Summary
In many companies, Design is viewed as a tactical resource; in fact, it’s often a subsidiary of Product, there to support the Engineering team. Basically, Design is viewed as “the wire frame people.” This results in a lot of frustration and feeling like the design team doesn’t have a seat at the table, and creates resentment between Design and their Product and Engineering partners. It also results in the organization not realizing the full value of its investment in the design team. The solution to this problem is to transition Design from being a tactical resource to a strategic partner. The question is, how? This session will cover ways that Design can make this transition, exponentially increase their influence, and become a key strategic resource/partner for everyone in the organization.
Key Insights
-
•
Design teams are often treated as tactical support under product and engineering, limiting their strategic influence.
-
•
Measuring design impact requires aligning granular design metrics to high-level business goals like OKRs or North Star metrics.
-
•
Socializing design outcomes with stakeholders is critical to demonstrating design’s business value and shifting perceptions.
-
•
Organizing design in a fractal structure ensures each product team has a design partner, increasing collaboration and visibility.
-
•
Prioritize design staffing based on team impact on revenue and strategic alignment when resources are limited.
-
•
Enhance design systems by including content on when and how to use components to enable self-service by non-design teams.
-
•
A business mindset means pragmatically balancing ideal design solutions with business realities and goals.
-
•
Approach product and engineering as users of design services, identifying and solving their specific problems to build partnership.
-
•
In the Procore case study, integrating design metrics into product KPIs changed the conversation and gave design strategic influence.
-
•
Incremental, iterative measurement of design outcomes builds support and avoids overwhelming teams with large upfront efforts.
Notable Quotes
"Design is often seen as the wireframe people, a subsidiary of product rather than a strategic partner."
"If design isn’t moving the needle on business strategy, designers feel disempowered and are often first to be cut."
"Turning design from tactical to strategic is like turning a super tanker; it takes a long, wide arc."
"If you don’t measure design’s impact, it’s like a tree falling in the forest with no one around to hear it."
"Organizing your team in a fractal structure ensures product, engineering, and design are always represented as partners."
"Sometimes the best design isn’t the best solution; you have to find a way to make it work within business constraints."
"Try to avoid saying no; instead, ask why and focus on problems rather than specific stakeholder requests."
"In Procore, design moved from tasting the cake to baking the cake by being involved early in strategy and planning."
"Usability testing is the gateway drug for research; similarly, incremental measurement can be the gateway for strategic design."
"If product and engineering see you as problem solvers who make their lives easier, they’ll make you central to their work."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Design is never the thing that connects people — purpose, like serving users better, connects them."
Andrew WebsterScaling Design Capability: How Involved Should You Be?
September 30, 2021
"Innovators need a tribe to recharge their batteries because you get no from every direction."
Kristen Honey"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design
November 18, 2021
"Our field was not born five years ago; we've been through these growth pains before."
Tala Tayebi Kelly Goto Jared SpoolVoice and influence in an age of noise
March 10, 2026
"Being simple is extremely complex. Adding complexity is easy, but simplicity requires discipline and focus."
George Zhang Molly StevensUX Research Excellence Framework
March 11, 2021
"Think about who decides what, when, where, by which criteria and how these decisions connect—this helps influence decision making."
Silke Bochat5 Antifragile Strategies for a DesignOps 2.0
September 23, 2024
"User research can sound intimidating, so our first step was to make it simpler and more approachable."
Roy Opata OlendeHow Zapier Uses ‘All Hands Research’ to Increase Exposure to Users
August 6, 2020
"We took all the leadership admins to a call center for a week to make them feel what customers go through."
Panel Discussion: Communicating the Value of DesignOps
November 7, 2018
"High functioning teams are built on trust and not control."
Mariesa LenzWhat Beekeeping Taught me about Product Teams
October 29, 2025
"Sticky notes and whiteboards just wouldn’t translate online, so our collaboration rituals had to change."
Rusha SopariwalaRemote, Together: Craft and Collaboration Across Disciplines, Borders, Time Zones, and a Design Org of 170+
June 9, 2022
