MOTOROLA SOLUTIONS
Design Team Workflow
As Design Operations Lead for the global design team at Motorola Solutions, it was my responsibility to create and maintain a project management system that could support a very high volume of projects for 8 graphic designers and 5 video specialists.
In 2024, I was directed to select and onboard a new system, which involved assessing and comparing systems for their features and functionality; custom-building request forms; engineering complex automation settings; creating best-practices and workflow alignment; and training both creatives and internal requesters on how to use the new system.
Assess and test
With the Hive project management system as our leading option, I led a trial access period for our team leaders to explore the way the system worked and stress-test the features that were most essential to our team.
I have a lot of experience with high-volume workloads and supporting great creative work with as much clarity and efficiency as possible. With a deep understanding of what my team needed, what our management team expected and what would help our stakeholders engage more fully with the system, I was able to provide clear recommendations and flag any weak points that needed to be addressed through workflow adjustments.
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More details on feature considerations
Engineer
Once our team leadership approved our selection and the new system contract was in place, I got to work creating a framework that optimized Hive’s features to support the team’s needs:
Intuitive project statuses and category tags (learning lessons from the previous system)
15 different request forms, built with complex form logic to support the right gathering of data for each request type
Custom automation settings and inputs assigning time estimates to specific form selections, enabling the use of automated resourcing tools
Optimized project card fields and datapoints (reducing clutter and focusing on the most valuable and actionable information)
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More details on system architecture
Connect
No system or technology can create success and efficiency in a vacuum – best practices and workflows need to be mapped out in a way that connects with system functionality and makes sense to users.
Leveraging (and iterating on) the workflows the team used for the previous system, I applied my creative and project management knowledge to create a clear set of steps for each specific role and the way they would interact with the system. This brought everyone together with shared goals and expectations, so that we didn’t accidentally create a dozen different ways to manage the same type of project.
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How my workflow optimized team processes
Train
Once I was finished setup and ready to launch, it was extremely important to help our creatives and the 200+ internal stakeholders – marketers, product leads and sales teams who required design and video work – feel welcome and comfortable with the new process.
I hosted multiple training sessions for our creative team (including feature Q&A sessions with our Hive account lead) as well as a large-scale launch webinar for stakeholders and requesters.
I also built and populated a comprehensive Google Site for internal stakeholders to easily access system how-to’s, dashboard views, request forms and other helpful resources.
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Tour of training site
Manage
All the time and effort spent optimizing and automating the Hive workflow paid off when the time came to begin overseeing new incoming projects via the new system.
One of my important daily tasks was to track and assess each newly requested design project – was any information or content missing? Was the requested timeline realistic within our current workload and priorities? Did the suggested direction align with the latest brand narrative and direction?
After working with the requester to address any questions or gaps, I documented important notes and key requirements and passed the project over to the Design Leads for assignment among the team.
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My project management strategies