Rosenverse
Leading with Design Operations Past and Present

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Leading with Design Operations Past and Present

Thursday, December 19, 2019 • DesignOps Community
Share the love for this talk
Leading with Design Operations Past and Present
Speakers: Bob Baxley
Link:

Summary

In this conversation, Bob and community co-curator Alison Rand discuss why it’s so hard to hire designers and the criticality of advocacy for the profession in order to attract emerging talent, the myth of the unicorn designer, and in light of all of this why companies are wrong to fight back against the idea of remote design teams.

Key Insights

  • The design field faces a top-of-funnel talent shortage largely because most people, especially young students, are unaware that design is a viable career path.

  • Design impact is not just about scale but also about depth; some designers prefer deep influence on small specialized user groups over broad superficial reach.

  • Expanding design hiring beyond traditional college graduates is crucial, as about two-thirds of U.S. adults don't hold college degrees.

  • Design Operations is a critical force multiplier that can increase a design team’s output by 25-30% by managing process, communication, and alignment.

  • Successful hiring involves interactive portfolio reviews with real-time critique, emphasizing understanding candidates' product thinking rather than relying solely on whiteboard exercises.

  • Remote design teams offer inclusivity benefits and allow designers to work thoughtfully away from constant interruption, challenging traditional in-office collaboration models.

  • Designers have varied cognitive styles (visual, verbal, motion-oriented), and effective leaders allocate design problems based on these cognitive strengths.

  • Information architecture is often overlooked but is central to design systems; it embodies deep philosophical and political choices about how content or objects are organized.

  • Design Ops defines rituals, frameworks, and guardrails that enable designers to focus on creativity rather than administrative or operational details.

  • Design culture and process precede people; creating the right culture attracts the right talent, reversing the common assumption that people first create culture.

Notable Quotes

"We just have kind of a top of the funnel problem, you know, there’s not nearly enough people going into the field because not that many people know it exists."

"There’s two variables in impact: the number of people I’m touching and what impact I’m having on them."

"Design Operations is a massive force multiplier on your design team—it can increase output by at least 25 to 30 percent."

"I hammer on information architecture probably more than almost any other interviewer because I believe it’s the central part of the system."

"Designers have different minds, like organic computers, each tuned to solve different parts of the problem."

"Designers need ritualized systems that allow them to focus on the creative part and freeze the rest of their minds."

"I don’t think it’s taking the joy out, it’s helping people find where the joy is."

"Design is problem-solving, and part of the problem is the environment in which you’re trying to work."

"You can’t build a jet engine by hand; you build machines and processes that allow you to build the jet engine."

"Culture and process come first; they attract people interested in that mindset, not the other way around."

Ask the Rosenbot
Christopher Taylor Edwards
Design as a Team Practice, A Practical Guide to Cross-functional Collaboration
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Steve Turbek
Designing Interactive Graphics with AI Code Help
2026 • Rosenfeld Community
Yolanda Rankin
Black Feminist Epistemology as a Critical Framework for Equitable Design
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Greg Petroff
The Compass Mission
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Frances Yllana
Theme 2 Intro
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Uday Gajendar
Theme Four Intro
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Jodi Forlizzi
Design and AI innovation
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Anat Fintzi
Delivering at Scale: Making Traction with Resistant Partners
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Dominique Ward
The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Amy Gawronski Zuccaro
Advice for DesignOps Employee #1
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Steve Portigal
Discussion
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Frances Yllana
DesignOps Exposed: What do our peers really think of us?
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Ivana Ng
Level Up Your Program with ProductOps
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Coffee with Lou: Should You Write a (UX) Book?
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Bria Alexander
Charting the future of DesignOps: A community workshop
2024 • DesignOps Community
Rikki Teeters
Concept to code: Transforming ideas into functional products with Kiro
2026 • Rosenfeld Community

More Videos

Joe Elmendorf

"S****y maps are a Trojan horse for sense-making because they’re disarming and inviting."

Joe Elmendorf

Shitty Maps: A Trojan Horse for Sensemaking

July 9, 2026

Kevin M. Hoffman

"Designers want more time to prototype and really ensure what ships is successful, but we just don’t have enough people or time."

Kevin M. Hoffman

Theme 2: Enterprise Team Journey

June 3, 2019

Rittika Basu

"Buttons should be sized 48 pixels and above to avoid fat finger errors for seniors."

Rittika Basu

Age and Interfaces: Equipping Older Adults with Technological Tools

February 23, 2023

George Aye

"Not every project needs to be responded to; not every RFP needs a proposal."

George Aye

That Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide

November 16, 2022

Andreas Huebner

"Even though Craig and I work closely every day, we haven’t met in person yet, which shows how remote collaboration works well for us."

Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig Brookes

What Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?

March 11, 2021

Kaitlin Tasker

"Findings from marginalized groups aren’t just relevant to them but often improve the experience for many more people."

Kaitlin Tasker

Fast and Fearless Inclusive Research

March 27, 2023

Steve Portigal

"Strategic positioning means research is a decision-making tool, not just a service to requests."

Steve Portigal Alba Villamil Sam Ladner

The Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps

July 29, 2021

Bilan Hashi

"Invitational language allows participants to be in charge of a part of the interview, making the exchange authentic."

Bilan Hashi

The Tension Between Story Collecting and Story Telling in Research

March 10, 2021

Jemma Ahmed

"Anchor yourself in what you know to be right and true."

Jemma Ahmed

Theme 1 Intro

March 10, 2026