The Internal Agency Model

Marty Cagan argues that UX designers often work in isolation, going off for days or weeks to produce a polished 'grand reveal,' a pattern he calls the 'internal agency model.' This breaks down because requirements and technology assumptions shift quickly, designs are often untested on real users, and the approach mirrors waterfall, leaving designers to decorate predetermined requirements. He traces the habit to UX leaders wanting consistency, visual-design backgrounds, and agency habits. His conclusion is that designers should be first-class, co-located members of durable cross-functional product teams, working alongside the product manager and engineers, while occasional cross-team design gatherings remain valuable.

01Key takeaways

• Embed UX designers in durable cross-functional product teams, sitting next to the PM and engineers.
• Avoid long solo design sprints that produce a 'grand reveal' disconnected from changing requirements.
• Test designs with real users early, and bring the PM and key developers to observe the sessions.
• Recognize that treating design as requirement-decoration recreates waterfall and limits designers' impact.
• Keep periodic cross-team design gatherings for craft and learning, but optimize primarily for the product team.

02Key sections

The problem with the internal agency model

Designers retreat for long stretches to design in isolation, then present a finished design to the team. Cagan frames this as an in-house agency serving requests rather than co-creating solutions.

Four core failures

Designs rest on requirements and technical direction that change constantly, and untested designs often change dramatically once real users see them. The model also reproduces waterfall, where design can only polish 'requirements' handed to it.

Why it persists

Design leaders seek consistency by pulling designers together, many designers come from visual rather than interaction backgrounds, and agency habits carry over from prior jobs. Cagan notes companies hire in-house precisely to avoid these problems.

Designers as first-class team members

Cagan argues that experience design is critical to product success, so designers should sit beside the PM and engineers and collaborate on the mix of functionality, experience, and technology.

Keep the guild, optimize for the product team

Periodic gatherings of designers across teams to tackle hard problems and build skills are fine. The priority remains optimizing for the product team rather than the job function.

03From the post

“A partnership dedicated to teaching best practices to product teams and product leaders”

04Frameworks mentioned

Summary and takeaways written by PM Atlas; quotes are short excerpts. © the original author.