Operationalizing Design at Scale: A Google Case Study
Technology Category
- Drones - VTOL & VTOL Hybrid Drones
- Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) - Hybrid Cloud
Applicable Industries
- Education
- Life Sciences
Applicable Functions
- Maintenance
- Product Research & Development
Use Cases
- Rapid Prototyping
- Virtual Prototyping & Product Testing
Services
- System Integration
- Training
About The Customer
Google is a multinational technology company specializing in Internet-related services and products. These include search engines, online advertising technologies, cloud computing, software, and hardware. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and has over a million employees. Google's customers are diverse, ranging from individual users who use their search engine and other online services, to businesses that utilize their advertising technologies and cloud computing services. The company is also focused on expanding its presence in emerging markets, targeting the 'next billion users'.
The Challenge
Google, a technology giant with over a million employees, is constantly in search of new ideas, better processes, and ways to optimize. The challenge lies in operationalizing these ideas at scale, ensuring a unified customer experience across various products and platforms, and reducing design and technical debt. The company also aims to understand its customers and new markets better, particularly in emerging areas of the world. This requires executives to immerse themselves in different cultures, which is a more challenging approach than simply sending a research team. Furthermore, Google's design system, Material, is one of the most comprehensive and widely used in the world, but it needs to be effectively utilized to ensure cohesive customer experiences.
The Solution
Google has implemented several strategies to address these challenges. The company uses Design Sprints, a process pioneered by the Google Ventures team, to unite engineering, product, and design teams and arrive at refined design solutions quickly. They have also established the Google Sprint Master Academy to train UX designers to run sprints with their teams. Google's design system, Material, is used to design cohesive customer experiences across products and platforms. The company also uses a hybrid organizational model, blending multiple organizational models and running different models in parallel. This provides flexibility to tailor the organizational structure to meet the immediate needs of the teams and the organization. Google also encourages a culture of collaboration, allowing specialists in various fields to lend their expertise to projects outside their assigned ones.
Operational Impact
Quantitative Benefit
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