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.

Panel: Collaboration Tools
Gold
Monday, November 6, 2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Share the love for this talk
Panel: Collaboration Tools
Speakers: Abby Covert and Tomer Sharon
Link:

Summary

We have all heard the old saying “communication is key” but as the landscape of technology widens so do the options we have for communication tools using that technology. To talk about the challenges and opportunities that our organizations face when solving the communication conundrum, we have invited three people working in three different areas where communication is key for organizations with designers: research insights, workflow management and design systems management. Facilitated by Abby Covert.

Key Insights

  • Design operations suffer from too many fragmented tools and need unified systems.

  • Users want collaborative tools that filter noise and surface only what's important.

  • Collaboration in companies requires control mechanisms such as approvals and private comments, contradicting the idea of anarchy.

  • Integration between design and development is hindered by translation losses between design and code.

  • True agile and cross-functional collaboration are rare due to team turnover and lack of trust.

  • Collaborative tools have democratized feedback, increasing ownership across teams.

  • Different roles like designers, engineers, and business analysts have distinct needs from design tools.

  • Customization of collaborative tools and workflows is essential to fit diverse team processes.

  • AI and design systems combined with research can enable automated, smarter design decisions.

  • Future collaboration tools should respect users' focus time and reduce constant interruptions.

Notable Quotes

"There are too many things all over the place. I would like to use my magic wand for making them one system."

"A lot of these tools bring more noise into people’s day to day lives. It’s really hard to stay involved and still find time to get your own job done."

"Collaboration is actually not anarchy in companies. There’s always this need for control."

"Translation is a traitor because meaning is lost in translation between design and code."

"The dream of cross-functional agile collaboration is there, but it’s quite hard to realize that because teams don’t have enough time to build trust."

"With collaborative tools, feedback has become a democratic process, and people feel more ownership of the project."

"Design is not only limited to designers. Business analysts and engineers can design too, supported by designers."

"The hardest thing is knowing when to stop talking about something and start building it."

"Eventually, I expect AI to help create designs by combining patterns from meta design systems and research, making design more about crafting experiences."

"I want my collaboration tool to be like the Nest thermostat of my workday, knowing when I’m heads down and when I’m open to communication."

Ask the Rosenbot
Candace Myers
Standardizing Design at Scale
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Rebecca Gimenez
Work in Progress: Service Design at Airbnb
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme Three Intro
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Caroline Vize
The State of UX: Five Lessons from 2021 to Accelerate Digital Experience in 2022
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Kristen Honey
"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design
2021 • Civic Design Community
Neema Mahdavi
Operationalizing DesignOps
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Indra Klavins
A Design Ops Girl in a Dev Ops World
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Billy Carlson
Ideation tips for Product Managers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Patrick Commarford
Design Staffing for Impact
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Robert Schwartz
We're Here for the Humans
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Hugh Dubberly
Problems with Problems: Reconsidering the Frame of Designing as Problem-Solving
2019 • Enterprise Community
Harry Max
Priority Zero: Some Things are More Equal than Others
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Mike Oren
Design Research Strategy & Strategic Design Research
2022 • Advancing Research Community
Kelly Goto
Emotion Economy: Ethnography as Corporate Strategy
2015 • Enterprise UX 2015
Gold
Dave Hoffer
UX Job Search AMA #2 with Joanne Weaver and Dave Hoffer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community

More Videos

Aras Bilgen

"Design is an excellent way to navigate chaos, turning ambiguity into direction through alternatives."

Aras Bilgen

Who does the math: A designer’s journey in building an AI-based tutoring app

June 10, 2025

Saara Kamppari-Miller

"Representing a person as a circle feels more right—like we’re all equidistant at the same table."

Saara Kamppari-Miller

Cartography for Design Communities

September 10, 2025

Jilanna Wilson

"Travel is impactful to let your remote teammates experience your context, which helps build empathy."

Jilanna Wilson

Distributed DesignOps Management

February 26, 2019

John Calhoun

"Hold your destination in mind. Have an intention to succeed. Break up the long tracks and brace for the hard parts."

John Calhoun

Have we Reached Our Peak? Spotting the Next Mountain For DesignOps to Climb

October 1, 2021

Amy Parness

"Sustainability is a long haul; you have to stay stubborn and not take no for an answer in a bad way."

Amy Parness

Scaling Sustainability: Complementary strategies that drive long-term success

May 29, 2025

Roy Opata Olende

"Some people said I don’t think I’m qualified enough to observe research sessions despite training."

Roy Opata Olende

How Zapier Uses ‘All Hands Research’ to Increase Exposure to Users

August 6, 2020

John Maeda

"Money is not an evil thing. Creative people should accept that money is okay."

John Maeda

Making Sense of Enterprise UX

June 9, 2016

Brianna Sylver

"A problem-driven organization says this is the problem to solve, not the solution we think we want."

Brianna Sylver

Lead With Purpose

March 31, 2020

Jen van der Meer

"Finance is not just a system; finance is a performance."

Jen van der Meer

Service design performs value

November 19, 2025