Summary: UX staff can be organized in two ways: centralized or decentralized (or a hybrid). The teams can also report into different parts of the bigger organization. There is currently no single best practice for these team-structure questions.
A survey of 557 UX and design professionals reveals themes in the structure, size, alignment, and impact of design teams.
Video Author
Kate Kaplan is Insights Architect at Nielsen Norman Group. She specializes in the application of human-centered design and research practices to enterprise UX challenges.
Prior to joining NN/g, Kate was VP of Strategy at the digital marketing agency Centerline Digital, where she led a cross-disciplinary team of UX designers, content strategists and digital marketers in solving complex problems for high-technology B2B organizations, such as IBM, GE and National Instruments.
