Creating balance in product and design teams

In our latest Product x Design event, we explored the topic of ‘balance’. This article reveals key insights from the discussion – an excellent resource for Product or Design Leaders looking to build their collaboration. 

On Wednesday, 27th November 2024, product recruiter, Francesca Jackson, and design recruiter, Yasmin Vachet, brought together their product and design community to discuss ‘balance’. There are a few ways to think about the term ‘balance’. From how to manage different disciplines (such as product, design and data) to managing your team’s workload. Our speakers discussed all of this and more, including: 

• Balance across disciplines
• How to address team imbalances?
• Burn-out and wellbeing

Attendees heard from speakers: 

• Brian Flanagan, Global Websites Leader at HSBC 
• Joanna Crown, Product Director 
• Francesca Granato, Head of Product Design at Dentally 
• Richard Bassett, Director of Product Design 

The event was moderated by Jacob Sullivan, CPO at Faculty. 

Balance across disciplines 

The conversation kicked off by exploring the balance that needs to be created across the product and design disciples and beyond – including engineering and data. Brian Flanagan described the four areas as the “four legs of the stool.” 

Equal value across disciplines 

Each team plays a critical role in the product design process. Putting too much emphasis on one area leads to gaps in usability, functionality, or business alignment. That's why Brian used a four-legged stool to describe the balance required. 

“Look at product, design, engineering and data as four legs of the stool. All of the legs have equal value within the proposition, and everyone has a role to play.” 

If a stool had a leg that was too short or too long, it would be unstable. When you structure your teams, it’s important that there is equal focus on each discipline to create effective, valuable digital products. 

Although there can sometimes be tension among these teams, the most effective product teams embrace this tension. There are only benefits to be seen when disciplines challenge each other. 

The importance of balance 

There is a considerable impact on products when teams are imbalanced. For instance, teams dominated by engineering risk creating products that are technically robust but lack usability or business value. Meanwhile, too much emphasis on product management can lead to over-prioritisation of features without sufficient input on feasibility or desirability. 

How to address team imbalances? 

Having shared the enormous impact that imbalance can have on the final products, our speakers explored how leaders can address team imbalances.  

Recognising imbalances 

There are a few different ways to spot imbalances in your team.  

The core signs are: 

• Communication tensions: Frequent friction between Product Managers and Designers, often signals an imbalance in priorities or expectations. 
• Workload management: When Product Designers are overwhelmed or Engineers feel underutilised, productivity drops, and dissatisfaction rises. 
• Burn out: Team members burning out is a clear sign that their work-life balance is misaligned and becoming too difficult to manage. 

These tensions are early indicators of potential breakdowns in team dynamics or the collaboration process. 

When to tackle imbalances 

It's important to address imbalances early on. Francesca Granato shared the “distant elephants” analogy.  

Imbalances can be spotted in the distance when they’re small. This might lead you to believe they can be tackled later in the future. However, when a distant elephant finally reaches you, it’s clear they are much bigger than you first saw. This is representative of how imbalances can quickly spiral out of control. So, if imbalances are not addressed early, they can quickly trample the team. 

Managing pressure from stakeholders 

The “do more with less” mentality is prevalent in every business at the moment. This pressure from senior stakeholders is impacting the product design balance. It’s up to Product and Design Leaders to take control of the situation.  

There were a few suggestions on how to do this: 

• Define clear objectives: Establish shared high-level goals with stakeholders to create alignment. When the team and stakeholders work towards the same objectives, it reduces friction and increases efficiency. 
• Set realistic boundaries: Encourage stakeholders to focus on what’s achievable within the current resources and timeframe. 
• Communicate in their language: One of the easiest ways to tackle imbalances is to introduce new team members. To do this, you must educate stakeholders on the benefits of additions in terms of business goals. 

Ultimately, it’s important maintain clear communication channels to manage stakeholder expectations.  

Burn-out and wellbeing 

Another way to consider ‘balance’ is the work-life balance of your employees. Our speakers explored how you can prevent burn-out and maintain a high-performance culture. 

What is burn-out? 

Burn-out is a state of overwhelm caused by prolonged stress and pressure. Signs of burn-out include: 

• Decreased creativity 
• Reduced motivation 
• Physical exhaustion 
• Declining performance 

It doesn’t just harm individuals but can also ripple through teams, leading to lower morale, creativity and productivity. 

What causes burn-out? 

It's important to recognise that burn-out doesn’t occur in the same way for everyone. One person can work 60-hour weeks and thrive, while someone else can work 20-hour weeks and burn out. For Joanna Crown, the main cause of burn-out is the misalignment between activities and results - “they are continuously ploughing energy into something that is not well calibrated.”

Burn-out in a high-performance business 

There is a common misconception that burn-out is a natural consequence of a high-performance team/business. Richard Bassett argues that “you can totally have high-performing creative teams and not have burnt out people.” 

Preventing burn-out 

There are ways to prevent burn-out in every business. On a personal level, employees should: 

• Rest and recovery: Schedule in breaks in your day-to-day and make the most of your annual leave. 
• Set boundaries: Define clear work-life boundaries by logging off at set times. 
• Prioritise tasks: Focus on tasks that contribute to business goals first, rather than trying to tackle everything all at once. 

Managers should lead by example, modelling all the above behaviours to support their own work-life balance and their team members’. However, there are additional steps that leaders can take: 

• Normalise asking for help: Foster an environment where asking for help is recognised as a strength, rather than a weakness. 
• Encourage time off: Promoting the use of annual leave and discouraging after-hours work helps create healthy habits. 

Recruitment to combat imbalance 

We want to extend a huge thank you to our speakers for their time and insights into product design balance. It was a truly informative night. 

Often, the best way to combat imbalance is to hire new Product Managers or Product Designers into your team. For those looking to invest in their product design efforts and ensure balance, get in touch with our expert recruiters for a no-strings-attached chat.