Unleashing creativity at scale: How we built our design team around strong rituals
From the start of 2022, our product design team was presented with a daunting scaling challenge. To meet the growing needs of Pennylane, we had to hire and onboard 2 to 3 newcomers per month, going from 3 people in early January, to 16 by the end of the year. Since then we’ve reached our staffing objective and switched our focus towards stabilising the team.
With this scaling objective in mind, we set ourselves on the path of building a collective as we grew. Early on, we identified our key strength: whether it was through our hiring process, or referrals, we were quite good at bringing together a well-functioning group of diverse creative individuals. We all shared the same core values: ownership, honesty, self-criticism and open-mindedness.
In order to capitalise on our strong cultural alignment we implemented rituals that helped us build a long-lasting and positive work environment.
In the midst of rapid hiring, each newcomer offers a different viewpoint. Without actively working to stay united, the team could have split apart, causing more disagreements and eventually leading to it falling apart.
However, during the process of shaping our structure, methods, and routines, it became clear that we could create something extraordinary. This could bring us joy in starting each day and appreciation for our colleagues. With this perspective in mind, our aim was clear: to foster effective communication and continuous growth.
1. Make sure we communicate and grow
Our first brick was to make sure we had the right amount of gatherings to talk about our projects with people that had enough context to challenge us properly, and that we maintained a good understanding of what everyone was working on while doing so.
Track bi-weekly (1h)
As we grew, we progressively divided our product and design teams into subgroups to facilitate collaboration. We currently have 2 of those sub groups we call ‘tracks’, roughly one for each side of the product: the SME track and the accounting track. Every 2 weeks, we gather per “track” (6–7 designers) and take rounds to all share and present our current projects without too much deep dive. Here the intent is to communicate our high-level challenges, blockers, and spark collaboration discussions when we identify topics that might involve someone else’s scope, or require a collective effort.
Design all hands (1h)
Every month, we gather all designers for a more holistic update led by our Head of Design and Leadership sub-team. This helps us get a grasp of where we stand business-wise, gives us the opportunity to celebrate team members that stood out over the past weeks, and present our progress on structuring design initiatives such as personas, user research tooling, etc.
That’s clearly the ritual that feels the most like an old-school meeting, yet it’s an important milestone for us, and a great transparency exercise to ensure high alignment on team priorities.
Design critiques (30 min to 1h)
These on-demand slots can be triggered by sharing a templated request on our team slack channel. We all share the notion that being challenged at the right moment in our design process is highly beneficial. It can be very early on with only rough drawings and wireframes to get a different perspective on our work, or further down the line with well-established mockups for a more in-depth critique. The point is that we have full ownership of our projects, and this sure that we deliver the best solution possible by sharing our work and getting the opportunity for the team to actively review and contribute.
Anyone can opt-in by raising the hand emoji, but we usually limit the crowd to 4–5 attendees max to make sure everyone gets a chance to speak.
2. Cultivate togetherness and spark inspiration
To nurture our team spirit and boost creative energy, we have implemented design rituals that go beyond traditional meetings. These rituals allow us to connect, share, and stay motivated as we draw inspiration from our multi-faceted backgrounds.
Monday morning kickoffs (30 min)
We firmly believe that a strong team is built on mutual understanding, respect and to a certain degree, friendship. We all gather on Monday mornings for a 30 min session where we encourage open conversations, share our interests, hobbies, and personal experiences outside of work. This allows us to break the ice and build genuine connections, bridging the gaps between older team members and newcomers, and fostering a supportive atmosphere.
Monday mornings can be challenging for everyone. To combat the Monday blues, we established a special meeting to kickstart the week on a positive note.
Get together
Another of our team favourites is basically us getting together once a month, on an optional basis, to play a game. As cliché designers we’re obviously quite fond of the drawing classics like Skribbl or Gartic Phone, and it’s always a pleasure to finish a Friday afternoon with goofy laughing and shaky hand drawings.
We understand that rigid obligations can hinder creativity and individuality. Therefore, none of those meetings are ever mandatory. We respect each team member’s autonomy and all get the freedom to choose our level of involvement. This ensures participants do so wholeheartedly, while those needing time to finish their work can opt out without pressure.
Design day
Last but not least, our less frequent ritual generally happens once every 2 months, when we all assemble at the office for a full day for what we call “Design Day”. Remote designers generally all travel to our Paris HQ for this occasion as it is our most prized moment to gather in the same room around our love for design. The day is composed of design challenges that we often prepare in advance, trainings, or workshops. This is a great catalyst for in-depth discussions around transversal topics, for any member in the team to pitch redesign proposals, or to quickly explore a large amount of opportunities on a specific topic with the full focus of the entire design team.
We always finish those days by having a team activity, drinks, and a much-deserved dinner with the gang. We’re often if not always exhausted by the end of it, but it’s one of those days that we wouldn’t miss for any reason.
Design rituals play a vital role in shaping the culture and creativity of a workplace, especially now that remote and flexible work hours deeply changed the way we interact with our team. By incorporating meetings focused on camaraderie, inspiration, and collective growth, we have created an environment where everyone feels valued, motivated, and safe.
Our team’s multicultural richness allows us to draw inspiration from various sources, fuelling our passion for design and fostering a spirit of collaboration. Through these design rituals, we have cultivated a creative space that nurtures growth and innovation, making our workplace an ideal breeding ground for extraordinary ideas.
A story by Marion Laillé, Product Designer and Lucas Pion, Lead Product Designer at Pennylane
