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Volkswagen Group

Organisation Design: Design Horizontal

Project: Organisation & Community Design

Project Year: 2022 – 2025

Summary

Design Horizontal is a bottom-up initiative I co-founded to address the mutual organisational challenges such as career growth and education roadmap for UX designers at Volkswagen Group IT. What started as a side project using our biweekly “i&i Fridays” evolved into a cross-location community of 35+ designers from SID offices in Germany, SEAT Barcelona, Audi, and Lisbon. Through that, we achieved creating a shared space for knowledge exchange, peer support, and strategic impact for the company.

  • Company: OneSDC at Volkswagen Group IT

 

  • Team: Myself (Design Ops/Organiser), Designers at VW Group IT
  • Key Responsibilities:
    • Initial Planning & Pitch
    • Community strategy & management
    • Moderation & Facilitation
    • Leading a design group & content development
    • Communication & alignment with stakeholders

Status Quo in 2022 - Designers in Silos

In 2022, over 40 designers were scattered across departments and locations, most working solo or in pairs. Despite tackling similar organisational issues, efforts were isolated and often repeated, leading to burnout, low morale, and a lack of visibility.

 

An internal study I conducted revealed that many designers considered leaving the company within 3 years, signalling a deeper risk to knowledge retention and design maturity.

Background

How can we tackle organisational challenges using just 10% of our time?

At OneSDC, we had a unique opportunity: every second Friday, employees could dedicate time to self-driven learning and non-project initiatives: a concept we called i&i Friday (innovation & improvement).

 

We saw this as a chance to address shared organisational challenges faced by designers. Together with three fellow designers, and the sponsorship of a senior leader, we co-founded Design Horizontal: a cross-functional initiative focused on collaboration, growth, and bottom-up change.

Our Mission

Break silos, surface shared challenges, amplify design impact and build community together

Definition of Design Horizontal

A Self-Organised Working Group, Driving Bottom-up Solutions for Mutual Challenges

We, 18+ dedicated participants, created our own values and working & operating system through a holistic design process. Based on this system we built, the Horizontal system got automated with systemically established work streams and collaboration model and events to share and exchange.

Approach & Challenges

5 things to overcome challenges

We faced resistance early on. Some saw our efforts as political or unnecessary. Half the designers left after the kickoff. But I believed in the long game, and in creating something not for designers, but with them.

  1. 👩‍🎤️ Provide Structure, Let People Lead

Designers chose focus topics via open voting based on clear criteria provided by us, the organiser group. Nothing was top-down and forced to work on.

  1. ⚙️ Empower Self-Organized Teams

We provided just enough structure: dedicated Slack channels, biweekly working syncs, and one organiser member join the team to facilitate and lead. This setup let each team work autonomously but stay connected.

  1. ⛰️ Set Milestones, Create Purpose

Quarterly “Milestone Days” became our heartbeat. Designers presented progress to a larger audience, online and onsite. Though controversial at first (setting “Deadline”), this became a critical motivator and gave the work real visibility.

  1. 🏟️ Engage Leadership with Outcomes

We aligned with leadership twice yearly, and when work was ready, designers (not organisers) presented outcomes directly to top management. This built trust and earned recognition for contributors.

  1. đź‘Ą Build Community, Not Just Process

We broke down walls, psychological and departmental, through hybrid gatherings. By 2024, we had hosted 11 Milestone Events (6 onsite, 5 online), helping designers connect as peers, not just coworkers.

Outcome

Design Career Path & Education Roadmap

I co-led the team that developed a new design career path and internal education framework, approved by Hauke Starss, Group IT Board and workers council to be impelemented within Group IT in 2023.

Organisational Model Shift

In 2024, OneSDC restructured to unify roles (UX, Dev, PM) under one disciplinary department, partially inspired by Design Horizontal’s success as a working model.

A Home for Designers

Designers now refer to Design Horizontal as their "home team."

We achieved a satisfaction score of 8.0/10 in the 2024 internal survey.

Audi, Lisbon, and Production department teams have since joined us. Global expansion is underway.

  1. Reflection: after stormy 4 months

đź’ˇ Consistency Builds Credibility
Over three years, we held biweekly sessions, only four were ever cancelled. That consistency, more than any single event, built trust. It showed we were serious, reliable, and here for the long haul. Change doesn’t happen in a single push; it’s about shaping the conditions for others to join in, when they’re ready.

🤝 Shared Voice Is Stronger Than Individual Leadership
Early on, I realised sustainable change doesn’t come from a few loud voices. It comes when many speak with shared intent. My role shifted from “leading from the front” to facilitating, aligning, and giving others the space and tools to lead.

🎯 Feedback Requires Fast Action
With visibility comes criticism, sometimes fair, sometimes not. What mattered was how quickly and openly we responded. I learned that trust is fragile. It takes years to build but can vanish overnight if we ignore feedback or delay action.

👥 Community Isn’t Just Culture - It’s StrategyDesign Horizontal wasn’t just about connection. It was a deliberate response to real risks: burnout, attrition, and stagnation. By creating space for designers to grow, support one another, and feel seen, we not only retained talent, we gave design a stronger voice in the organisation.

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CV
LinkedIn
Email

About

Case Studies

Creative Archive

Volkswagen Group

Organisation Design: Design Horizontal

Project: Organisation & Community Design

Project Year: 2022 – 2025

Summary

Design Horizontal is a bottom-up initiative I co-founded to address the mutual organisational challenges such as career growth and education roadmap for UX designers at Volkswagen Group IT. What started as a side project using our biweekly “i&i Fridays” evolved into a cross-location community of 35+ designers from SID offices in Germany, SEAT Barcelona, Audi, and Lisbon. Through that, we achieved creating a shared space for knowledge exchange, peer support, and strategic impact for the company.

  • Company: OneSDC at Volkswagen Group IT

 

  • Team: Myself (Design Ops/Organiser), Designers at VW Group IT
  • Key Responsibilities:
    • Initial Planning & Pitch
    • Community strategy & management
    • Moderation & Facilitation
    • Leading a design group & content development
    • Communication & alignment with stakeholders

Status Quo in 2022 - Designers in Silos

In 2022, over 40 designers were scattered across departments and locations, most working solo or in pairs. Despite tackling similar organisational issues, efforts were isolated and often repeated, leading to burnout, low morale, and a lack of visibility.

 

An internal study I conducted revealed that many designers considered leaving the company within 3 years, signalling a deeper risk to knowledge retention and design maturity.

Background

How can we tackle organisational challenges using just 10% of our time?

At OneSDC, we had a unique opportunity: every second Friday, employees could dedicate time to self-driven learning and non-project initiatives: a concept we called i&i Friday (innovation & improvement).

 

We saw this as a chance to address shared organisational challenges faced by designers. Together with three fellow designers, and the sponsorship of a senior leader, we co-founded Design Horizontal: a cross-functional initiative focused on collaboration, growth, and bottom-up change.

Our Mission

Break silos, surface shared challenges, amplify design impact and build community together

Definition of Design Horizontal

A Self-Organised Working Group, Driving Bottom-up Solutions for Mutual Challenges

We, 18+ dedicated participants, created our own values and working & operating system through a holistic design process. Based on this system we built, the Horizontal system got automated with systemically established work streams and collaboration model and events to share and exchange.

Approach & Challenges

5 things to overcome challenges

We faced resistance early on. Some saw our efforts as political or unnecessary. Half the designers left after the kickoff. But I believed in the long game, and in creating something not for designers, but with them.

  1. 👩‍🎤️ Provide Structure, Let People Lead

Designers chose focus topics via open voting based on clear criteria provided by us, the organiser group. Nothing was top-down and forced to work on.

  1. ⚙️ Empower Self-Organized Teams

We provided just enough structure: dedicated Slack channels, biweekly working syncs, and one organiser member join the team to facilitate and lead. This setup let each team work autonomously but stay connected.

  1. ⛰️ Set Milestones, Create Purpose

Quarterly “Milestone Days” became our heartbeat. Designers presented progress to a larger audience, online and onsite. Though controversial at first (setting “Deadline”), this became a critical motivator and gave the work real visibility.

  1. 🏟️ Engage Leadership with Outcomes

We aligned with leadership twice yearly, and when work was ready, designers (not organisers) presented outcomes directly to top management. This built trust and earned recognition for contributors.

  1. đź‘Ą Build Community, Not Just Process

We broke down walls, psychological and departmental, through hybrid gatherings. By 2024, we had hosted 11 Milestone Events (6 onsite, 5 online), helping designers connect as peers, not just coworkers.

Outcome

Design Career Path & Education Roadmap

I co-led the team that developed a new design career path and internal education framework, approved by Hauke Starss, Group IT Board and workers council to be impelemented within Group IT in 2023.

Organisational Model Shift

In 2024, OneSDC restructured to unify roles (UX, Dev, PM) under one disciplinary department, partially inspired by Design Horizontal’s success as a working model.

A Home for Designers

Designers now refer to Design Horizontal as their "home team."

We achieved a satisfaction score of 8.0/10 in the 2024 internal survey.

Audi, Lisbon, and Production department teams have since joined us. Global expansion is underway.

  1. Reflection: after stormy 4 months

đź’ˇ Consistency Builds Credibility
Over three years, we held biweekly sessions, only four were ever cancelled. That consistency, more than any single event, built trust. It showed we were serious, reliable, and here for the long haul. Change doesn’t happen in a single push; it’s about shaping the conditions for others to join in, when they’re ready.

🤝 Shared Voice Is Stronger Than Individual Leadership
Early on, I realised sustainable change doesn’t come from a few loud voices. It comes when many speak with shared intent. My role shifted from “leading from the front” to facilitating, aligning, and giving others the space and tools to lead.

🎯 Feedback Requires Fast Action
With visibility comes criticism, sometimes fair, sometimes not. What mattered was how quickly and openly we responded. I learned that trust is fragile. It takes years to build but can vanish overnight if we ignore feedback or delay action.

👥 Community Isn’t Just Culture - It’s StrategyDesign Horizontal wasn’t just about connection. It was a deliberate response to real risks: burnout, attrition, and stagnation. By creating space for designers to grow, support one another, and feel seen, we not only retained talent, we gave design a stronger voice in the organisation.

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About

Case Studies

Creative Archive

CV
LinkedIn
Email

Volkswagen Group

Organisation Design: Design Horizontal

Project: Organisation & Community Design

Project Year: 2022 – 2025

Summary

Design Horizontal is a bottom-up initiative I co-founded to address the mutual organisational challenges such as career growth and education roadmap for UX designers at Volkswagen Group IT. What started as a side project using our biweekly “i&i Fridays” evolved into a cross-location community of 35+ designers from SID offices in Germany, SEAT Barcelona, Audi, and Lisbon. Through that, we achieved creating a shared space for knowledge exchange, peer support, and strategic impact for the company.

  • Company: OneSDC at Volkswagen Group IT

 

  • Team: Myself (Design Ops/Organiser), Designers at VW Group IT
  • Key Responsibilities:
    • Initial Planning & Pitch
    • Community strategy & management
    • Moderation & Facilitation
    • Leading a design group & content development
    • Communication & alignment with stakeholders

Status Quo in 2022 - Designers in Silos

In 2022, over 40 designers were scattered across departments and locations, most working solo or in pairs. Despite tackling similar organisational issues, efforts were isolated and often repeated, leading to burnout, low morale, and a lack of visibility.

 

An internal study I conducted revealed that many designers considered leaving the company within 3 years, signalling a deeper risk to knowledge retention and design maturity.

Background

How can we tackle organisational challenges using just 10% of our time?

At OneSDC, we had a unique opportunity: every second Friday, employees could dedicate time to self-driven learning and non-project initiatives: a concept we called i&i Friday (innovation & improvement).

 

We saw this as a chance to address shared organisational challenges faced by designers. Together with three fellow designers, and the sponsorship of a senior leader, we co-founded Design Horizontal: a cross-functional initiative focused on collaboration, growth, and bottom-up change.

Our Mission

Break silos, surface shared challenges, amplify design impact and build community together

Definition of Design Horizontal

A Self-Organised Working Group, Driving Bottom-up Solutions for Mutual Challenges

We, 18+ dedicated participants, created our own values and working & operating system through a holistic design process. Based on this system we built, the Horizontal system got automated with systemically established work streams and collaboration model and events to share and exchange.

Approach & Challenges

5 things to overcome challenges

We faced resistance early on. Some saw our efforts as political or unnecessary. Half the designers left after the kickoff. But I believed in the long game, and in creating something not for designers, but with them.

  1. 👩‍🎤️ Provide Structure, Let People Lead

Designers chose focus topics via open voting based on clear criteria provided by us, the organiser group. Nothing was top-down and forced to work on.

  1. ⚙️ Empower Self-Organized Teams

We provided just enough structure: dedicated Slack channels, biweekly working syncs, and one organiser member join the team to facilitate and lead. This setup let each team work autonomously but stay connected.

  1. ⛰️ Set Milestones, Create Purpose

Quarterly “Milestone Days” became our heartbeat. Designers presented progress to a larger audience, online and onsite. Though controversial at first (setting “Deadline”), this became a critical motivator and gave the work real visibility.

  1. 🏟️ Engage Leadership with Outcomes

We aligned with leadership twice yearly, and when work was ready, designers (not organisers) presented outcomes directly to top management. This built trust and earned recognition for contributors.

  1. đź‘Ą Build Community, Not Just Process

We broke down walls, psychological and departmental, through hybrid gatherings. By 2024, we had hosted 11 Milestone Events (6 onsite, 5 online), helping designers connect as peers, not just coworkers.

Outcome

Design Career Path & Education Roadmap

I co-led the team that developed a new design career path and internal education framework, approved by Hauke Starss, Group IT Board and workers council to be impelemented within Group IT in 2023.

Organisational Model Shift

In 2024, OneSDC restructured to unify roles (UX, Dev, PM) under one disciplinary department, partially inspired by Design Horizontal’s success as a working model.

A Home for Designers

Designers now refer to Design Horizontal as their "home team."

We achieved a satisfaction score of 8.0/10 in the 2024 internal survey.

Audi, Lisbon, and Production department teams have since joined us. Global expansion is underway.

  1. Reflection: after stormy 4 months

đź’ˇ Consistency Builds Credibility
Over three years, we held biweekly sessions, only four were ever cancelled. That consistency, more than any single event, built trust. It showed we were serious, reliable, and here for the long haul. Change doesn’t happen in a single push; it’s about shaping the conditions for others to join in, when they’re ready.

🤝 Shared Voice Is Stronger Than Individual Leadership
Early on, I realised sustainable change doesn’t come from a few loud voices. It comes when many speak with shared intent. My role shifted from “leading from the front” to facilitating, aligning, and giving others the space and tools to lead.

🎯 Feedback Requires Fast Action
With visibility comes criticism, sometimes fair, sometimes not. What mattered was how quickly and openly we responded. I learned that trust is fragile. It takes years to build but can vanish overnight if we ignore feedback or delay action.

👥 Community Isn’t Just Culture - It’s StrategyDesign Horizontal wasn’t just about connection. It was a deliberate response to real risks: burnout, attrition, and stagnation. By creating space for designers to grow, support one another, and feel seen, we not only retained talent, we gave design a stronger voice in the organisation.

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↑

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