A Place of Our Own: Making Networks Where Design Thrives

Vicky Teinaki -

Sarah Nelson of IBM spoke about company growth and changes, namely how to manage scaling

  • Team size – 5 is core, 11-20 OK (11 is a family model), at 35 there’s angst that processes are falling down, at 70 people don’t know everyone (and issues from 35 are magnified), people who like small companies fall away, 150 is Dunbar’s number where knowledge sharing falls down
  • Establish standards and tools, provide paths, shortcuts, and guides – her company had print on demand booklets
  • Empower designers and leaders (think physical/intellectual/social/emotional)
  • People + practices + places = behaviours. Bring in people, elevate behaviours (e.g. fund an internal magazine)