Summary
What’s the most important question regarding today’s theme of innovation that we, as a community, need to address? We’ve asked you, you’ve spoken—and now we’ll tackle it with the aid of Jon and some of today’s speakers.
Key Insights
-
•
Defining and agreeing on core design values like integrity and respect is foundational for fostering innovation in design ops.
-
•
Innovation succeeds best when focused on solving one key prioritized problem, avoiding trying to fix everything at once.
-
•
Balancing innovation with existing organizational rhythms and tempos is essential for impactful adoption.
-
•
AI will transform design operations incrementally, with humans needed to maintain accountability and oversee outputs.
-
•
Large enterprises face unique AI adoption challenges due to security protocols and concerns over data residency.
-
•
Empathy is crucial in innovation workflows to truly understand and address user needs beyond mere efficiency metrics.
-
•
Workshops can help break down communication barriers and build collaboration even when chemistry is initially poor.
-
•
Aligning teams early on a clear, shared ‘north star’ problem supports sustained alignment despite differing perspectives.
-
•
Shared tooling and standardized taxonomies across design, product, and development teams improve communication and outcomes.
-
•
Overcapacity and competing priorities threaten sustainable innovation; operations must manage workload for scalable delivery.
Notable Quotes
"Each team should talk about their core values like integrity, accountability, and respect to work together with the same mindset."
"We’re lucky if we solve a single thing; everything else has to be parking lot."
"Innovation has to fit within the tempo and rhythm of the organization and leadership."
"AI won’t transform all things at once; it’s about piloting and delivering discrete business value first."
"A large organization’s security protocols make AI adoption slower and more complex than in smaller groups."
"Without a human in the loop, AI can go off and do crazy disastrous things."
"Empathy means constantly going back to the people using the tools and hearing their feedback."
"Getting people who don’t communicate well to at least work together on a single thing is the first step to innovating together."
"Aligning on a north star problem gets everyone excited and aligned from the beginning."
"If design, product, and development use different tools, we end up talking past one another."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Power is a weird word. It's hard to relate to, and we aren't usually put in that position in our work."
Jess GrecoClaiming your power: Practical tools for amplifying your unique voice
March 13, 2025
"The queen is not a decision-maker, she’s just there to reproduce."
Mariesa LenzWhat Beekeeping Taught me about Product Teams
October 29, 2025
"Participants who do this kind of research are happy to answer questions about how they use assistive technology."
Samuel Proulx Laur BaekInclusive Research: Debunking Myths and Getting Started
March 12, 2025
"Audacity means being willing to do things that seem dumb or risky because that’s how you innovate."
Deanna Washington Tim Allen Jeff Courcelle John Maeda Matt Raw Erica TjaderScaling Success: Paving the Path from DesignOps to VP
October 4, 2023
"We found out there wasn’t just one best in class solution and needed a hybrid approach."
Anna AvrekhUser Research, Design, and Product - A Love Story
March 11, 2021
"De-risking sessions gave disgruntled stakeholders a forum to voice fears before larger workshops."
Dharani PereraThe mandala of service design: unlocking alignment and action through service design
November 20, 2025
"There is no formula for good critiques, but mindset is behavior over time: humility, active listening, gratitude, owning blind spots, and acknowledgment."
Joseph MeersmanSweating the Pixel: Scaling Quality through Critique
June 10, 2021
"Different stakeholders interpret stories differently, and those conversations are valuable for deeper understanding."
Bas Raijmakers, PhD (RCA) Charley Scull Prabhas PokharelWhat Design Research can Learn from Documentary Filmmaking
March 11, 2022
"Change doesn’t always need to throw us back on our heels. We can take a proactive approach."
Laura WeissThere is No Playbook: Leader as Coach During Challenging Times
April 26, 2024
