Building, Mentoring, and Scaling a Design Team

Internal Design Practice Build (Deloitte Canada AI & Data Practice) 

(2016 – Current) 

Objective

AI & Data practice leadership recognized a process gap, a sole focus on technical delivery hindered the effective translation of business requirements into intuitive, user-friendly, technical solutions. This friction frequently impacted client satisfaction and slowed product adoption. Seeing this opportunity, leadership wanted to incorporate user-centred design into the delivery process.

The Design Process & Delivery

I championed the necessity of a dedicated design competency, securing cross-functional value alignment and investment from leadership across multiple sub-offerings (Data, Strategy, and Implementation). I demonstrated its value and the risk of inaction primarily through project delivery, incorporating design processes and estimates into proposals, and presenting on design value internally.

As a design team grew and demand increased, I established a structured design process (from requirement validation, research and ideation to testing and handing-over to implementation) and a formal collaboration framework. This standardized design activities ensured seamless partnership with key stakeholders both within the firm and on the client side. 

As the design competency was not initially instilled, I spent a few years building and mentoring a team of specialized designers from the ground up. I fostered a design-process driven collaborative approach crucial for bridging between technical and business teams.

Outcome

I successfully scaled a dedicated design team that became the essential bridge and unifying capability between technical execution and core business requirements. This effort elevated the AI and Data practice's design maturity by institutionalizing a consistent process, which resulted in predictable design quality and a collaborative co-creation process with technical practitioners.