How we work
By — Amit Das, SVP Design
Rituals, growth, fun, and more…
The design team at Urban Company is no longer just designing “product”. Well, we are, but not in traditional terms. Over the last years, we’ve evolved into a multi-disciplinary team that owns Product Design, Research, Content Design, Brand and more.
Here are some ways of working we’ve instilled over the years that bring and keep us together.
- Rituals (1–6)
- Growth (7–11)
- Misc (12–13)
Rituals (1–6)
1. All designers in the team introduce all new joiners in the company to the design team
We talk about how our team is structured, what kind of work we do and who to reach out to if they ever need help. Also, we do two fun activities to make all from different functions feel comfortable with design.
2. All designers in the team go through a thorough, 8-weeks onboarding plan
The pan helps them get a 360° view of projects and business, make things live, build cadence, and get in the flow. We call it the New 🐝 onboarding plan.
3. Meaningful 1:1s
Instead of making it top-down, we encourage all folks in the team to proactively spend time with their oversights, peers, and cross-functional colleagues. We also help the younger ones with some templates to get started.
4. Regularly use our own services
We make sure all designers use UC services and write detailed reports. If they haven’t taken a service, one simply cannot use the term “as a user…”.
5. Limited meetings
We optimise time to actually design. So, we’ve limited the no. of meetings we have amongst designers throughout the week. Some mandatory sync-up, alignment meetings and reviews. That’s it!
6. Regular user calling
We call our users regularly and document them in atomic, digestible nuggets for the entire organisation.
Growth (7–11)
7. Level-wise expectations
We don’t think one can have a checklist/ playbook for success. However, we like to keep the checklist handy for the team if they need directional help. Doesn’t hurt.
8. Growth charter
Once a member has spent enough time in the system, we work actively with them to create a personalised career growth plan. We try to help every individual achieve their personal and professional goals.
9. Working with me
Everyone in the team has a “working with me” document. No surprises while working with each other.
10. Skills assessment
Every 6 months, we do a thorough skill-set assessment and feed it into our 1:1s, growth plans, and upskilling workshops.
11. Learning workshops
No gyaan. Actual actionable workshops. We started weekly. Now, it’s on-demand.
Misc
12. Work outside OKRs
We get excited about anything and everything. Almost. We work on stuff that’s outside our yearly OKRs as well. Passionately.
13. Have fun. Of course.
We party a few times a week. Connect every Friday for a 2-hour session to play online games, music, and more…
If you’d like to be part of this, we’re hiring. Check out the open positions below:
I’m interested in almost anything and everything. My childhood has influenced heavily on how I observe, or even get excited about things around me. My parents got me to learn Hawaiian guitar when I was 8 years old. I used to create a lot of scrapbooks with good photographs cutting from old newspapers and magazines.
