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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
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The effectiveness of design hinges on the organizational structure delivering it.
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Career architectures are vital for the health and growth of design professionals.
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Design Ops emerged from the need to solve organizational challenges in delivering design.
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Successful design organizations share resources with the broader community for collective growth.
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There's a shift from linear career paths to more fluid, bushy growth models in design careers.
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Defining specific career growth in design roles is still an evolving conversation within the industry.
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Successful design operations result from collaboration and shared learning across organizations.
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The need for explicit career paths is heightened by the frequent changing of managers in organizations.
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As the demand for design grows, the importance and complexity of Design Ops will continue to expand.
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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."
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