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.

It was the Best of Times. It was the Worst of Times.

Gold
Wednesday, September 25, 2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Share the love for this talk
It was the Best of Times. It was the Worst of Times.
Speakers: Brendan Jarvis
Link:

Summary

In this provocative talk, Brendan encourages us to stop worrying about the future, recognize that we have what it takes to overcome any challenge, and work together to create a future that our field is worthy of. He shares three stories to illustrate these points, taking inspiration from science fiction, Japanese samurai, and the enduring impression of his late Grandfather. If you want to worry less about your career, see situations more clearly, and discover the most important question for DesignOps professionals to ask themselves today - don't miss this presentation.

Key Insights

  • AI is already reshaping design craft and design operations, forcing professionals to redefine their roles and identities.

  • Fear and resistance to AI can lead to professional obsolescence, while proactive adaptation fosters relevance and innovation.

  • The samurai Miyamoto Musashi’s philosophy teaches the value of using both an observing eye (objective facts) and perceiving eye (context and meaning) to fully understand complex situations.

  • Separating what happens from what it means helps design professionals make better-informed, less reactive decisions.

  • Many factors impacting design careers, like company layoffs or economic shifts, are outside individual control, but responses remain within personal agency.

  • Regular critical self-reflection (the 'cognitive couch') is vital when experiencing career uncertainty or external stressors.

  • Design ops professionals must cultivate resilience and courage to persist and innovate amid adversity.

  • Historical and personal narratives provide powerful frameworks to understand modern challenges and foster optimism.

  • A clear, evolving understanding of what it means to be a design ops person is essential for strategic positioning and relevance.

  • Connection and sharing perspectives (such as on Slack) help expand understanding and avoid isolated reactions to industry fear or change.

Notable Quotes

"Fear is in the air as AI seems to be coming for our jobs, but fear doesn’t suit us—we are too optimistic, too creative, and too valuable."

"Fair is a choice, and we have better ones to make if we bring them into focus to build a better future."

"What does it mean to be a design ops person? That question matters and we must revisit it often."

"The observing eye sees things as they are; the perceiving eye looks beneath the surface to understand significance."

"Before responding to pushback or doom, separate what is happening from what you think it means—get the whole picture."

"Some things are up to us and some things are not. How we choose to respond is always within our control."

"Adversity is part of the human condition—what matters is how we face it, because that gives life greater meaning."

"The challenges we face are real, but so is our capacity to respond creatively and courageously."

"Being here alive at this moment is a statistical miracle—we must make the most of it."

"Our careers in design that aren’t regularly examined are unlikely to last."

Ask the Rosenbot
Sam Proulx
SUS: A System Unusable for Twenty Percent of the Population
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Kate Towsey
Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Nathan Shedroff
Redefining Value: Bridging the Innovation Culture Divide
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
JP Allen
Navigating the UX Tools Landscape
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Sha Hwang
The Lost Year
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Coffee with Lou
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Dan Willis
Enterprise Storytelling Sessions
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Saara Kamppari-Miller
Cartography for Design Communities
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Dave Gray
Connection, Community, and the Future of Work
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
B. Pagels-Minor
Breaking the Tension: The Power of Enabling Your Employees to Show Up Authentically
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Leah Buley
Ask Me Anything with Leah Buley and Joe Natoli, co-authors of The User Experience Team of One (2nd edition)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Jose Coronado
From Zero to Hero
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Lisa Spitz
Building Trust Through Equitable Research Practices
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Ariel Kennan
Civic Design in 2022
2022 • Civic Design Community

More Videos

Daniel J. Rosenberg

"If you don’t trust it, then there’s nothing here."

Daniel J. Rosenberg

Designing with and for Artificial Intelligence

August 11, 2022

"Many hiring managers feel stuck by bureaucracy and policies that haven’t adapted, limiting candidate pools to specific locations."

DesignOps and The Great Talent War of 2021

August 19, 2021

Liwei Dai

"We need to be genuinely curious not just about our customers, but also about our colleagues and the technology behind AI."

Liwei Dai

The Heart and Brain of the AI Research

March 31, 2020

Gina Mendolia

"Small feedback comments like, 'Hey, how’s that going?' keep the momentum alive in addition to structured meetings."

Gina Mendolia Jasmine Toy

Coordinated collaboration: a Service Design & DesignOps love story

November 19, 2025

Jon Temple

"Total cost of ownership includes integration, customization, support, and ongoing operational effort that can be easily overlooked."

Jon Temple Kalee Dankner Bruce Falk Lauren Galanter

Panel: Stacks, Security, and Stakeholders: The Hidden Work of UXR Tool Procurement

March 12, 2026

Mark Interrante

"You can see our organization through the homepage of our site — we each owned a rectangle."

Mark Interrante

Collaboration Flows in Product Development

June 9, 2017

Bria Alexander

"You do not need to take any notes, we have dedicated note takers who provide session notes, resource lists, decks, and videos."

Bria Alexander

Opening Remarks

September 30, 2021

Peter Van Dijck

"Your short term memory is the context window; too big, and the model has trouble accessing everything."

Peter Van Dijck

Hands on AI #3: Claude Code for UX people

October 22, 2025

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"Trauma is not so much an external event as it is the way that event embeds in individual bodies."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Uday Gajendar Dr. Dawn Emerick Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSW

Leading through the long tail of trauma

July 7, 2022