microsoft, and OpenTable. 

Covers subjects such as:

  • Organizational models for design teams
  • Recruiting and hiring designers
  • Professional development and career ladders
  • Design culture and collaboration with other
  • People management of designers 

Visit the website for Org Design for Design Orgs, including a blog with plenty of new thinking.