HEINEKEN · 2024-2025 · Design Manager
Growing a team from 2 to 13
Growing eazle meant more markets, more teams, and more ways for the work to drift. I rebuilt how the design org ran so quality survived the scaling, without adding bureaucracy nobody would follow.
Decisions
- Product-aligned teams with embedded research, rather than a central design service
- A fixed cadence: weekly critique, bi-weekly review, monthly showcase
- Vertical ownership, horizontal alignment through shared experience tenets
- Coach the reasoning: why this, why now, how it scales
Problem
As eazle grew, we added more markets, teams, and complexity. Designers were embedded in product teams, each running on their own timeline:
- Risk of inconsistent UX and duplicated components
- Siloed thinking without shared structure
- Challenge: maintain quality without bureaucracy
Solution
I redesigned our design organization to balance autonomy with alignment:
- Reorganized into product-aligned teams with embedded researchers
- Introduced shared rituals: weekly critiques, bi-weekly reviews, monthly showcases
- Established vertical ownership with horizontal alignment through experience tenets
- Coached toward better decision-making: Why this? Why now? How does it scale?
Outcome
Created a scalable design organization that maintained quality while moving fast:
- Designers moved faster with less duplicated work
- UX felt coherent across the entire product
- Earlier feedback improved quality
- Design system became healthier with two-way contribution
Learnings
Scaling design isn't about standardizing everything. It's about creating the right constraints, rhythms, and conversations. When teams align on principles and connect through structure, quality becomes a byproduct.