Standardizing Design at Scale
Summary
This session is aimed at how design ops can innovate in and drive standardization across large design teams, enabling craft, quality UX and velocity in productization. By attending this session you will learn: Is standardization right for your team? How to approach standardization based on the needs or profile of your design team How to drive influence and create systems that are strong, extensible and will stick creating real impact for your team.
Key Insights
-
•
Standardization at scale requires balancing quality, scope, velocity, and craft across diverse teams and domains.
-
•
Biased standards, like soap dispensers favoring light skin and male-based crash test dummies, reveal the need for inclusive design at scale.
-
•
Creating a cohort of senior design architects democratizes design innovation and levels up the broader team’s craft.
-
•
Automation through no-code platforms connects fragmented tools, improving real-time data flow and reducing manual work.
-
•
Data visualization dashboards help design ops measure capacity and prioritize resources effectively, enhancing decision-making.
-
•
Human-centered design ops involves empathizing deeply with designers and operationalizing solutions that scale universally yet feel personal.
-
•
Reducing cognitive load by automating routine decisions can free designers to focus on higher-value work.
-
•
Removing single points of failure in teams ensures continuity and resilience amid churn.
-
•
Leadership endorsement is critical to encourage designers’ adaptability and cross-domain skill sharing.
-
•
Building community within and across design teams fosters connection, inclusion, and sustainable innovation.
Notable Quotes
"Standardization lives deep in my heart partially because of the teams that I’ve worked on and also because I’ve just had so many domains under the umbrellas of my teams over time."
"The Cheesecake Factory has basically cracked the code across what I am deeming four tenets of standardization at scale: quality, scope, velocity, and craft."
"The automatic soap dispenser was designed based on a bias by standard and distributed widely with the bystandard."
"Women are 47% more likely to be seriously injured and 17% more likely to die in a car accident because crash test dummies are modeled after the average male."
"We needed a mechanism for scaling The Architects influence and craft to the team, exposing the team to their talents while being inclusive of different points of view."
"Without automation, none of these tools are talking to each other, and operational overhead for your Ops and DPM teams is actually absurd."
"If it feels uncomfortable to get techie for a design ops professional, you’re probably in the right space."
"Human centered design Ops is about making sure nobody thinks they’re a robot."
"Reducing cognitive load means some decisions should just be made for the team to free mental bandwidth."
"Community building is what it’s about. The connection between the humans is the future of scaled innovation."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"We have to go from shipping a minimal viable product to creating a minimal lovable experience."
Maria GiudiceRemaking the Making Company: Moving from Product to Experience
June 9, 2016
"Critique sessions work best when the topic is shaped so answers are relevant and help the process, especially by including business goals."
Christian CrumlishAMA with Christian Crumlish, author of Product Management for UX People
March 24, 2022
"AI makes data more accessible to everyone but won’t replace the need for validated, empathetic UX research."
Rima Campbell Amrit S BhachuIncrease Productivity and Drive Business Impact
September 24, 2024
"When we solve accessibility challenges, everyone benefits, not just people with disabilities."
Sam ProulxTo Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
June 10, 2022
"Let the community lead from the very first step: they will determine goals, participants, and logistics."
Victor UdoewaRadical Participatory Design: Decolonizing Participatory Design Processes
December 10, 2021
"Each team should talk about their core values like integrity, accountability, and respect to work together with the same mindset."
Jon Fukuda Amy Evans Ignacio Martinez Joe MeersmanThe Big Question about Innovation: A Panel Discussion
September 25, 2024
"We need integrity designers who are proactive and minimize the damage that is certain to happen in services we design."
Rachael Dietkus, LCSWTrauma-Responsive Design: Reimagining the Future of Design Now
December 10, 2021
"Buffalo is actually designed for incidents like this to happen."
Kyria Stephens Marlon KernerPower to Heal: Civic Design in the Aftermath of Tragedy
November 17, 2022
"Many obstacles we faced came from inside the organization, not just external factors."
Niko LaitinenAdaptable Org Design for Resilient Times
June 10, 2021