Summary
In the opening talk of Design Ops Summit 2023, Lou Rosenfeld warmly welcomes attendees, acknowledging the challenges faced by many in the design operations community this year, especially those feeling isolated due to layoffs or working solo in their roles. Lou encourages participants to connect and build friendships during the summit to combat loneliness. She introduces Bria Alexander, the conference curator and an influential design ops leader at Adobe who is deeply involved in diversity, equity, inclusion, and AI initiatives. Bria shares excitement about the thoughtfully curated program, which is divided into three themes: the changing nature of design ops (curated by John Kuda), practical applications (curated by Bria herself), and the intersection of design ops with other fields (curated by Sar Compre Miller). The talk also highlights logistical details: the conference runs on Pacific Time, features sponsor sessions open to all with no overlap from main programming, and includes digital swag and social events such as networking games and mixers. Attendees are urged to engage primarily via Slack channels dedicated to each session, sponsors, and general discussions, with strong support in place for customer service and a code of conduct ensuring a respectful community atmosphere. Manuel Herrera, a new sketch noter with a rich background in visual education, is introduced as a resource to capture and share conference insights visually, reducing the need for note-taking. Overall, the opening sets a tone of inclusion, support, and community while previewing a high-quality, content-rich conference experience.
Key Insights
-
•
Design ops practitioners often face loneliness, especially when working solo or seeking jobs, making community connection a key focus of the summit.
-
•
This year's summit program is divided into three thematic areas: changing design ops, practical design ops, and design ops plus.
-
•
Sponsor sessions run parallel but separate from the main program and are open for free attendance to anyone, even non-registered guests.
-
•
Slack plays a central role for live interaction, including dedicated channels and threads per session for questions and discussions.
-
•
A new sketch noter, Manuel Herrera, will visually document the conference, allowing attendees to focus more on sessions and less on note-taking.
-
•
The organizers encourage attendees to overcome virtual awkwardness by proactively initiating connections to make lasting design ops friendships.
-
•
The conference operates on Pacific Time by default, but attendees are encouraged to adjust the timezone on the website to avoid missing sessions.
-
•
Social events such as Cozy Juicy Reel games and mixers aim to foster networking and informal bonding among attendees.
-
•
The conference is supported by sponsors who provide significant resources enabling a high-quality experience, but sponsor sessions remain content-driven, not sales pitches.
-
•
A clear code of conduct and customer support infrastructure is emphasized to maintain a supportive and respectful conference environment.
Notable Quotes
"By showing up, you’re doing so not just for yourselves, but for everyone else that’s here."
"Many of you might be the only design ops person in whatever room you’re in for as much as 362 days a year."
"This is a design ops summit. You’re with your people, we get you and we all want you to do well."
"Try to walk away from this conference with at least one new design ops buddy."
"Sponsor sessions are not sales pitches but offer incredibly high quality content, and they’re free for everyone."
"Please post your questions in the thread associated with each presentation so we can see and address them."
"Manuel Herrera is here to take the burden of note-taking off us, so you can focus on the moment."
"If any of those adjectives do not apply to how you’re feeling right now, we wanna know."
"We want the Rosenfeld community, both in person and virtual, to feel as loving, supportive, and informative as possible."
"Please read our code of conduct; it’s on every page of our website and includes ways to get help if needed."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Design system is basically an agreement that helps create a sense of consistency and familiarity in all the UIs that you create."
Jaime CreixemsBest Practices when Creating and Maintaining a Design System
June 7, 2023
"Design thinking has helped raise awareness but often lacks the depth of design practice which requires dedicated craft."
Jorge ArangoDesign as an Antidote to VUCA
May 9, 2019
"My career has looked more like a game of snakes and ladders than a straight ladder."
Rebecca BuckMission: Keep Talent in Research Roles!
March 10, 2021
"Sometimes we had to add bus lines simply because some tools couldn’t fit into the existing grid."
JP Allen Holly HoldenNavigating the UX Tools Landscape
October 1, 2021
"One of the most important questions before starting is what tools do I have to work with."
John DonmoyerShipping your code generation experiments to production
June 11, 2025
"Delight forums helped us share stories and build a shared vernacular but didn’t lead to significant change by themselves."
Discussion
June 9, 2017
"I like to think of what I do as doing UX for the UXers – applying design thinking to organizational problems."
Jackie AjouxLeveling-Up: A Single-Player’s Guide to the DesignOps Team-of-One
January 8, 2024
"With LLMs, precision is not possible; no one really knows why it decided what to say."
Aras BilgenWho does the math: A designer’s journey in building an AI-based tutoring app
June 10, 2025
"Service designers on our design ops team focus on improving internal designer experiences like onboarding and hiring."
Rachel Radway Katie Bingham Joe WiertelThe Many Paths Of Design Operations
September 8, 2022
Latest Books All books
Dig deeper with the Rosenbot
How can national development agencies strategically manage their innovation portfolios to balance risk and impact?
What training and certification methods support non-researchers running low-risk UX studies?
How does Mary Lynn describe the effect of user interface changes on elderly users, through her personal observations?