Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

From Tradition to Transformation: Unlocking Startup Agility in a Legacy Enterprise
Gold
Wednesday, September 10, 2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Share the love for this talk
From Tradition to Transformation: Unlocking Startup Agility in a Legacy Enterprise
Speakers: Jenny Price
Link:

Summary

Driving large-scale design transformation within a 4,500-strong global organization requires more than just a vision—it demands a strategic, scalable approach to operational excellence. To meet the ambitious goals of our new Process Transformation (PT) vision and mission, we developed a powerful delivery vehicle designed to seamlessly integrate with stakeholders and clients while maximizing the productivity and impact of our extensive design talent. Through a strategic fusion of DesignOps, process design, process transformation, user experience design, service design, and change management, we crafted the PT Method—a unified operating model that blends the most relevant practices into a single, efficient methodology. Led by Executive Leaders across IBM and CHQ in partnership with our DesignOps and Design Leadership team, this approach establishes a structured yet flexible framework, equipping teams with reusable templates and tools to consistently deliver value at scale. Join for this case study to explore how this cohesive, multidisciplinary approach empowers teams to drive innovation and transformation while maintaining the agility and quality essential for long-term success.

Key Insights

  • Scaling design ops in a 100+ year old enterprise requires more than vision; it demands a structured, repeatable operational backbone.

  • The PT method combined process design, UX, service design, and change management into a unified operating model.

  • Creating over 60 branded templates and 20 custom illustrations helped drive consistency and stakeholder trust.

  • A centralized internal PT method site served as the single source of truth and enhanced adoption through accessible learning plans.

  • Over four months, the PT method reached full adoption with nearly 1,000 template downloads and 3,000 unique site visitors.

  • Design ops reduced redundant methodological work, freeing teams to invest in deeper stakeholder relationships and strategic problem-solving.

  • Executive sponsorship and broad stakeholder co-creation were critical to validating and evolving the PT method.

  • Focusing on progress over perfection helped maintain momentum and aligned teams on delivering impactful changes incrementally.

  • Strong design backgrounds influenced the approach, embedding craft and professionalism into operational practices.

  • Operationalizing design at scale boosts agility, creativity, and consistent delivery across complex, matrixed organizations.

Notable Quotes

"Transformation isn't just about ideas, it's about infrastructure."

"We needed a modern, scalable way to operationalize transformation across more than 4,500 global employees."

"The PT method became our adopted methodology with a required set of branded, unified reusable templates."

"Progress over perfection was our motto throughout the entire project."

"Design ops served as the backbone to operationalizing the organization, enabling scale, repeatability, and stakeholder confidence."

"We combined the best elements of process design, UX, service design, and change management into a single expression to form the PT operating model."

"Embedding a rich visual history into all PT artifacts was critical in how we showed up to do the work."

"Executive sponsors accelerated adoption and signaled the value of the transformation effort across the organization."

"Creating systems that enable speed, quality, and agility without sacrificing creativity is a key element."

"Invest in brand unification as a strategic tool to build stakeholder confidence and increase engagement."

Ask the Rosenbot
Kristin Skinner
Theme 1 Intro
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Kristin Taylor
Building Bridges Across Organizational Silos
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Kim Holt
A Salesforce Panel Discussion on Values-Driven DesignOps
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Sharbani Dhar
Breathing Room for Delight
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Miles Orkin
Creativity and Culture
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Peter Levin
Solve a Problem Here, Transform a Strategy There: Research as an Occasion for Expanding Organizational Possibility
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold
Sol Mesz
Hands or Brains? How to Hire for Strategy, Strategically
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Mike Brzozowski
UX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group
Mark Templeton
Creating a Legacy: the ultimate experience
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Bria Alexander
State of DesignOps Panel
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Sam Proulx
Designing For Screen Readers: Understanding the Mental Models and Techniques of Real Users
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Benjamin Real
Maturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Peter Van Dijck
Hands-on AI #2: Understanding evals: LLM as a Judge
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Tim Frick
The journey of building a sustainable design practice
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
Josh Clark
Sentient Design: New Postures for AI-Mediated Experiences (2nd of 3 seminars)
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Michele Marut
Research Repositories Reconsidered
2019 • DesignOps Community

More Videos

Bria Alexander

"Please stand up and hold each other’s hands, and on three, raise them high and shout Yeah so virtual can hear you."

Bria Alexander Louis Rosenfeld

Opening Remarks Day 1

March 25, 2024

Chris Geison

"Being flexible and spending a lot of time listening are keys to building stakeholder relationships."

Chris Geison Cristen Torrey Eric Mahlstedt

What is Research Strategy?: A Panel of Research Leaders Discuss this Emergent Question

March 4, 2021

Alla Weinberg

"Psychological safety means if I make a mistake on our team, the people won’t disconnect from me."

Alla Weinberg

Design Teams Need Psychological Safety: Here’s How to Create It

September 8, 2022

Bria Alexander

"Design ops should coordinate initiatives, measure impact, and advocate for designer happiness as a business metric - Peter Bosma."

Bria Alexander Patrizia Bertini Peter Boersma Jon Fukuda Dave Malouf Theresa Slate Changying (Z) Zheng

Charting the future of DesignOps: A community workshop

April 18, 2024

Sam Proulx

"Confidence is a higher burden in retail because people are giving real money; inaccessible flows cause quick abandonment."

Sam Proulx

Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience

June 7, 2023

Alastair Simpson

"Teams constantly bicker over turf blaming the various disciplines for their inability to meet deadlines."

Alastair Simpson

Debunking the Myths of Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration

October 24, 2019

Dan Ward

"We eat failure cake together, discuss what we learned, and plan what to do differently next time."

Dan Ward

Failure Friday #1 with Dan Ward

February 7, 2025

Justin Entzminger

"Designers must mitigate risk for their projects, but they personally face bigger risks from failure."

Justin Entzminger Terrance Smith Tracy M. Colunga Mai-Ling Garcia

Risk and Reward: How to Diversify the Field of Civic Innovators and Designers

November 17, 2022

Cornelius Rachieru

"If you see a system, you cannot unsee it — systemic awareness changes how you approach design."

Cornelius Rachieru

Handling Complexity: Framing a Scale of Design

June 9, 2021