Case Study: Organizational Transformation through Design Leadership

Background

Genius Sports Group was transitioning from a developer-centric organization to becoming a design-led company. Led by Jason Luna (Group Head, UX & Design), the company had progressed through several stages of UX maturity and was positioned at stage 4 (“Committed”) on a 6-stage maturity scale, with goals to reach stages 5 (“Engaged”) and ultimately 6 (“Embedded”).

Challenge

The organization faced several significant challenges:

  1. Unbalanced resources: Several product divisions were “critically overloaded” with limited UX staff supporting numerous products
  2. Low designer-to-developer ratio hindering design integration
  3. Transitioning from a service-oriented design function to a strategic partnership
  4. Siloed communication between product and delivery stakeholders
  5. Creating consistent growth and career pathways for UX professionals

Leadership Philosophy

The UX leadership team adopted an innovative approach they called “Heroes over Hierarchy” with three key principles:

  1. Shared leadership responsibility: While accountability rested with the Group Head of UX Delivery, leadership was distributed among three senior team members (Jason, Oskaras, and Juan Carlos)
  2. Clear leadership pillars: Six core values guided their leadership approach – Empathy, Confidence, Curiosity, Awareness, Flexibility, and Critical Thinking
  3. Leadership commitments: The team committed to being Visionaries, Communicators, Design Champions, Data-Drivers, Motivators, Facilitators, and Influencers

Strategic Approach

The transformation plan was structured in three phases over 9 months:

Phase 1 (0-2 Months)

  • Immediate hires to backfill crucial roles
  • Creation of lead roles in Vilnius to establish mid-level leadership
  • Partnership with Artisan Digital for design and prototyping support

Phase 2 (3-6 Months)

  • Expansion of the Medellin office to support LATAM growth
  • Development of an Innovation Team as a “product incubator”

Phase 3 (6-9 Months)

  • Specialization of UX teams by product areas
  • Establishment of mid-level leadership roles
  • Implementation of UX Operations (UXOps) as a center of excellence
  • Addition of specialized UX support roles (UX Writer, UX Innovation Architect)

Measuring Success

The transformation included clear metrics across four dimensions:

  1. Behavioral UX KPIs: Task success rate, time on task, search vs. navigation, user error rate
  2. Attitudinal UX KPIs: System usability score, net promoter score, customer satisfaction
  3. Product UX KPIs: Product owner satisfaction, agile measurements, velocity
  4. Business UX KPIs: Development costs/time, time to ship, brand perception

For individual performance, the team established “UX OKRs” focused on:

  • Operational objectives
  • Personal development
  • Team culture goals
  • Leadership goals

Expected Outcomes

The leadership team articulated clear expectations for how successfully integrating UX would transform the organization:

  1. Design thinking would be embraced throughout the business
  2. UX would become a crucial part of product development culture
  3. UX and Technology would partner to advocate for systemic design
  4. UX and Marketing would align around customer experience

Key Leadership Insights

  1. Distributed leadership model: Sharing leadership responsibilities while maintaining clear accountability
  2. Maturity-based approach: Clearly mapping the organization’s current state and progression path
  3. Phased transformation: Breaking change into manageable phases with defined outcomes
  4. Operations as foundation: Establishing UXOps to maintain quality and consistency as teams grow
  5. Measurement framework: Defining success metrics that span from user experience to business impact
  6. Cross-functional integration: Deliberately planning for collaboration with technology and marketing

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