Panel Discussion: Growing People and Teams
Summary
In this engaging panel, Courtney, El Salvador, Jason, and others shared their experiences building and leading design ops teams within large enterprises like Facebook and Twitter. They highlighted the value of diverse backgrounds in design ops, emphasizing the importance of empathy, design thinking, and flexible skill sets over rigid titles. The panelists discussed successful strategies for onboarding non-design backgrounds like business anthropology and stressed the need for hands-on immersion with designers. They also addressed motivating teams to engage in diary studies and other research methods by demonstrating business impact and visibility. The long-term career outlook for design ops was framed as a growing and strategic leadership track, bridging silos, managing operations, and potentially evolving into roles akin to chief design officers or operations leaders. Diversity and inclusion were central topics, with recommendations to create psychologically safe spaces, push for cognitive and skillset diversity early in hiring pipelines, and use the influence of design ops to ensure inclusive representation in panels and conversations. The talk closed with reflections on the unique leadership role of design ops as adaptive and resilient forces within organizations, and their power to foster transparency, candid conversations, and stronger team cultures.
Key Insights
-
•
Design ops teams thrive by blending people from design backgrounds with those from program or business anthropology fields.
-
•
Empathy and understanding design thinking are critical skills for design ops roles, even for those without direct design experience.
-
•
Creating non-judgmental, open forums for team members to discuss personal and global challenges strengthens psychological safety and inclusion.
-
•
Motivating designers to participate in diary studies and research requires leaders to communicate the organizational impact and publicly highlight these efforts.
-
•
Design ops career paths are expanding into strategic leadership, often breaking down silos and connecting dispersed teams.
-
•
Hiring diverse cognitive and skillset profiles early ensures healthier pipelines and authentic diversity in design teams.
-
•
Design ops professionals can influence inclusivity by curating diverse speaker lineups and panel participants.
-
•
Effective onboarding for non-design background hires involves immersive, hands-on interaction with designers and leveraging creative overlaps.
-
•
Design ops roles sometimes replace product designer headcounts, reflecting their growing criticality within teams.
-
•
Design ops leaders describe themselves as adaptable, resilient, and able to drive candid conversations that illuminate organizational issues.
Notable Quotes
"Design ops people are mutants coming at this profession from different directions."
"I like to find talent that’s the most unique and not overlapping other roles."
"I worry if people don’t appreciate the design psyche, they won’t really appreciate design ops."
"Business anthropologists have surprisingly gravitated towards design because it is such an empathetic endeavor."
"As a leader, it’s your job to be inspiring and impress upon people how much you care about their success and the organization’s success."
"Design ops is becoming a strategic role, almost like an operations officer, linking together all different experiences within the organization."
"You have to get into that clique with designers; they can become very cliquey."
"If you’re not thinking about accessibility, you shouldn’t be doing design in the first place."
"Many designers get pushed into leadership roles they're not equipped for, and design ops can help fill those gaps."
"We’re the people who can have difficult conversations and shine light on things—this is our power and we need to use it better."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Visual sketching shows human vulnerability in a way that AI cannot."
Joe ElmendorfShitty Maps: A Trojan Horse for Sensemaking
July 9, 2026
"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. HoffmanTheme 2: Enterprise Team Journey
June 3, 2019
"Digital literacy requires someone to examine and peruse information on digital platforms, not just basic use."
Rittika BasuAge and Interfaces: Equipping Older Adults with Technological Tools
February 23, 2023
"The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any."
George AyeThat Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide
November 16, 2022
"Our user base is really fun and complex, with different preferences that require nuanced automation approaches."
Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig BrookesWhat Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?
March 11, 2021
"We design from our own lens and intentions but repeatedly create harmful consequences for marginalized groups."
Kaitlin TaskerFast and Fearless Inclusive Research
March 27, 2023
"Strategic positioning means research is a decision-making tool, not just a service to requests."
Steve Portigal Alba Villamil Sam LadnerThe Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps
July 29, 2021
"Reflexivity lets us examine our beliefs and practices during research to understand how we show up."
Bilan HashiThe Tension Between Story Collecting and Story Telling in Research
March 10, 2021
"Our job is to make sure the people making decisions actually listen."
Jemma AhmedTheme 1 Intro
March 10, 2026
