Building a design community at SumUp
How a trip to the Mallorcan countryside helped our global Product Design team bond.
Our Product Design team has grown significantly over the past year, and is currently split across Berlin, São Paulo, Copenhagen, Warsaw, Sofia and Cologne. On top of this, most of our designers work in cross-functional tribes and are focused on a specific area of SumUp. Naturally, this poses some challenges when it comes to building a thriving design community.
To address these challenges, the whole team got together in September 2019 for an offsite in Mallorca. We caught up with a few of our Product Designers to find out what they got up to, what they enjoyed about their time together, and whether the offsite has had a lasting impact on their work.
Alex Dapunt, Berlin
“We decided that our main goals for the offsite should be to reiterate our whole design process and review our file structure. We wanted to devise a process that everyone felt comfortable using on a daily basis. When we were a smaller team, it was easy enough to have several designers working in the same folders and for everything to stay clean. But today we have 16 designers, each with their own way of working. So we needed to figure out a new process to prevent things from becoming chaotic.
Some time ago we began using Figma as our design tool. It’s great when you’re working with a remote team, because it allows you to easily collaborate on the same files. But you need to understand how to use it properly, and you need to think about what happens when you have a large team contributing to a single cloud. How do you know which designs are concepts and which are for existing products? How do you know which assets can be reused? Where do you leave feedback? There were many questions we needed to answer–probably too many for a 3-day offsite!
We also talked about career development, both as individuals and as a team. We discussed the different hard and soft skills you need to be a good designer, and which of these are the most important. We then broke out into small groups and tried to figure out where we ranked, on a scale of 1 to 5, for each skill. As a team, we want to grow in a way that takes into account both our individual career aspirations and our joint needs. This exercise was a great first step.
Although we had a packed schedule, the offsite was really enjoyable. We stayed in a beautiful house in the countryside near Palma. Our hosts were amazing–they made paella and sangria for us, and arranged a trip around the island on our last day. It was the first time the whole global team had been in the same place, so it felt like a special occasion.”
Carolina Alves, Berlin
“I really appreciated that we had the chance to plan the offsite agenda together. This meant that we spent the whole time working on things we all cared about. From the start, it felt like a safe space where we could share anything that was on our minds.
It was great to get to know people I’d only seen on video calls! We were in this cosy house on a beautiful island, so it felt much more homely than if we’d been in a hotel. Being in this new environment, we got to know each other in a more personal way. We talked about our families and our experiences of living in foreign countries. When you’re spending the whole day together, you end up sharing more–even little things like food allergies, which might not necessarily come up at work.
I think the offsite has had a lasting impact on the team–I definitely feel more comfortable talking openly and honestly in meetings now. Beforehand, I often felt like I was asking other designers for favours. But since we returned, I’ve felt that we’re truly collaborating.
What I like most about SumUp is that we have people from all over the world working here, and I learn something new every day. It’s exciting to be surrounded by people from such diverse backgrounds.”
Hugo Corzo, Copenhagen
“I’m a Product Designer at Debitoor in Copenhagen, which became part of the SumUp group in August 2017. When I started, I was working quite independently. But I soon began using SumUp’s design system and having more contact with the rest of the team.
I was very happy to be involved in the reorganising of our files. Now people know exactly where to look when they want to see what others are doing, whether for a project or just for inspiration.
It was also great to learn how everyone else works. I was impressed by how sophisticated the team was–they really use design thinking in their daily work.
It’s funny when you meet people face-to-face, because you have these preconceived ideas of what they might be like. Hardly anyone was the height that I’d imagined! One personal highlight was an evening we spent together in the house. We were talking about music and started sharing typical songs from our home countries. We’re from all over the place, so everyone heard something new.”
Borislav Dimitrov, Sofia
“The offsite was a chance not just to meet my international colleagues, but also to collaborate with them straight away. I feel we achieved something really substantial in a short time. We went in-depth on our processes and our approach to design. I was amazed by how many big decisions we made during the 3 days.
When you’re spread across the world, it can be hard to keep on top of what everyone else is working on. We’d talked about this before the offsite, but these conversations didn’t lead to any concrete solutions. During the offsite, however, we figured out exactly what we needed to do. Everything was agreed mutually, face-to-face and in a friendly manner. This has had a huge impact, particularly as far as our design system is concerned. I’m working more efficiently, and I have a better understanding of what everyone else is up to.
Something I really like about SumUp is that they invest in having proper processes. I’ve worked for companies where the top management isn’t especially interested in research or how the customer feels about the product. But at SumUp, we always validate what we’re doing by paying attention to our users and communicating with them. I’m also happy that the company allows us to meet and build stronger relationships with each other.”
Francisco Oliveira, São Paulo
“The offsite gave everyone in the team an opportunity to voice their opinions. It was a chance to check that we were all on the same page, and to talk about our shared struggles and challenges. It was so easy to find common ground and spot opportunities to align.
It was also interesting to take a more theoretical approach than we usually do, and to talk about the skills we look for in the design community. I felt that this was a really effective team-building exercise.
It was intense, but we used every opportunity to get to know each other. If we had an hour’s break, we’d go to the pool. At lunch, I’d always try to speak to someone I hadn’t spent much time with before. We were all getting on so well by the end.
One thing I’ve been struck by at SumUp is that although everyone is very busy, nobody refuses to help when you reach out. I think that’s an amazing reflection of our culture; first and foremost, we all want to build something great. And the things we design don’t reflect individual agendas–we take a really collective approach. That makes life here really stimulating.”
Interested in joining our Design team? Check out our current vacancies.
