Stage 1: Low Maturity (Task-Based Thinking)

Characteristics:

• Design as decoration: Design is viewed as an isolated task, often reactive to other teams' requests.

• Minimal user/business impact: Design decisions are rarely tied to business goals or user outcomes.

• No systems thinking: Design is done in silos, focusing only on surface-level elements (e.g., "make this button blue").

• Execution-focused: Little attention to the user experience or long-term effects of design choices.

Typical Questions:

• "Can you make this look better?"

• "Where should this button go?"

Examples:

• Designers are brought in late in the development process.

• Lack of user research or testing, with little input from stakeholders outside design.

Challenges:

• Difficulty aligning with product vision or business objectives.

• Design is often considered an afterthought, leading to rework.

Recommendations for Progression:

• Introduce basic UX research practices to involve users early.

• Start collaborating cross-functionally to understand the bigger picture.

• Develop design documentation to capture decisions and rationale.

Stage 2: Medium Low Maturity (Feature-Based Thinking)

Characteristics:

• Holistic task thinking: Tasks are grouped into larger feature-level deliverables, considering how components fit together.

• Functional focus: Design is now about answering "What do we need to build?" but lacks strategic depth.

• Beginning to consider user flows: Some thought is given to how users interact with features as a whole.

• Limited feedback loops: Feedback from users or business stakeholders is not consistently applied.

Typical Questions:

• "How should this feature work across devices?"

• "What user flows should we design for this feature?"

Examples:

• Design teams are involved in planning at the feature level, but without deep engagement in overall product strategy.

• Some collaboration with product management and engineering, though design is still somewhat reactive.

Challenges:

• Risk of building features that don’t meet actual user needs or business objectives.

• Design remains output-focused rather than outcome-focused.

Recommendations for Progression:

• Introduce goals and success metrics for features (e.g., user engagement, task success rates).

• Start conducting usability tests to validate designs before development.

• Improve collaboration between design and product teams.

Stage 3: Medium High Maturity (Goal-Based Thinking)

Characteristics:

• Goal-driven design: Design decisions are aligned with specific user and business goals (e.g., user retention, conversion rates).

• Systems thinking: Designers think about how their work impacts the entire user journey and the product ecosystem.

• Data-informed decisions: Design is influenced by metrics and research (quantitative and qualitative).

• Strategic alignment: Design works in sync with product and business strategy.

Typical Questions:

• "What are the unmet user needs we should prioritize?"

• "How can we grow this product to increase engagement?"

Examples:

• Regular user research and data-driven insights are incorporated into design decisions.

• Designers are key stakeholders in cross-functional teams, helping to shape product roadmaps.

Challenges:

• Keeping up with rapid changes in user needs and business goals.

• Ensuring all team members are aligned on goals and strategies.

Recommendations for Progression:

• Develop a design strategy that includes KPIs and ties to business objectives.

• Implement a robust feedback loop with data from A/B testing, user interviews, and analytics.

• Foster a culture of experimentation to test and validate design decisions.

Stage 4: High Maturity (Behavior Change & Habit Formation)

Characteristics:

• User behavior focus: Design is centered on understanding and influencing user psychology and behavior.

• Data-driven iteration: High-velocity hypothesis testing and experimentation drive design decisions.

• Habit formation: Design aims to create long-term user habits and engagement, often through behavioral insights and principles.

• Significant business impact: Design is a key driver of business success, with direct influence on key metrics like customer lifetime value (CLV), acquisition, and retention.

Typical Questions:

• "How can we change user behavior to drive better outcomes?"

• "What are the psychological triggers that can improve engagement?"

Examples:

• Designers collaborate with behavioral scientists, data scientists, and product teams to shape product strategies.

• High emphasis on A/B testing, rapid iteration, and learning from data to continuously optimize design.

Challenges:

• Balancing short-term experimentation with long-term vision and consistency.

• Avoiding over-reliance on data without considering qualitative insights.

Recommendations for Sustaining High Maturity:

• Continue investing in cross-disciplinary collaboration (e.g., psychology, data science).

• Maintain a robust design system to ensure consistency while scaling experimentation.

• Build an experimentation culture, where insights from tests are shared and applied across the organization.

Progression and Development

To move from one stage to the next, it’s critical to:

1. Improve Cross-functional Collaboration: Encourage designers to work closely with product managers, engineers, marketers, and data analysts at each stage.

2. Develop Skillsets: At each level, designers need to expand their capabilities—from basic UX/UI skills in Stage 1 to behavioral psychology and data analytics in Stage 4.

3. Embed Research and Feedback Loops: As the team matures, build in mechanisms for user research, feedback, and iterative testing.

4. Define Metrics and Success Criteria: Shift the focus from outputs (tasks and features) to outcomes (user behavior, business metrics) as the team matures.