How Ramp and Plaid create a culture of craft💡

Summary

Dive Club 🤿: How Ramp and Plaid Create a Culture of Craft💡

Host: Ridd
Episode Release Date: March 25, 2025

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Introduction

In the latest episode of Dive Club 🤿, host Ridd delves into the sophisticated design cultures of two industry leaders: Ramp and Plaid. With a focus on how these companies cultivate a deep sense of craft within their design teams, Ridd explores the innovative processes and philosophies that set Ramp and Plaid apart. This episode is a treasure trove for designers eager to elevate their craft through effective feedback mechanisms, collaborative environments, and meticulous attention to detail.

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Elevating Craft Through Feedback

Investment in Feedback

Ridd begins by emphasizing the importance of feedback in fostering exceptional design work. Highlighting the practices at Plaid and Ramp, Ridd underscores that continuous and structured feedback is pivotal for design excellence.

Christophe on Attention to Detail

Christophe, the Head of Design at Plaid, sets the tone by stating at [00:16]:

"Sweat the details, like, it actually pays off. In fact, sweating the details is one of our company values."

This commitment to detail is foundational to Plaid's design ethos, ensuring that every aspect of the product reflects meticulous craftsmanship.

Feedback Loops Beyond Formal Critiques

Ridd critiques the conventional approach many teams take towards weekly critiques, noting that they often become overly formal and impede genuine creativity. He cites Diego Zaks, VP of Design at Ramp, who observed a shift where the emphasis on presentations and aesthetics began to overshadow substantive design work ([00:55]).

Diego Zaks on Feedback Innovation

Diego shares Ramp's innovative approach to feedback:

"If you want to be formal, here's a place where you're really formal. And then let's create all these other avenues for you to get feedback. The least formal one, the safest environment that you have, is we've created these truth seeking pods..."

At [01:29], Diego explains the Truth Seeking Pods, small, high-trust groups of designers that meet frequently to present work and receive honest, constructive feedback. This system alleviates the pressure of formal critiques and fosters a more supportive environment where designers can deconstruct their decisions and refine their craft collaboratively.

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Sharing Early and Often at Plaid

Ridd transitions to Plaid's strategy for maintaining a culture of continuous improvement through early and frequent sharing of work.

Christophe on Open Collaboration

At [02:29], Christophe elaborates on Plaid's philosophy:

"Designers need to always have, again, the garage door up. Like, you need to let people see what you're working on, comment on it, and really give you that, that sort of ongoing feedback that was so crucial."

By encouraging designers to share their work from the initial stages—be it sketches on napkins or early concepts—Plaid ensures that feedback is integrated before designers become too emotionally attached to their solutions. This openness prevents defensive responses and fosters a collaborative atmosphere where ideas can evolve organically.

Benefits of Early Exposure

Christophe highlights additional advantages:

"It also was a way for design to expose the process, like, how we get to the final solution... It feels easier. It feels a lot more approachable."

Sharing work early demystifies the design process for other team members, making it more accessible and encouraging cross-functional collaboration. This transparency not only improves the final product but also builds a sense of collective ownership and pride among team members.

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Polish Reviews: The Final Touch at Plaid

One of Plaid's standout practices, as discussed in the episode, is the Polish Reviews process—a meticulous final check before designs are handed off to engineering.

Introduction to Polish Reviews

Christophe introduces this practice at [04:52]:

"Something we call Polish reviews... a really good eye for like the little things. The little like, margins are slightly off or like consistency..."

The Polish Reviews panel consists of senior individual contributors (ICs) and a content designer who scrutinize the final design files for minute details such as margin inconsistencies, typos, and appropriate language use in UI elements. This final review ensures that the product maintains a high standard of quality and consistency.

Impact on Design Quality and Team Growth

Ridd points out that such meticulous reviews not only enhance the product quality but also serve as a developmental tool for the entire organization. Christophe reflects on the long-term benefits:

"The designers have all the feedback they got now incorporate into their work from the early stages. And so it just makes better designers as well."

Over time, the frequency of comments during Polish Reviews decreases as designers internalize the feedback, leading to higher quality outputs and more proficient designers.

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Building a Culture of Continuous Improvement

Creating a Blank Canvas for Growth

Ridd emphasizes his intent to absorb and potentially implement these best practices within his own endeavors at Maven. He appreciates how Ramp and Plaid have constructed their design organizations from the ground up, allowing for the integration of effective processes and rituals that promote continuous learning and improvement.

Future Insights

Ridd hints at the possibility of future episodes that will further explore the specific processes and rituals of top design teams, promising listeners more valuable insights into cultivating a culture of craft within their organizations.

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Conclusion

In this episode of Dive Club 🤿, Ridd provides an in-depth look into how Ramp and Plaid foster a culture of craft through innovative feedback mechanisms, early and open sharing of work, and rigorous final reviews. By adopting these practices, designers and organizations can elevate their craft, produce higher quality products, and nurture a supportive and collaborative environment. Christophe and Diego's insights offer actionable strategies that listeners can implement to enhance their own design processes and team dynamics.

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For more episodes, key takeaways, and bonus resources, visit Dive.club.

Transcript

[Host]

I'm paying a lot of attention to the ways that great design teams elevate craft in their org. And today I want to shine a light on two companies, Ramp and Plaid, because they put processes in place that I'm 100% going to steal when we.

[Christophe]

Sweat the details, like, it actually pays off. In fact, sweating the details is one of our company values.

[Host]

That's Christophe, the head of design at Plaid, and I'm going to highlight some of the specific ways that they sweat the details. And it all starts with investing in feedback.

[Christophe]

The best designs come from design teams, not designers, and it's all about the feedback loops you create within the team.

[Host]

The problem is too many teams have a weekly crit and that's it. So what happens is the formality of crit increases over time. And this is something that Diego Zaks, the VP of design at Ramp, saw happen. As the company scaled, people were spending.

[Diego Zaks]

A lot of time preparing for it and making these big presentations and, hey, I want it to look good and I'm making all these transitions and figma and all this stuff and actually, like, the work became 20% of it.

[Host]

Now, I've never been one to make particularly pretty decks, but I've been in this situation multiple times. And having a single weekly crit puts a ton of pressure on designers to make the most out of that time. And as a result, you're probably only talking about the high level, really big strategy decisions. So here's how Diego handled that at Ramp.

[Diego Zaks]

Great. If you want to be formal, here's a place where you're really formal. And then let's create all these other avenues for you to get feedback. The least formal one, the safest environment that you have, is we've created these truth seeking pods, which is three or four designers that are across the entire platform. So they're not working on the same things. They get together two or three times a week, and every time that they get together, a different person presents their work through the lens of a decision that they've made. So the goal is to have a very small group of high trust people that are going to help you deconstruct the decision. A framework that got you somewhere and you set the expectation that you want real feedback. You want people to be kind, not nice.

[Host]

This model sounds like a dream to work in, honestly. But even if you don't have the equivalent, you can still create a culture of craft by following Brian Lovin's advice of working with the garage door open. Here's what that looks like at Plaid.

[Christophe]

That's a huge part of my philosophy as a design leader, is the designers need to always have, again, the garage door up. Like, you need to let people see what you're working on, comment on it, and really give you that, that sort of ongoing feedback that was so crucial problem. I've seen very many, many different design teams struggle with where designers wait a little too long before they share their work. And so one, when you're too deep into the work, you sort of have an emotional attachment to the solutions. And so the feedback you get feels like an attack on you, not on the work. And people get, like, start to defend their solution or their ideas rather than listening to the feedback. And it's also often a little too late really, to kind of like, you weren't. The designer is likely running out of time. And so they're showing the final thing. Like, well, you know, there's only so much you're going to be able to change before you need to go and build this. And so making sure designers share their work at the beginning of the idea, like, hey, like, here's a little concept I have. I've made a sketch on a napkin. Like, let's talk about my sketch on a napkin.

[Host]

Now, you've probably heard the advice share early and often before, but Christoph highlighted another benefit to exposing more of your design process that really, really stood out to me.

[Christophe]

It also was a way for design to expose the process, like, how we get to the final solution. Because a lot of design teams tend to be a little mysterious. So really opening the door, including in how things are being made, it just feels easier. It feels a lot more approachable. I've rarely found an engineer, a product manager, who's followed along the process of a project from a design perspective. Really got to see everything, gets to the end of it and think, like, yeah, I don't think you guys got it. Like, I think you. You guys are terrible. Like, I. I've never seen it, especially if you had multiple chances to contribute, add your own flavor comment. Like, when it's really open, it demystify everything. But it also on the other end means, you know, it's a lot more collaborative. And then everyone really has a sense of pride. You've been along this journey, you care more about something. You've put, you know, time, energy, thought into. And so you really want to be proud of what, what gets out. And you start splitting the details, even in the code and how you architecting.

[Host]

Now, there's one more process at Plaid that I want to shine a Light on. Because I would have killed to have this at Maven, the new thing that.

[Christophe]

We started about a year ago. And I don't know if. I don't know if many design teams do this, but I find it to be super powerful and my entire team loves it. Something we call Polish reviews. We've created this panel of, I think currently four ICs, like really senior ICs on the team who really understand this design system, have really good eye for like the little things. The little like, margins are slightly off or like, they're like consistency. With this other experience, we have a content designer who's like looking at all the words, like, is there a typo? Is there a word? That button that doesn't use a verb but use a noun? And we don't do that. So, like really paying attention to those details. And so that panel, which is always the same, so there's a consistency they see everything will be receiving that Figma file at the very last moment before it gets chipped up to like building. Like before the engineers start working on it, they'll review it one last time. They have 24, 48 hours. I think it kind of depends on the project. And they'll just nitpick. It's like really final moment of like fixing things.

[Host]

Look, it doesn't matter how senior you are. If you're staring at the same set of pixels, before long you're going to start to miss things. But the value isn't just proofreading or increasing the quality of the product. It's also leveling up the abilities of the entire org.

[Christophe]

We kind of did a little retro on it recently with the team and the panel. I asked the panel, hey, how is it different now than it was a year ago when you're reviewing those designs and they're saying that, you know, they used to have 20, 30 comments on a file altogether a year ago, and now it's 5, 6, 7. And it's really just the designers have all the feedback they got now they incorporate into their work from the early stages. And so it just makes better designers as well. So it's been a super powerful tool for us.

[Host]

Not only is inflight my attempt at productizing a lot of these practices, but it's also a blank canvas of a design org. So I'm paying a lot of attention to the specific processes and rituals that the best design teams are doing. So there will definitely be future episodes on this topic. But that's all for now and I will see you next week.