Creating Consistency Through Constant Change
Summary
The hustle of “Uber 1.0” (moving fast and breaking things) is still remnant in parts of Uber's culture today. As a DesignOps team of two to start, Maggie had to break through many barriers to help quickly and effectively implement a new practice. Within one year, the team grew to 14 Design Program Managers working across 6 global, distributed design studios. How does a team scale and find their voice amidst many cultural challenges, negative news cycles, and multiple rounds of layoffs? This talk will explore how DesignOps can remain a constant pillar of reliability when the structures around a Design team are constantly evolving.
Key Insights
-
•
Building a resilient design ops team requires creating consistency amid constant organizational and external change.
-
•
Shifting responsibilities to new roles is often met with skepticism that must be overcome through partnership and demonstrating value.
-
•
Operationalizing processes like stakeholder reviews and launch characterization can bring order and visibility to design work.
-
•
Engagement models clarifying time commitment and prioritization help teams focus on high-impact work and avoid burnout.
-
•
Self-service UX research toolkits empower cross-functional teams to independently conduct research when resources are limited.
-
•
Bringing clarity to internal policies, budgeting, and headcount creates calm and control during times of external chaos.
-
•
Maintaining structured flexibility allows team members to quickly shift roles to where work is most needed.
-
•
Operationalizing inspiring but unfunded ideas helps sustain team motivation and drive cultural initiatives like design for social good.
-
•
Having a core, consistent design ops team serves as a stabilizing pillar in a fast-moving and frequently changing startup environment.
-
•
The ability to say no to low-priority tasks is a crucial outcome of constrained resourcing and helps refocus efforts on meaningful work.
Notable Quotes
"Working at Uber requires grit."
"Not a week has gone by in my four years at Uber that something slightly shocking or jarring did not happen."
"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."
"We had to show rather than say why design operations roles existed."
"Getting designers into a cadence of reviewing work with senior stakeholders was not a muscle the team had built."
"Ship Magic raised the bar on quality across our writer experiences with monthly bugbashes and cross-functional support."
"We created a self-service UXR hub to empower teammates with research fundamentals amid downsized research teams."
"When the world outside is crazy, the team needs to know that at least design ops has things under control internally."
"We maintain structured flexibility so we can move people where the work is regardless of politics or whatever else is going on."
"The power to say no has been a blessing in disguise, helping us refocus on high priority work after layoffs."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Ideas that get sold without knowing how they work or how they’re made reflect a cultural problem in the team."
Husani OakleyBias Towards Action: Building Teams that Build Work
June 14, 2018
"I hammer on information architecture probably more than almost any other interviewer because I believe it’s the central part of the system."
Bob BaxleyLeading with Design Operations Past and Present
December 19, 2019
"Question your assumptions. What bubbles are we living in?"
Adrian HowardSturgeon’s Biases
September 25, 2024
"Even though we’re virtual, we are still a community and obligated to treat each other with kindness and respect."
Bria Alexander Louis RosenfeldWelcome
September 8, 2022
"If you want an accessible app on iOS and Android, using the standard native APIs and controls will get you there."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility and You
June 9, 2022
"Connecting strings of Christmas lights is a mental model for connecting teams’ insights without superseding their systems."
Etienne FangPower of Insights: Why sharing is better than silos with Uber’s Insights Platform
December 16, 2019
"The partnership with AIGA has blossomed into a year-long virtual event series focused on relationship-building by design."
Melissa TsangFrom Insights to Action: Driving Business Values through DesignOps
January 8, 2024
"Ratios always start on the premise of spreading people too thin, which is not a great way to get success."
Leisa ReicheltOpening Keynote: Operating in Context
November 7, 2018
"I woke up one day and just chose myself. I changed my name in Apple’s directory and it was the best moment ever."
B. Pagels-MinorBreaking the Tension: The Power of Enabling Your Employees to Show Up Authentically
June 10, 2022
