This is how we roll (part 1)

This is a guide to the Design Culture at Motorway. In part 1 we talk about how we’ve established some solid foundations including our Team Vision, Principles and Strategy. In Part 2 you can learn more about our team Structure, our Progression Framework and what a typical day as a Designer at Motorway looks like.

I joined Motorway in November 2021 as the new Head of Design. I’ve worked for several tech start-ups and scale-ups over the past 20 years but something struck me as different than many other places i’ve worked — Motorway really care about and believe that good design is one of the routes to commercial success.

What do I mean by that? Design has not always been seen as a key driver to business success, rather a cherry-on-top — if it looks good it’s a bonus. However, User Experience design has become easier to fight for within companies as the practise has matured and connections can be made to solid business metrics; slick marketing campaigns can elevate a brand’s profile and establish an emotional contact with customers; and everyone from the CEO downwards has an opinion and is passionate or nonchalant by varying degrees on logos, colours, etc. — . However, it’s rare that all these things and more are already ‘baked in’.

Why is that? Anyone that has worked for a start-up will know that it’s the Founders ideas and tenacity that have launched the business but it’s their beliefs, ways of working and personalities that set the tone for the culture. In Motorway’s case our Founders are serial entrepreneurs who have seen how design has helped deliver success at several businesses and indeed one of them is a designer. It’s in our DNA.

It’s a high quality problem to have when you start as a new design leader (there are no fires to put out), however we always strive for more and during a period of rapid expansion it can be easy to get complacent about our culture. Scaling has been the undoing of many a start-up’s cultures. More people, more layers, more comms channels, more opinions… it’s tough, and here’s the rub… your culture won’t stay the same. But with care and attention you can evolve and grow it. A well cared for plant will grow new leaves and benefit from repotting from time-to-time, it will change, but fundamentally it needs strong roots and regular nourishment, which is why we started off this year discussing our…

Team Vision

This isn’t our Company Vision (we have one of those) or a Product Vision (we’re working on that with our colleagues in Product) but a statement about us as a team or the team we want to be. We ran a fun exercise, splitting into groups and projecting ourselves into the future where we were tasked with writing an acceptence speach for the award of ‘Best Design Team in the World’. We came up with something like this:

“At Motorway, our Design Team delivers frictionless customer experiences for car sellers and dealers. We listen and learn, share and try things out because we believe that collaboration, curiosity and ‘can do!’ spirit keep us on the road to success.”

A good Vision Statement contains What?, How? and Why? It should be succinct and memorable.

Design Principles

Next we worked through a set of Principles that help define what’s important to us in how we work; it’s our belief system. Living by our Principles will help us fulfill our Vision. We refer to them during design crits and keep them in mind when working individually. Again, this was a collaborative exercise. We sourced Design Principles from many different companies (and you should too, check out Atlassian, the NHS, AirBnB, Medium and IBM for starters), mixed them up, clustered the common themes and voted on what we thought resonated most for us before crafting our own versions. Here’s how it landed:

Create New Roads — This Principle is also one of our Company Values. That’s because innovation is in our blood. We’re curious, we ask ‘why?’ — and not just once. We push the limits of technology for better customer outcomes.

Cruise Control — We reduce friction and provide an experience that’s easier, faster, and accessible.

All Roads Connect — When designing a new feature we think about how it connects to the whole experience and the context in which it will be used.

Everyone’s Onboard — We don’t work in silos. We share early and often, building robust and respectful feedback loops. Seatbelts on, everyone is safe and supported.

Light up the Dashboard — We know that aesthetics are important in inspiring confidence and connecting users to our brand. We design for detail and delightful interactions.

Design Strategy

With our Vision in mind and our Principles in place we’re in a much better place to roll up our sleeves and get into the business of how we reach our Vision and how we contribute to the overall goals as a business. Strategy is important but don’t be precious about it; if something isn’t working, re-evaluate and try something else. Also, the business landscape is always evolving, markets change, new innovations occur. Although we set a strategic direction for a year we will constantly monitor whether it is effective, course-correcting or pivoting if necessary.

Strategy has also been our key reference point for setting both team goals and individual goals for each quarter. If a goal doesn’t cascade down from our strategy then it’s not helping us reach our Vision. Everything’s connected.

Here are snippets from three of our Strategic Pillars (if you want to learn more come and join the team!):

💛 Users at the heart of everything we do — Our users — sellers and dealers — are why we exist as a business. We provide them with real value. We seek to exceed their expectations so they come back to us again and again. The more we know about our users — their needs, thoughts, emotions, etc. — the more targeted we can be in the services and products we provide.

Example of practical goals:

Embed a user-centered design methodlogy within each Product Squad

Interview users — moderated and unmoderated — on a weekly basis. This can be on both new and existing features. Insight gained should be shared widely

📐 Staying ahead through innovation — Innovation is why we’re in the position we are right now. Finding novel solutions that deliver value is what we do but competition is fierce, not least from those who copy our hard work. Our competitive edge is our innovative mindset. We stay ahead because we pay time and attention to discovering new and better ways to do things. We can’t get complacent with this or we’ll lose our edge.

Example of practical goals:

We will build a library of problem solving frameworks that can be employed by any team (but not be bound by any).

Designers will be present at every Hackday.

🏆 Smart hiring & strong people development — When you have happy, motivated people, with the right skillsets and mindset great things can happen. It is a competitive marketplace — there is a ‘war on talent’ — and we need to make sure we’re attracting the best candidates. We also want to ensure we’re retaining people with interesting and challenging work plus a support network that lets them thrive.

Example of practical goals:

All team members to complete an assessment on our Career Progression Framework

A comprehensive hiring plan for the next six months with job descriptions ready to deploy

I hope that has given you a good snapshot of Design at Motorway. For more insight scoot over to Part 2 :)