The DesignOps Starter Kit
Summary
Starting DesignOps at an org feels exciting and daunting at the same time. People who’ve given you the green light are as excited as you - so there’s a bit of pressure to make this work well! In this talk, Michelle will provide a “starter kit” of 10 tips for beginning a DesignOps program—the 10 foundational things she's learned from establishing DesignOps at her org. Michelle includes how to prepare the program, manage expectations, ensure your success, and keep things sustainable for the long term.
Key Insights
-
•
Centralizing design ops responsibilities can alleviate decision fatigue among design managers and increase focus on operational initiatives.
-
•
Explicitly defining who makes decisions and who provides feedback prevents unclear expectations and supports smoother project execution.
-
•
Communicating design ops work frequently and across varied formats builds understanding and trust in an often ambiguous practice.
-
•
Starting with small pilots before scaling allows room for iteration and reduces risk when introducing new processes org-wide.
-
•
Maintaining a public and collaboratively editable backlog helps manage expectations, prioritize effectively, and capture emergent ideas.
-
•
Creating reusable templates and frameworks accelerates workflows and standardizes communication of complex operational concepts.
-
•
Regular one-on-one meetings with key stakeholders foster open communication lines critical for driving horizontal change.
-
•
Balancing urgent ad hoc work with longer-term goals requires careful prioritization techniques like story pointing and breaking tasks down.
-
•
Design ops responsibilities typically cover horizontal initiatives affecting multiple teams, while design managers handle team-specific operations.
-
•
Celebrating team wins strengthens relationships and encourages adoption of new processes during times of frequent organizational change.
Notable Quotes
"Everyone was doing a little bit of design ops here and there, which created a lot of gray area around decision making."
"Organic decision making doesn’t always work for high stakes efforts because design ops initiatives are often horizontal and require alignment."
"Communicate as much as possible and in different formats, because different formats resonate differently with people."
"Pilots give you flexibility to mess up and figure out answers as you go, instead of needing all answers upfront."
"A backlog helps pace and define the design ops practice, managing what’s in scope and what’s aspirational."
"Templates don’t have to be masterpieces; even simple reusable checklists and diagrams can save time and effort."
"As a design ops manager, I try to alleviate decision fatigue for design managers so they can focus on the decisions that need their input."
"I’ve found that being approachable and providing space for Q&A helps build trust and confidence in the design ops practice."
"Design ops is a lot of change management, and asking people to change again requires appreciation and celebrating wins."
"My prior experience as a tour manager helped me operationalize and mobilize teams, anticipating risks and preparing for everything."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"The current design education system doesn't always prepare designers for the complexity of enterprise challenges."
Alexandra SchmidtEnterprise UX Playbook
December 1, 2022
"Our best selves hold and hear stories and hold power to account."
Jemma AhmedResearch at an inflection point: Adapting to a new era of collaboration, equity, and innovation
March 11, 2025
"Co-creation is the single best way to get people to really buy into the ideas and use the design system properly."
Dave Malouf Amy ThibodeauPanel: Design Systems and Documentation
November 7, 2017
"Innovation is not a spice that you sprinkle on and suddenly magical new things come out."
Jeff GothelfInnovation Studios: the Engines of Enterprise Experimentation
May 14, 2015
"We decided to take a broad definition of research repositories to lessen shame and embrace the complexity of current practices."
Brigette Metzler Dana ChrisfieldResearch Repositories: A global project by the ResearchOps Community
August 27, 2020
"I felt this was a slippery slope—the blurring of lines between roles and responsibilities."
Allan LowsonRehashing the Double Diamond: Collaborating across functions with AI-assisted prototyping
June 9, 2026
"Reporting progress with data and stories opens up opportunities with stakeholders and builds credibility."
Kim Fellman CohenMeasuring the Designer Experience
October 23, 2019
"Lead with empathy because a lot of solutions will live outside of your wheelhouse."
Dante GuintuHow to Crush the Talent Crunch
September 8, 2022
"We have over 30 contracting teams spread across roughly 10 vendors all working on parts of the veteran experience landscape."
Shawna Hein Kevin HoffmanCreate a Cohesive Civic Design Practice Across Agency, Vendors, and Contracts
November 17, 2022
