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
"It’s okay to be bossy because we need leaders who are opinionated and thoughtful and have a point of view."
Rachel Posman John Calhoun"Ask Me Anything" with Rachel Posman and John Calhoun, Authors of the Upcoming Rosenfeld Book, The Design Conductors
September 25, 2024
"I didn’t understand the people who would be using it, so it was not received well and shut down quickly."
Matt StoneScaling Empathy, A Case Study in Change Management
June 11, 2021
"Machine learning models can unlearn behaviors, but we need robust feedback loops to detect when they go awry."
Ovetta SampsonManaging the Human Engagement Risks of AI
June 10, 2025
"If you don’t do this work ethically and thoughtfully, nobody else may."
Louis RosenfeldWelcome / Housekeeping
June 6, 2023
"There’s no need to take any notes, because we have sketch notes, session notes, recordings available on Rosenfeld Media website."
Bria Alexander Louis RosenfeldOpening Remarks Day 2
March 26, 2024
"You might find that spending the most time getting people interested in collaboration is where the work really happens."
Marieke McCloskeyUser Science: Product Analytics & User Research
March 11, 2021
"We track every hour so the team's time is visible and understood as the collective engine of revenue and rest."
Chelsea MauldinLet's Talk About Money
November 17, 2022
"Screen magnification users are low vision and interact visually with prototypes, so little adaptation is needed."
Sam ProulxPrototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You
December 8, 2021
"Sharing personal passions in low-stakes ways creates opportunities for colleagues to be visible, seen, and included."
Etienne FangThe Power of Care: From Human-Centered Research to Humanity-Centered Leadership
March 10, 2021
