Profession maturity
The benefits of a mature profession and how we measure this on an annual basis.
How communities of practice support design maturity
Builds teamwork across the department
Communities of practice let people from different teams work together. Normally, you might only work with people in the same team as you.
In a community of practice, you could work with people across different professions and teams and work together on common problems or objectives.
Improve processes
Working together means we can create processes which work for designers across the department.
With everyone having an opportunity and say on how we do things, cast a second, or third eye over guidance, and agreeing common ways of doing things, we can design and build more consistent service which work better for our users.
Improving skills and knowledge
Being part of a community and a profession gives us a chance to learn from each other. This ongoing learning makes us all more skilled and knowledgeable, which in the long run, makes our whole design profession more effective.
We've recently run workshops and sessions on accessibility. Especially focusing on how we use digital tools such as whiteboarding tools and considering colleagues with access needs.
Better communication
The communities also break down the siloes between different teams. By regularly talking with colleagues from other areas, we can understand problems which may be shared or specific to a business area.
This improves how we communicate as a whole, making it easier to get things done.
How we measure maturity
We carry out an annual design maturity survey across the design professions every September. This helps to identify how any initiatives are working and if there are areas we need to focus on improving.
We measure our maturity against the Nielsen Normal Group - User Experience (UX) Maturity Model.
| Level | Maturity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Absent | UX is ignored or nonexistent. |
| 2 | Limited | UX work is rare, done haphazardly, and lacking importance. |
| 3 | Emergent | The UX work is functional and promising but done inconsistently and inefficiently. |
| 4 | Structured | The organization has semisystematic UX-related methodology that is widespread, but with varying degrees of effectiveness and efficiency. |
| 5 | Integrated | UX work is comprehensive, effective, and pervasive. |
| 6 | User-driven | Dedication to UX at all levels leads to deep insights and exceptional user-centered–design outcomes. |