Building toward a design-driven organization – A change program inside the UX department

A UX department had reached a scale and ambition where its internal setup was ready for deliberate investment.

The talent was there. The ambition was there. What the organization recognized and chose to invest in was the next level of maturity: sharpening how the department was organized to work with itself and across functions.

Designers were embedded across many product teams in a decentralized setup, common at this scale, and ready for a clearer mandate, tighter role definition, and more efficient cross-functional ways of working.

The focus was on how the department worked internally — an embedded, complex system that responds best to a holistic, human-centric approach. That's the shift this program was designed to support and enhance.

We brought a multidisciplinary perspective combining change management expertise, strategic and service design, and organizational agility coaching. Rather than imposing a solution, we worked as a mixed team with our client. We brought methods, facilitated the process, and structured a change the organization could carry forward on its own.

Three complementary frameworks shaped our work: the Theory of Change to align stakeholders around a shared vision of impact; the Star Model (adapted from Jay Galbraith) to map how structure, roles, and processes could be strengthened together; and Kotter's 8-Step Model to guide implementation and long-term adoption.

The journey unfolded in three phases.

Phase 1 — Sparkle: Knowing where you are.

The program started as a grassroots effort within the UX community itself. Through qualitative interviews with designers and stakeholders across seniority levels, and broad community-wide survey insights to quantify priorities, the initiative produced the “State of the UX Org” white paper. It was distributed across leadership and the broader community to build shared understanding and momentum for structural improvements.

We transformed that early energy into a structured, systemic assessment. The findings were integrated into the change pathways to surface underlying patterns and interdependencies, laying the first foundations of the strategy.

Phase 2 — Trafo: Knowing where you're going.

From insights to strategy. We identified 15 strategic focus areas and prioritized them using an impact × causation matrix — creating a sequence that maximized overall benefit. Working

with both leadership and the community, we co-created a shared mission, vision, and set of strategic objectives. These translated into a transformation roadmap built around linked change paths and pilot initiatives.

To engage different parts of the organization, we developed change personas: Innovators, Neutrals, and Challengers — and tailored communication and engagement accordingly. An open "Change Kitchen" space gave anyone in the community a place to drop in, see the work in progress, and contribute.

Phase 3 — DesignOps: Making it stick

Operational change. We moved from strategy to implementation, scaling successful pilots, establishing governance mechanisms, and embedding the transformation into daily work through communication rituals and community ownership. The formal establishment of a DesignOps team was a critical milestone. It bridged strategy with execution and ensured the change would outlast the project itself.

The transformation created meaningful progress across four dimensions.

Co-created values and shared rituals reinforced a culture of openness across the community, leading to stronger collaboration, greater adaptability, and shared growth.

Leadership alignment and strategic clarity gave the department a clearer, shared foundation to work from as it scaled. Roles across creative, strategic, and operational leadership were clarified. A shared mission and vision became genuine working tools that shaped everyday decisions.

A Build–Measure–Learn mindset gave decisions a stronger evidence base. Safe-to-fail experimentation and feedback-driven development became part of how design work was planned and evaluated.

Regular transparency formats, from community updates to leadership showcases, strengthened alignment and trust.

Transformation is human-centric. Success depends on people, relationships, and trust, not just process. Strong community involvement worked particularly well for fostering team unity, feedback culture, and personal growth. Earlier, more proactive leadership involvement amplifies that impact further.

Stakeholder buy-in fuels success. Early involvement across levels and departments proved to be one of the biggest accelerators. On cross-functional or high-mandate topics especially, front-loading engagement kept momentum strong. A more structured engagement model with clear ownership at each level accelerates outcomes.

Transparency drives alignment. Open formats like weekly updates, larger forums, transformation walkthroughs, and informal exchanges enabled engagement at every level. To be even more effective, transparency needs to pair with faster decision-making, defined ownership, and consistent cadences.

Start small to build momentum. Beginning with volunteers and change advocates built early momentum and generated visible wins. Scaling those initiatives requires clear governance, decision rights, and broader organizational support.

Experimentation enables better decisions. Pilots and feedback loops challenged assumptions and reinforced the value of staying problem-focused rather than Solution-attached.

Change never ends. It always takes longer than you assume. The goal is not completion, but continuous momentum.

About client

The BMW Group is the world's leading manufacturer of premium automobiles and motorcycles, managing iconic brands like BMW, MINI, Rolls-Royce, and BMW Motorrad alongside global financial and mobility services.