Skip to content

Resourcing Models

At any time, if you're given headcount, you should have a resourcing plan in place to determine how you'll resource and staff your team. As a design leader, you'll need to ensure your team shape matches the short and longterm goals of your organization. This starts with knowing how you'd allocate 1 or 10 new people at any time.

Resourcing Models

Experience Team Model

  • Ratio: 1:1 (Designer to Product Team)
  • Best for: Product development teams shipping customer-facing products
  • Key benefits:
  • Deep domain expertise development
  • Strong partnership with product and engineering
  • Clear ownership and accountability
  • Faster decision-making and iteration
  • Considerations:
  • May need additional support for platform/infrastructure teams
  • Requires strong design system to maintain consistency
  • Need mechanisms to share learnings across teams

Platform Team Model

  • Ratio: 1:5 (Designer to Platform Teams)
  • Best for: Infrastructure, API, and platform teams
  • Key benefits:
  • Efficient resource utilization
  • Consistent approach across platform teams
  • Shared learning and patterns
  • Considerations:
  • Need clear prioritization mechanisms
  • May require "office hours" or similar support models
  • Focus on developer experience and tooling

Agency Model

  • Ratio: 1:Many
  • Best for: Any team model where design workstreams are formed and handed back to development teams
  • Key benefits: Focus on delivery and speed.
  • Considerations: May not allow for discovery/dual-track, mercenaries instead of missionaries.

UX Research Team

  • Ratio: 1:10 (Researcher to Designers)
  • Structure Types:
  • Centralized Model
    • Dedicated research team serving all product areas
    • Consistent methodology and tooling
    • Strong research practice development
  • Embedded Model
    • Researchers assigned to specific product areas
    • Deep domain expertise
    • Closer alignment with product teams
  • Hybrid Model
    • Core team for methodology and tooling
    • Embedded researchers for key product areas
    • Flexible resourcing for project needs

Research Focus Areas

  1. Design Research (Evaluative)
  2. Works closely with product teams
  3. Focuses on usability and design validation

  4. Provides rapid feedback loops

  5. Foundational Research (Generative)

  6. Explores future opportunities
  7. Conducts market and user behavior studies

  8. Informs product strategy and roadmap

  9. Research as a Service

  10. Improving research practice within product development teams or models where everyone is a researcher

Design System Team

  • Ratio: 1:40 (Design System Designer to Product Designers)
  • Structure: Typically includes:
  • Visual Designer(s): Own aesthetic direction
  • Interaction Designer(s): Own component behavior
  • Frontend Developer(s): Implementation and maintenance
  • Key responsibilities:
  • Enable speed and consistency across multiple teams with shared assets and resources for designers and developers
  • Create, document, and evolve components and patterns
  • Support adoption across teams

Design Operations

  • Ratio: 1:12 (DesignOps to Designers)
  • Focus areas:
  • Process optimization
  • Tool management and governance
  • Resource planning and allocation
  • Budget management
  • Team health and engagement

Implementing a Service Layer

Design-as-a-Service Model

This approach helps teams without dedicated design resources while maintaining quality and consistency.

Key Components:

  1. Clear Request Process
  2. Intake form or ticket system
  3. Criteria for what constitutes a design request

  4. SLA expectations

  5. Prioritization Framework

  6. Impact assessment criteria

  7. Urgency evaluation

  8. Delivery Models

  9. Quick consultations
  10. Project-based support
  11. Office hours
  12. Design reviews

Research-as-a-Service Model

Similar to design services, but focused on research support for teams without dedicated researchers.

Components:

  1. Research Request Framework
  2. Study objectives and scope
  3. Timeline and resource needs

  4. Expected deliverables

  5. Research Methods Library

  6. Templates for common studies
  7. Self-service tools and guides

  8. Best practices documentation

  9. Support Types

  10. Research planning consultation
  11. Methodology review
  12. Data analysis support
  13. Workshop facilitation

Making Resourcing Decisions

Key Questions to Consider

  1. What is the nature of the work?
  2. Customer-facing vs. internal
  3. Strategic vs. tactical
  4. Ongoing vs. project-based

  5. Research needs and timing

  6. What is the required expertise level?

  7. Domain knowledge requirements
  8. Technical complexity
  9. Strategic importance

  10. Research methodology expertise

  11. What are the collaboration needs?

  12. Cross-functional dependencies
  13. Geographic distribution
  14. Communication requirements

  15. Research and design integration

  16. What are the business constraints?

  17. Budget limitations (fixed headcount vs contract)
  18. Timeline requirements
  19. Quality expectations
  20. Research tool costs

Growing teams

As design teams grow, their resourcing needs evolve: - 1-30 designers: Focus on strong core team and basic processes - 31-50 designers: Introduce specialized roles and formal processes - 51-200 designers: Establish centers of excellence and shared services - 200+ designers: Complex matrix organization with multiple service layers