Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Summary
A career path to DesignOps can come from various walks of professional life. There isn’t a straight line from design practitioner to design ops manager. During this session we spoke with Peter Merholz, co-author of Org Design for Design Orgs, to explore what skills, backgrounds, and mindsets make for strong DesignOps managers. And what exceptions there might be to the rule.
Key Insights
-
•
The effectiveness of design hinges on the organizational structure delivering it.
-
•
Career architectures are vital for the health and growth of design professionals.
-
•
Design Ops emerged from the need to solve organizational challenges in delivering design.
-
•
Successful design organizations share resources with the broader community for collective growth.
-
•
There's a shift from linear career paths to more fluid, bushy growth models in design careers.
-
•
Defining specific career growth in design roles is still an evolving conversation within the industry.
-
•
Successful design operations result from collaboration and shared learning across organizations.
-
•
The need for explicit career paths is heightened by the frequent changing of managers in organizations.
-
•
As the demand for design grows, the importance and complexity of Design Ops will continue to expand.
-
•
Engaging with HR is essential to establishing sustainable career growth paths for individual contributors.
Notable Quotes
"My journey into design Ops was more about the problems I was trying to solve than a clear career choice."
"Adaptive Path was formed in 2001, and I wrote my first essay on organizational design in 2003."
"The reality is, great design won’t see the light of day if the organization isn’t built to support it."
"When we wrote the book on design orgs, the term Design Ops hadn’t been coined yet."
"In design, people are looking for career growth beyond a linear path; they want a bushy trellis."
"Career paths should be explicit for team members, not solely dependent on their managers."
"Designer satisfaction and retention are directly linked to clear growth opportunities."
"Design Ops is ultimately about driving effectiveness, happiness, and improvement for design teams."
"The more we share our approaches, the better positioned we all are as a design community."
"Design organizations are still figuring out the best ways to articulate growth for individual contributors."
More Videos
"Design is a poorly designed word."
John MaedaMaking Sense of Enterprise UX
June 9, 2016
"What we want is for organizations to step away from demographics to understand people as cognitive beings."
Indi YoungThinking styles: Mend hidden cracks in your market
January 8, 2025
"Data should be presented in ways that empower users to make immediate decisions."
Chris ChapoData Science and Design: A Tale of Two Tribes
May 13, 2015
"Effective teams integrate across silos to enhance productivity."
Elizabeth ChurchillExploring Cadence: You, Your Team, and Your Enterprise
June 8, 2017
"There was no choice but to adapt."
Rusha SopariwalaRemote, Together: Craft and Collaboration Across Disciplines, Borders, Time Zones, and a Design Org of 170+
June 9, 2022
"Design is like rocket fuel to anything we attach ourselves to, especially technology."
George AyeThat Quiet Little Voice: When Design and Ethics Collide
November 16, 2022
"It's our capacity to be robust under conditions of enormous stress and change that will keep us resilient."
Ariba JahanTeam Resiliency Through a Pandemic
January 8, 2024
"This isn’t just about design; this is about enabling clients to succeed."
Julie Gitlin Esther RaiceDesign as an Agent of Digital Transformation at JPMC
June 9, 2021
"The more data we have, the more difficult it is to find what we actually need."
Matteo GrattonCan Data and Ethics Live Together?
October 1, 2021
