Organizational leadership
From outsourced spend to in-house capacity
I turned fragmented, outsourced design delivery into an internal capability: one shared operating system, two leadership streams, stronger quality control—and $60K+ saved each year.
The starting point
I joined during a restructuring phase. A small design function was carrying a growing product business while marketing design and other specialist work were outsourced. At the same time, aggressive acquisitions created a fast-growing pipeline of businesses that needed restyling, adaptation and a consistent standard.
The capacity problem
The problem was not simply volume. Every new acquisition added work, handovers and another version of the brand experience. Reliance on agencies made delivery harder to plan, more expensive to repeat and more difficult to control. We needed an internal system that could absorb demand as the portfolio grew.
UX Pattern Library: standardise the way work moves
I created a UX library with front-end, back-end and QA colleagues. It gave teams a shared foundation for design, build and quality assurance—reducing reinvention and making refreshes and adaptations more repeatable across the portfolio.
Build the capability inside
With the product workflow becoming more consistent, I reviewed marketing design spend and built the marketing design department from scratch. The goal was to move recurring outsourced work into a team we could direct, develop and scale. I also nurtured two leadership streams: one leading product design and one leading marketing design.
The result
We brought the previously outsourced design workload in-house, eliminating agency dependency for that work. The change saved more than $60K per year while drastically reducing turnaround time, speeding up delivery, and improving control over priorities, quality and the consistency of delivered assets. It shows how a Design Library, internal teams and new leaders can turn rising demand into faster, more controlled delivery. The wider programme also recorded NPS +19 and CSAT +0.5.
Customer experience recognised
I worked closely with the customer support and development teams to improve the quality of both the user experience and the wider customer experience. Our design improvements contributed to the broader company effort recognised when Dreamscape Networks became an ABA100® Winner for CX Management in The Australian Business Awards 2018.
The leadership lesson
Capacity is not just headcount. It is the ability to take on more work without multiplying cost and coordination overhead. Shared standards made delivery repeatable; an internal team and new leaders made that capacity durable.
Map the demand
Identify the outsourced work and acquisition-driven pipeline
Standardise delivery
Create a UX library with front-end, back-end and QA
Bring work inside
Build the marketing design department from scratch
Make it durable
Develop product and marketing design leaders