Summary
Launching a design operations practice is always a challenge, but when you’re the world’s largest travel site, with 490 million monthly visitors and content in 70+ languages, the complexity can seem insurmountable. In this session, Eniola Oluwole will share TripAdvisor’s journey from groups of disconnected design teams with very little process, multiple style guides and no standard toolset, to an integrated organization with a thriving design operations practice. Attendees will learn how to communicate the value of a design ops practice, evaluate design management tools, engage their team in the process and identify the right time to hire dedicated support.
Key Insights
-
•
Lack of a design lead for 1.5 years at TripAdvisor caused fragmented, siloed design efforts and multiple conflicting design systems.
-
•
TripAdvisor’s culture focused heavily on small optimizations yielding big revenue impact, which made teams resistant to broad changes and design system stability.
-
•
Design systems require clear governance, including accountability for pattern approval and an escalation path, which TripAdvisor developed with McKinsey.
-
•
Incentives like cash prizes helped initially motivate teams to contribute to the design system, but sustained engagement required deeper ownership.
-
•
A single source of truth for design patterns aligns designers, developers, and product managers and improves efficiency and collaboration.
-
•
Real-time communication channels like dedicated Slack groups serve as effective support desks, increasing clarity and responsiveness.
-
•
Design and engineering alignment is critical to achieve design-to-code parity, avoiding confusion and mismatched implementations.
-
•
Opening design reviews to project managers and researchers fosters cross-functional understanding and balances user experience and business goals.
-
•
Onboarding and education about what design systems are and their value is essential since many skilled professionals may never have used one at scale.
-
•
Sustaining change requires empowering others to champion initiatives, adapting messaging to different roles, rather than one lone advocate.
Notable Quotes
"TripAdvisor hasn’t had a design lead for about 1.5 years, leaving teams to work as individuals in silos with their own design systems."
"People saw small changes as having very large impact; a half-percent increase in conversion could mean 12 million dollars in revenue."
"Everyone wanted to know what the official pattern was, so they could have confidence that they were using the right one."
"The process was do what you want, I’m cool with that. Nobody really cared what others did, which created silos of indifference."
"We gave cash prizes for the best overall design pattern, most research, or most timely contributions to keep people engaged."
"It’s normal for people to say you failed, sometimes even in meetings you’re not in, but you shouldn’t let that stop you."
"72% of people surveyed had never used the design system before, showing a gap in understanding despite having skilled teams."
"People didn’t want explanations about how to use patterns; they felt designs were self-evident and wanted just examples."
"We stopped talking about patterns and consistency as it made me the ‘patterns guy’—instead, I shifted language to what different roles cared about."
"Once you have momentum, you need to enable others to broadcast your wins, or your efforts just become ‘one of the other things people have stopped caring about.’"
Dig deeper—ask the Rosenbot:
More Videos
"Knowing in action is the intuition practiced by competent designers, a core of artistry."
Yoel SumitroActions and Reflections: Bridging the Skills Gap among Researchers
March 9, 2022
"We as a society are taught to care about people, rarely taught to care about ourselves."
Zariah CameronReDesigning Wellbeing for Equitable Care in the Workplace
September 23, 2024
"Our essential skill in this next era will be managing disruptive change."
Doug PowellDesignOps and the Next Frontier: Leading Through Unpredictable Change
September 11, 2025
"We’re all capable of creating and perpetuating toxic work relationships."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"We’re not in the business to make friends, we’re in this business to help companies make better decisions—even if that means killing ideas."
Mike OrenWhy Pharmaceutical's Research Model Should Replace Design Thinking
March 28, 2023
"My job is to make the head of design look super good."
Jacqui FreyScale is Social Work
March 19, 2020
"Always remember the power of your values in times of doubt and change; lean into what your team really stands for."
Kim Holt Emma Wylds Pearl Koppenhaver Maisee XiongA Salesforce Panel Discussion on Values-Driven DesignOps
September 8, 2022
"If we think disability as a mismatch between user and environment rather than a medical problem, it becomes easier to understand how accessibility benefits everyone."
Samuel ProulxFrom Standards to Innovation: Why Inclusive Design Wins
September 10, 2025
"Gender-coded words influence someone’s decision to apply and feel they belong even within internal career ladders."
Laine Riley ProkayHow DesignOps can Drive Inclusive Career Ladders for All
September 30, 2021
