Establishing a Product Design Organization

Company: The Container Store
Role: UX Manager

The Challenge

When I joined The Container Store, there was no established UX organization. Product design work was handled primarily through freelancers and outside agencies on a project-by-project basis, resulting in inconsistent practices, limited internal ownership, and no repeatable design process.

The opportunity wasn't simply to hire designers—it was to establish Product Design as a trusted business function with defined processes, collaborative partnerships, and a long-term vision for how design would contribute to product development.

My Role

I was responsible for building the company's Product Design practice from the ground up, including:

  • Defining the UX methodology and operating model

  • Hiring and mentoring a distributed design team

  • Building relationships with Product, Engineering, and executive stakeholders

  • Establishing design tools, research practices, and team workflows

  • Creating organizational trust in Product Design as a strategic partner

Building the Foundation

Rather than immediately introducing a predefined UX framework, I began with discovery.

I conducted stakeholder interviews across Product, Engineering, and business teams to understand existing workflows, pain points, expectations, and organizational culture. Those conversations shaped a design methodology tailored to how the company operated rather than forcing an off-the-shelf process that wouldn't fit.

This collaborative approach created early buy-in and gave Product Design a foundation that reflected both user-centered principles and business realities.

Growing the Team

Building the right team was as important as defining the process.

I recruited both internally and externally, recognizing that successful teams benefit from a balance of institutional knowledge and fresh perspectives.

As the organization expanded its product initiatives, I partnered with an external agency and assumed leadership of an extended distributed design organization consisting of:

  • 3 internal Product Designers across multiple locations

  • 4 offshore Product Designers

  • 3 UX Researchers

  • 1 UX Strategist

Managing a geographically distributed team required establishing consistent communication, mentoring practices, and shared design standards while maintaining close alignment with Product and Engineering.

Establishing Process and Partnerships

Introducing Product Design also meant helping the rest of the organization understand how to work with designers.

Many stakeholders were unfamiliar with modern UX practices, making feedback cycles inconsistent and expectations unclear. Rather than treating this as resistance, I viewed it as a coaching opportunity.

I worked directly with Product Managers, Engineering teams, and business stakeholders to clarify:

  • when design should be involved

  • how collaborative reviews should function

  • what actionable design feedback looked like

  • how Product Design contributed to business outcomes

Removing these organizational roadblocks became just as important as managing my own team.

Enabling Better Collaboration

To support a more modern product development process, I introduced Figma as the organization's primary design platform.

Adoption required more than selecting a tool—it required education across both Design and Engineering.

I established design standards, coached designers on presentation techniques, worked with engineering teams to integrate design assets into their workflow, and encouraged ongoing skill development through regular training and knowledge sharing.

At the same time, I established an organizational partnership with UserTesting.com, expanding research capabilities beyond the UX team and enabling Product Managers to incorporate customer feedback into product strategy more consistently.

Driving Organizational Adoption

Like most organizational change initiatives, adoption wasn't immediate.

Rather than attempting to win support through process documentation alone, I focused on demonstrating value through measurable design improvements and quick wins.

I met regularly with skeptical stakeholders, highlighting successful outcomes, identifying opportunities within their own product areas, and showing how collaborative design could solve business problems more effectively.

Over time, many of those early skeptics became advocates for Product Design, helping expand the team's influence throughout the organization.

Outcomes

The initiative established Product Design as a permanent strategic function within the company.

Key outcomes included:

  • Established the company's first dedicated Product Design organization

  • Built and mentored a multidisciplinary, distributed UX team

  • Created a repeatable UX process tailored to organizational needs

  • Standardized design collaboration through Figma

  • Expanded research capabilities through UserTesting.com

  • Strengthened collaboration between Product, Design, and Engineering

  • Increased organizational understanding and adoption of user-centered design practices

Reflection

Building a design organization requires far more than hiring talented designers or selecting the right tools. Lasting success comes from building trust, aligning teams around shared goals, and demonstrating value through consistent execution.

Looking back, the most rewarding aspect of this work wasn't establishing new processes—it was watching Product Design evolve into a respected partner whose perspectives were actively sought out across the organization. Creating that cultural shift ultimately enabled both the team and the business to make better product decisions together.