Summary
BBVA began 2019 with a full scale re-org based on agile principles, for the design team in Mexico that re-org included dismantling the 3 years old designOps team because it was considered redundant and a simple admin job that other teams could do. Regretfully it ended in a complete disaster and a steep decline in the quality of the design team with the following project problems and complaints of executives and stakeholders regarding the user experience. This was only stopped by rebuilding a more resilient and integral designOps team, revisiting shortcomings and failures of the Head of design and the team's effort to rebuild itself.
Key Insights
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Design operations are crucial for maintaining efficiency in design teams.
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A lack of understanding of team roles can lead to operational chaos.
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The perception of design ops as expendable can significantly impact project delivery.
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Clear communication about the value of roles is vital during organizational changes.
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Metrics are needed to gauge the positive impact of design ops on team performance.
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Onboarding processes must be robust to ensure new designers are effectively integrated.
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Distributed responsibilities should include clear ownership to avoid fragmentation.
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Regular reflection on practices can lead to actionable improvements in design execution.
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Recognition of design operations contributions fosters a healthier team dynamic.
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Understanding and adapting to organizational changes is key for design leadership.
Notable Quotes
"In 2015, BBA decided to change its purpose to bring opportunity to everybody."
"We always had a design ops team but we didn't have the maturity to specify their impacts."
"The activities of the design ops team helped make our designers' lives easier."
"Without design ops, we started to miss deadlines and deliver poor work."
"We realized that we needed to regain some of these critical activities of design ops."
"The model we were moving towards led to a lack of coordination and standards."
"I think the main thing is until we lost them, we didn't realize how important they were."
"Design leaders became overwhelmed and couldn't focus on their designers."
"We started to improve the experience of our customers once we reinstated design ops."
"Understanding the importance of design ops is crucial for any organization undergoing change."
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