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.

Scaling Learning for the Future
Gold
Friday, September 9, 2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Share the love for this talk
Scaling Learning for the Future
Speakers: Kate Stern
Link:

Summary

Whether your design team is 5 or 5,000, the goal should be the same: retain designers by providing them the resources they need to grow and develop in their career. What do these resources look like for someone new to the industry versus a 20 year veteran? Or when a new technology or platform emerges, like the metaverse? In this session, you will learn the importance of investing in learning, development and belonging programs and how DesignOps is uniquely positioned to prepare designers to work on the next evolution of the internet– the metaverse.

Key Insights

  • Meta’s design organization includes over 15 roles and 200 personas across global offices, requiring programs designed for diverse and varied needs.

  • Investing early in emerging talent through dedicated internship and graduate programs results in stronger mid-level designer performance.

  • Design Program Managers (DPMs) serve either embedded product teams or centralized horizontal initiatives, bridging operational efficiency and strategic growth.

  • Being a simplifier—explaining complex ideas clearly without losing nuance—is a critical Design Ops superpower exemplified by Naomi Glitch.

  • Reducing onboarding content duration from two weeks to 3.5 days improves retention and reduces overwhelm by pacing learning.

  • Canonical documentation consolidates essential information into a single source, preventing fragmentation and reducing confusion for designers.

  • Meta’s centralized mentorship program increased participant access by nearly 50% while cutting manual operational effort from 56 to 6 hours per month.

  • Design school at Meta acts as a canonical continued education hub, aligning leadership and teachers to systematically support career growth.

  • Preparing for the metaverse involves upskilling designers in game design, spatial design, 3D interaction, and prototyping tools like Unity and Mover.

  • DPMs partner closely with product managers and technical program managers as a triad, where DPMs focus on supporting the design team’s operational needs.

Notable Quotes

"No matter what the size of your design team is the goal should be the same: retain and empower designers by providing resources they need to grow."

"My design Ops superpower is the ability to simplify incredibly complex processes, problems, and ideas."

"Imagine building programs accessible and equitable to over 200 different personas with very different needs."

"Investing in emerging talent is building for the future."

"A simplifier can explain complex situations in the easiest way possible without losing nuance."

"Reducing onboarding from two weeks to three and a half days lowers overwhelm and improves content retention."

"Canonical means the one doc, process, or framework to rule them all."

"Our mentorship program went from seven people spending 56 hours monthly manually matching to two people spending six hours monthly with automation."

"Design school’s mission is to connect needs of the design organization with learning experiences that impact product quality and careers."

"The metaverse is the successor to the mobile internet, and we’re only at the dial-up stage of its development."

Ask the Rosenbot
Juhan Sonin
Design Now! The Agenda for Action
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Dante Guintu
How to Crush the Talent Crunch
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Kate Towsey
Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Steve Baty
Breaking Out of Ruts: Tips for Overcoming the Fear of Change
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Lija Hogan
Practical Principles of Inclusive Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Heidi Trost
When AI Becomes the User’s Point Person—and Point of Failure
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Bud Caddell
Theme 2 Intro
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Theresa Neil
Designing for Wellness: Specializing in Healthcare
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Prayag Narula
How to Empower Your Designers to Do Good Research – And Why You Want To
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Kristin Sundermeyer
Design Ops Metrics
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Theme Panel
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Zen Ren
Taking Inspiration from Instructional Design for Research
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Ruzanna Rozman
Getting in Flow with Your Team
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Megan Blocker
Getting to the “So What?”: How Management Consulting Practices Can Transform Your Approach to Research
2024 • Advancing Research 2024
Gold

More Videos

Nalini Kotamraju

"Our research practice was perceived largely as design testers, empathy vehicles, and policing functions — a narrow, reactive role."

Nalini Kotamraju

Research After UX

March 25, 2024

Dean Broadley

"Availability bias means hiring managers often pick fruit from a tree they haven't planted."

Dean Broadley

Not Black Enough to be White

January 8, 2024

Denise Jacobs

"When we start changing our behavior, we start changing the voices and behavior around us."

Denise Jacobs Nancy Douyon Renee Reid Lisa Welchman

Interactive Keynote: Social Change by Design

January 8, 2024

Kim Fellman Cohen

"Failure isn’t discouraging; it’s an opportunity to learn and improve your approach."

Kim Fellman Cohen

Measuring the Designer Experience

October 23, 2019

George Aye

"We mostly have something called a BYOE scenario or bring your own ethics."

George Aye

That Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide

November 16, 2022

Nathan Curtis

"Getting exact endorsement from the top helps your cause immensely."

Nathan Curtis

Beyond the Toolkit: Spreading a System Across People & Products

June 9, 2016

Greg Petroff

"Compass is a pretty frank place where people feel safe to speak their minds, even at leadership levels."

Greg Petroff

The Compass Mission

March 10, 2021

Chloe Amos-Edkins

"Digital connectivity is necessary for participation in society, but half the world lacks internet access."

Chloe Amos-Edkins

A Cultural Approach: Research in the Context of Glocalisation

March 27, 2023

Mackenzie Cockram

"85% of people were leaving after viewing only one page, showing severe bounce issues."

Mackenzie Cockram Sara Branco Cunha Ian Franklin

Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live

December 16, 2022