Post

When people think of a Scrum team, they often imagine a tight-knit group of developers, a product owner, and a designer, all working in harmony toward a common goal. But what happens when you’re the only designer working across multiple Scrum teams? I had the unique opportunity of managing design for five Scrum teams simultaneously in the fast-paced eMobility sector, where our product was a system for managing charging stations for electric vehicles. It was both a rewarding and challenging experience that taught me invaluable lessons about discipline, collaboration, and adaptability.

Here’s a closer look at the good and the bad of being the solo designer in such a dynamic environment, and the strategies I employed to thrive.

But First, What is Scrum?

Scrum is an agile framework designed to help teams work collaboratively to deliver complex projects efficiently and iteratively. It emphasizes flexibility, transparency, and frequent feedback to continuously improve both the process and the end product. The Scrum framework consists of key roles—such as the Scrum Master, Product Owner, and Development Team—who work together during time-boxed sprints (usually 1-4 weeks) to achieve specific goals.

Each sprint begins with planning, where the team decides which tasks from the product backlog will be prioritized and tackled. Daily stand-up meetings help keep everyone aligned, while at the end of each sprint, teams conduct reviews and retrospectives to evaluate progress, gather feedback, and identify areas for improvement. This iterative approach makes Scrum highly effective in adapting to changing requirements and ensures that teams deliver incremental value throughout the development cycle.

The Advantages

Aligning All Teams

As the only designer, I played a central role in ensuring that the design vision was consistent across all teams. This meant creating a clear design vision from the outset—a guiding principle that aligned each team’s efforts towards a unified product experience. A solid design system helped ensure that despite different teams working on various parts of the product, the overall user experience remained cohesive.

High Visibility in the Company

Being the sole designer across multiple teams naturally gave me higher visibility within the company. Since I was the go-to person for anything design-related, I made it a priority to maintain strong communication channels with all stakeholders — from product owners to developers, and even C-suite executives. This ensured that design decisions were clearly understood and backed by key decision-makers, making it easier to get support for larger design initiatives.

Gaining Insights from Developers

Working closely with developers across different teams gave me an in-depth understanding of the technical side of the product. Their feedback on design elements was invaluable in ensuring that my designs were feasible from a development standpoint. Additionally, fostering these relationships early on led to faster iterations, as developers could spot potential technical constraints or optimizations that I might not have considered.

The Challenges

Endless Meetings

One of the most challenging aspects of being the only designer for multiple Scrum teams was the constant influx of meetings — stand-ups, sprint planning, backlog grooming, and more. It often felt like I had little time to focus on actual design work. To overcome this, I employed a Kanban-style task management system on top of the Scrum process to keep my design tasks organized and ensure that nothing slipped through the cracks. This allowed me to prioritize design tasks effectively despite the demanding meeting schedule.

Balancing Different Visions for the Product

Each team often had a slightly different vision for their part of the product. One team might prioritize speed, while another emphasized user experience. As the solo designer, it was my responsibility to mediate between these competing interests while keeping the overall design consistent. I learned that the key to balancing these visions was to continually reference back to the overarching design system and product vision, ensuring that individual team decisions didn’t compromise the user experience.

Making Everyone Happy

It’s not uncommon for different teams and stakeholders to have conflicting priorities, and as the only designer, I often felt pressure to accommodate everyone’s requests. However, I quickly realized that making everyone happy wasn’t always possible or productive. Instead, I focused on prioritizing decisions based on user experience and aligning them with the long-term goals of the product. Using the design system as a guiding principle ensured that decisions weren’t arbitrary, and I could justify my choices based on the larger vision.

Key Strategies

Understanding Different Areas of the Product

One of the most rewarding aspects of working with multiple teams was the opportunity to gain a holistic understanding of different product areas. From front-end user interfaces to back-end workflows, I had a deep dive into all aspects of the charging station management system. This allowed me to cross-pollinate ideas and best practices between teams, creating a more unified and well-thought-out product. Understanding the entire product, not just the individual components, became crucial to driving a cohesive design.

Prioritizing Work Across Teams

Balancing the workload across multiple Scrum teams is one of the most challenging aspects of being the sole designer. With each team often working on different parts of the product and requiring design input simultaneously, effective prioritization becomes crucial. Early in my experience, I realized that not all tasks carry the same weight or urgency, and learning to differentiate between them was key to maintaining productivity and delivering results on time.

The first step in managing priorities across multiple teams was understanding the context and goals of each team’s work. This meant evaluating tasks not just in isolation but within the broader scope of the product roadmap. By collaborating closely with product owners and stakeholders, I was able to gain clarity on sprint-critical needs—those tasks that directly impacted the success of the current sprint—and distinguish them from long-term design improvements that could be addressed later.

Task prioritization was driven by several factors:

• Sprint-Critical Needs: I focused on tasks that were blockers for developers or essential for completing the current sprint. These were non-negotiable and had to be addressed first to keep the teams on track.

• Business Goals: Understanding the larger business objectives allowed me to prioritize design work that aligned with strategic goals, such as improving user engagement, enhancing the overall user experience, or increasing conversion rates.

• User Impact: Some design decisions, while not urgent from a technical standpoint, could have a significant impact on the user experience. Tasks that affected key user flows or addressed known pain points were given higher priority to ensure a smooth and satisfying user journey.

To manage the complexity of these competing demands, I developed a flexible task management system. I broke down design requests into short-term, sprint-critical tasks and longer-term goals that would add value over time. By doing so, I could focus on immediate priorities without losing sight of the bigger picture. Using tools like Kanban boards, I tracked progress across all teams and maintained a clear overview of what needed to be done and when.

In addition, clear communication played a pivotal role in managing expectations. By keeping all teams informed of my current focus and capacity, I ensured that everyone was aligned on deadlines and deliverables. This transparency helped me negotiate realistic timelines and avoid overcommitment, while still meeting the demands of multiple teams.

Aligning Design and Development Goals

One of the biggest challenges is ensuring that design and development remain aligned. In such a dynamic environment, where product requirements and technical constraints change rapidly, maintaining this alignment was crucial. I made it a point to sync with developers regularly, ensuring that design decisions were both user-focused and technically feasible. This collaboration helped avoid bottlenecks and ensured that the product moved forward efficiently.

Time Management and Collaboration Tips

Managing multiple Scrum teams as the sole designer requires not only efficient task prioritization but also smart time management and effective collaboration. To keep up with the demands of multiple teams, I had to refine my approach to deep work and streamline communication. Below are the strategies that helped me stay organized and productive, ensuring the success of each project.

Maximizing Deep Work Time

One of the biggest challenges in supporting multiple Scrum teams is finding uninterrupted time for deep, focused design work. With frequent meetings, feedback sessions, and collaboration demands, it’s easy for creative work to become fragmented. To tackle this, I started scheduling dedicated focus blocks in my calendar and started early in the morning. These blocks were non-negotiable, allowing me to dive deep into complex design challenges without interruptions.

By strategically carving out time for deep work during the day — often early in the morning or late in the afternoon when fewer meetings were scheduled — I was able to fully engage with design problems that required concentrated attention. I used tools like time-blocking and the Pomodoro Technique to further enhance productivity, breaking design tasks into manageable chunks and working through them with clear focus.

It’s important to communicate these focus times to your team as well. I made sure the teams knew when I was available for collaboration and when I needed dedicated design time. This boundary-setting ensured that the quality of my work didn’t suffer under the pressure of constant multitasking, and it allowed the teams to plan around my schedule when they needed feedback or design updates. Sometimes simple symbols like “I have my headphones on” is enough.

Communication and Documentation

Effective communication was one of the most critical aspects of my role. With multiple teams working simultaneously, it was impossible to attend every meeting or provide real-time feedback to everyone. To maintain clarity and alignment, I leaned heavily on shared tools like Figma (or Sketch in the beginning), Jira and Confluence.

Creating detailed design documentation in these platforms became a vital part of my process. Every design decision was carefully documented, from wireframes and mockups to UI components and design system updates. This allowed all teams to access the same information, reducing confusion and preventing bottlenecks. By centralizing design specs, interaction flows, and guidelines in easily accessible documents, developers could refer back to them without waiting for my input.

Additionally, using tools like Jira for task management allowed me to stay visible to the teams. When a design task was complete, I’d update the Jira ticket with all relevant files and notes, ensuring that developers had everything they needed to move forward without delays. Confluence was an excellent repository for longer-term resources like design systems, style guides, and design rationales. By keeping everything organized, I reduced repetitive questions, ensuring that everyone was aligned on the vision and execution.

Managing Cross-Team Collaboration

When working across multiple Scrum teams, fostering strong collaboration is essential for maintaining progress and ensuring consistency. I made it a point to establish open communication channels between myself and all teams, encouraging developers, product owners, and stakeholders to reach out with questions or feedback early in the process. This proactive approach reduced back-and-forth later in sprints and helped catch potential design issues before they became blockers.

I also scheduled regular design reviews to sync up with different teams. These reviews provided an opportunity for me to check in on the implementation of the designs, offer guidance, and align the teams on upcoming design priorities. Whether through video calls, screen-sharing sessions, or asynchronous feedback, these touchpoints ensured that all teams were in sync and avoided misalignment in design execution.

Handling Feedback Loops

One of the realities of working with multiple Scrum teams is managing feedback loops. It’s not uncommon for different teams to provide conflicting feedback or have varying priorities, and managing these inputs efficiently is critical. I developed a system for collecting, categorizing, and prioritizing feedback based on the user impact and business goals. This approach allowed me to address the most critical issues first while keeping less urgent suggestions in the backlog for future consideration.

To avoid getting overwhelmed, I adopted a structured approach for documenting feedback during reviews and meetings. This helped me ensure that every input was considered and addressed systematically. Feedback was incorporated into the design process at logical points—usually after completing a particular iteration—ensuring continuous improvement without interrupting the overall workflow.

By implementing these strategies, I was able to effectively manage my time and collaborate across multiple teams, ensuring that every project stayed on track while maintaining high design quality. Managing time and collaboration isn’t just about being efficient—it’s about finding balance in a fast-paced environment and delivering value at every stage of the design process.

Conclusion: Being the Design Anchor Across Scrum Teams

Being the sole designer across multiple Scrum teams is not for the faint-hearted — it demands discipline, communication, and the ability to juggle competing priorities. But the rewards are immense. You get to shape the entire product experience and play a critical role in bridging design with development. Through building strong relationships with developers and stakeholders, prioritizing effectively, and maintaining a consistent design vision, you can thrive in this challenging role.

If you find yourself in a similar situation, remember: collaboration is key. Make friends with developers, communicate clearly, and always keep the user at the forefront of your decisions. In the end, it’s not just about managing design work — it’s about creating a product that delivers a seamless, delightful experience to users across the board.