Rosenverse
The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now

Gold
Thursday, September 8, 2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Share the love for this talk
The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now
Speakers: Dominique Ward
Link:

Summary

In less than a decade, the field of DesignOps has experienced exponential growth and a dizzying acceleration of maturity. And yet, we haven't even scratched the surface. Design and technology are evolving rapidly and becoming increasingly complex, and DesignOps practitioners are in the thick of that evolution. The unpredictable nature of change at scale can cause systems to break, pains to become more acute, and teams to burn out... sometimes our own. As DesignOps practitioners, we're called upon to help our organizations navigate through change and uncertainty -- to remain the anchor point in a sea of change. It’s easy to hold fast to our ideas of what DesignOps is and who does it. And because of this, we're often left feeling swept up in a sea of chaos that we have to somehow get under control. The thing is... this is what we do. We recognize challenges, improvise solutions, and anticipate the next waves of organizational change. Why not our own? Why not shift from a reactive/responsive mindset to a generative approach? This generative lens becomes our invitation to experiment, boast, remix, fail, learn, iterate, and adapt. And through this lens, we can appreciate that “now” is the most exciting time to be in DesignOps.

Key Insights

  • Design Ops teams must be multidisciplinary and fit for purpose rather than relying on a fixed skill set.

  • Operational challenges often recur as fractal patterns repeating at different scales within design organizations.

  • Collaboration with cross-functional partners like engineering, product management, and research is crucial for Design Ops success.

  • Behavioral change in organizations requires planting small, incremental seeds rather than enforcing immediate top-down mandates.

  • Experimentation through short-cycle local trials helps design teams adapt before scaling initiatives globally.

  • Rapid growth and scaling (e.g., Atlassian tripling design staff) puts pressure on Design Ops to innovate and manage complexity.

  • Conway's Law causes organizational silos that replicate communication patterns, which Design Ops must intentionally mitigate.

  • Design Ops growth is driven largely by forming strong partnerships and demonstrating value through solving real pain points.

  • Autonomy within decentralized organizations must be balanced with shared purpose and centralized collaboration frameworks.

  • The ultimate goal is to embed operational excellence as muscle memory so Design Ops teams evolve out of necessity.

Notable Quotes

"Now design ops teams must be fit for purpose. We should meet the needs of the work we have to do."

"There’s no single design solution for one customer problem, so there’s no single path to success for building design ops."

"If you extinguish 365 fires in a year, bravo, but what do you really have to show for it, and what’s next?"

"What we practice at a small scale is a pattern for the whole system—fractal problems repeat across teams and orgs."

"Conway’s law means the way we communicate replicates our organizational structure, creating silos we must resist."

"We’re really in the game of behavioral change—planting seeds today so teams move naturally towards the future."

"In two years, some design ops team members shouldn’t have a job because the muscle memory and structure is baked in."

"Collaborating with cross-functional peers is where the juice happens—it’s paramount to our success in design ops."

"Sometimes the fires need to burn; saying no today doesn’t mean you can’t solve it down the line."

"This is absolutely the most exciting time to be alive in design ops. Things are just starting."

Ask the Rosenbot
Eduardo Ortiz
Theme 3 Intro
2025 • Advancing Research 2025
Gold
Alnie Figueroa
The Future of Design Operations: Transforming Our Craft
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Brian T. O’Neill
Does Designing and Researching Data Products Powered by ML/AI and Analytics Call for New UX Methods?
2022 • QuantQual Interest Group
Mark Interrante
Collaboration Flows in Product Development
2017 • Enterprise Experience 2017
Gold
Ryan Rumsey
Business Influence Without Losing Your Soul
2021 • Enterprise Community
Liz Ebengo
The Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Joerg Beringer
Scaling User Research with AI: Continuous Discovery of User Needs in Minutes
2025 • Designing with AI 2025
Gold
George Zhang
UX Research Excellence Framework
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Deanna Smith
Leading Change with Confidence: Strategies for Optimizing Your Process
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2024
Gold
Michelle Chin
The DesignOps Starter Kit
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Daniela Magaña Flores
Ahead of Competition: Learn What UX Benchmarking Can Do for Your Business Today
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Sheryl Cababa
Day 2 Panel
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Roberta Dombrowski
5 Reasons to Bring your Recruiting in House
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
JP Allen
Navigating the UX Tool Landscape
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Michele Wong
Helping Them Help Us
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Susan Weinschenk
Evaluating the Maturity of UX in Your Organization
2020 • Enterprise Community

More Videos

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW

"Assume everybody has the potential for trauma to show up in any interaction you have with them."

Rachael Dietkus, LCSW Uday Gajendar Dr. Dawn Emerick Dawn E. Shedrick, LCSW

Leading through the long tail of trauma

July 7, 2022

Sheryl Cababa

"Transparency of AI’s confidence has mostly disappeared because generative AI is inherently confident by design."

Sheryl Cababa Ethan Marcotte Milena Pribic

Day 2 Panel

June 5, 2024

Erin Weigel

"Guardrail metrics help catch unintended consequences like increased customer service calls despite higher conversions."

Erin Weigel

UX Lessons from running more than 1,200 A/B Tests

July 10, 2024

Dante Guintu

"Employees with exceptional onboarding are 2.6 times more likely to be extremely satisfied with their workplace."

Dante Guintu

How to Crush the Talent Crunch

September 8, 2022

Alla Weinberg

"Mistake celebration meetings normalize errors and allow teams to get ahead of problems quickly."

Alla Weinberg

How to Build and Scale Team Safety

January 8, 2024

Ivana Ng

"Data coupled with user feedback helps product teams develop solutions that maximally improve the user experience and deliver impact."

Ivana Ng

Level Up Your Program with ProductOps

January 8, 2024

Bria Alexander

"Sponsor sessions are incredibly high quality but completely optional; there’s no sales pitch."

Bria Alexander

Opening Remarks

June 10, 2021

Matteo Gratton

"I spent two hours trying to apply for a job because of excessive data requests; that is a design failure."

Matteo Gratton

Can Data and Ethics Live Together?

October 1, 2021

Eniola Oluwole

"We stopped talking about patterns and consistency as it made me the ‘patterns guy’—instead, I shifted language to what different roles cared about."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019