Summary
We will cover some of the key principles and guidelines of collaborative DesignOps and share experiences of setting up design operations using a tech platform. You will know more about how to: Define a design process and convert it into a design roadmap. Share design goals and measure impact. Manage design processes and activities. Get started with curated set of tools, templates and best practices.
Key Insights
-
•
Design functions are rapidly growing but lack operational cohesion, causing scaling difficulties.
-
•
Traditional devops tools are task-centric and don't cater well to design workflows, creating integration challenges.
-
•
Four stakeholder groups in design ops have distinct needs: leaders, Ops managers, product managers, and design producers.
-
•
Design leaders want predictable roadmaps and strong team health metrics to manage delivery.
-
•
Design Ops managers aim to standardize processes and reuse organizational knowledge across teams.
-
•
Product managers seek transparency and accountability in design timelines and resource utilization.
-
•
Design producers prioritize creative autonomy but need automated reporting and feedback mechanisms.
-
•
A customizable design process library (e.g., Lean UX, Double Diamond) supports flexible workflow adaptation.
-
•
Centralized document repositories with rich search capabilities enable better knowledge reuse and context retrieval.
-
•
Integration with Jira and Slack allows two-way syncing of design activities and keeps teams aligned without disrupting favorite tools.
Notable Quotes
"The glue that binds strategy, execution, and measurement is missing in rapidly growing design functions."
"Traditional devops tools are more task and issue-centric, but designers think in processes and workflows."
"Design managers need predictable roadmaps and healthy teams to meet project goals and timelines."
"Product managers often see design work as a black box and want transparency and accountability."
"Design producers love their creative tools and want reporting to be automated, not manual."
"You can define your own design process, whether it’s Lean UX, Double Diamond, or something custom."
"All documents—PDFs, audio, video, Figma, Mural—live in a central repository searchable by project context."
"We support Google HEART metrics to show design impact aligned with business goals."
"Our Jira integration will be two-way so you can link design activities to epics, user stories, or tasks."
"We don’t want anyone to change their favorite tools; we build plugins to share wireframes or prototypes directly."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Findings are observations with a short shelf life, whereas insights get deep into the why and the consequences."
Sara LogelYour Colleagues are Your Users Too
March 29, 2023
"The harder I think, the further I am from the answer."
Dan WillisEnterprise Storytelling Sessions
May 13, 2015
"Most companies are stuck in emissions reductions, but there’s a lot more levers to pull if they get creative."
Aiyana Bodi James Christie Marc O'Brien Louis RosenfeldThree Key Climate Initiatives and How You Can Help
September 11, 2024
"Being intentional about how we spend our time is the purest manifestation of our values and our value."
Liam ThurstonWhy Your Design Team Is Quitting, And How To Fix It
June 10, 2022
"We had 85 UX specialists peppered around and reshaped them into generalist designers supported by design ops to reduce their load."
Chris MosesStretching the Definition of DesignOps with Product Development
November 7, 2018
"When the role of business changes, the mission and metrics must change to include societal impact."
Janaki KumarInnovate with Purpose
June 14, 2018
"I gave birth to two things at once: my talk and my son Mateo within two days."
Smitha Papolu Nova Wehman-Brown Melissa Schmidt Adam MenterTheme 3 Discussion
January 8, 2024
"It takes courage to push back against dominant culture and present dissenting opinions in organizations."
Noah BondRedefining truth and inclusivity: Navigating data ownership and ethical research in the age of disinformation
March 11, 2025
"The project was staffed through a revolving door of panic hires who were expected to run from day one."
Tanya SnookDesigning the team experience: Building culture through onboarding
November 4, 2021
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
What factors led Mary Lynn Williams to leave her UX leadership roles at major tech companies?
Why do designers often rely on legal compliance approvals instead of legal knowledge when designing privacy features?
How does Mary Lynn describe the effect of user interface changes on elderly users, through her personal observations?