Rosenverse

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 (r)evolution of designOps: It’s Time to Think (really) BIG
Gold
Thursday, September 11, 2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Share the love for this talk
The (r)evolution of designOps: It’s Time to Think (really) BIG
Speakers: Patrizia Bertini
Link:

Summary

DesignOps has matured practices, refined workflows, and scaled design systems. But have we become too focused on design itself? While optimizing pixels and processes, a transformative opportunity remains untapped. As operational silos multiply across organizations and sector-agnostic regulations for digital products grow increasingly complex, a dangerous ambiguity emerges: Who actually owns compliance implementation? A wave of regulations impacting all digital product organizations in Europe demands cross-functional action, yet ownership remains fragmented: legal understands requirements but lacks implementation expertise. Product prioritizes features over compliance. Design identifies constraints without solutions. Engineering relegates compliance to the backlog. The result? Compliance becomes everyone’s concern and no one’s responsibility. This case study explores how the Eu Accessibility Act enforcement in June 2025 revealed this hidden dysfunction: budget disputes, role confusion, and mounting organizational friction. In this leadership vacuum, DesignOps emerged as the strategic architect that: – Aligned product, design, legal, and engineering around shared accountability – Embedded compliance directly into R&D workflows – Became the connective tissue that unified previously siloed operations This ownership gap will grow exponentially more dangerous for organizations navigating Europe’s complex regulatory landscape. This talk explores how DesignOps must evolve from tactical facilitator to compliance-by-design architect: breaking down operational silos, reducing implementation costs, and delivering compliant innovation at market speed. The question isn’t how well we can optimize design workflows. It’s whether we’re ready to lead the transformation our organizations desperately need.

Key Insights

  • European digital product regulations like GDPR, Accessibility Act, and AI Act apply globally to products used in Europe, affecting US companies as well.

  • Compliance often becomes everyone's concern but no one's direct responsibility within organizations, creating accountability gaps.

  • Design operations can uniquely fill the void to lead enterprise transformation around compliance and regulatory change.

  • Turning compliance into a business opportunity requires aligning it with protecting revenue, creating profit, and fostering purpose-driven culture.

  • A compelling business case quantified by financial metrics like recurring revenue can rapidly secure C-suite budget approval.

  • Embedding accessibility into core workflows and processes turns compliance from a technical burden into a natural outcome.

  • Educating all stakeholders across sales, marketing, design, and development is key to cultural transformation for accessibility.

  • Measuring impact via customer retention, risk reduction, and developer adoption helps track progress and maintain credibility.

  • Storytelling is essential for driving outcomes, especially to engage executives and secure alignment on strategic initiatives.

  • Designers often lead accessibility adoption, but developers and other functions may resist without clear business motivations.

Notable Quotes

"What if we are optimizing ourselves into relevance?"

"Compliance is everyone's concern but no one's responsibility."

"The accessibility expert was simply lost into shouting, we must be accessible without creating a strategy."

"Next year we need to have an accessibility budget. You do what you want, but that's the choice."

"Building product today is getting more and more complex, and organizations desperately need professionals who speak compliance and product."

"Storytelling drives outcomes. Build your good story."

"No VP or director has direct responsibility at board level. It’s the C-executives who ultimately decide."

"The more the compliance level increased, the higher the cost efficiency."

"Ethics is fantastic, but for the business, the right thing sometimes is revenue."

"If you are not speaking to the CEO or C-executives about compliance and transformation, someone else will."

Ask the Rosenbot
Louis Rosenfeld
Welcome / Housekeeping
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Sara Conklin
A UXer’s 12-Month Journey from Climate Concern to Climate Credibility
2025 • Climate UX Interest Group
Sam Proulx
Understanding Screen Readers on Mobile: How And Why to Learn from Native Users
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Paula Bach
Improving Legacy Software: How Much Better Does it Have to Be?
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Dianne Que
Real Talk: Proving Value through a Scrappy Playbook
2019 • DesignOps Summit 2019
Gold
Doug Powell
DesignOps and the Next Frontier: Leading Through Unpredictable Change
2025 • DesignOps Summit 2025
Gold
Spencer L. A. Stultz
Why Social Justice Frameworks are Necessary for Successful DEI/JEDI Initiatives
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Sam Ladner
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Josina Vink
Navigating the pitfalls of systems thinking in service design
2024 • Advancing Service Design 2024
Gold
Emily Danielson
“I mean, I can lift a shovel”: Design Skills in Disaster Response
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Emily Lessard
RFPs Without Tears: Writing Inclusive RFPS that Don't Scare Away Talent
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Joanna Vodopivec
One Research Team for All - Influence Without Authority
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Jacqui Frey
Panel Discussion: Integrating DesignOps
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Jen Briselli
Learning Is The Engine: Designing & Adapting in a World We Can’t Predict
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Bria Alexander
Opening Remarks
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold

More Videos

Lin Nie

"Science doesn’t just check truth; it has to win hearts and minds."

Lin Nie

When Thought-worlds Collide: Collaborating Between Research and Practice

March 10, 2021

Suzan Bednarz

"Can you testify right now that all your digital properties are accessible to disabled users?"

Suzan Bednarz Hilary Sunderland

AccessibilityOps for All

January 8, 2024

Sofia Quintero

"We made it a priority from day one to support data exports so customers can leave without wasting weeks migrating data."

Sofia Quintero

The Product Philosophy Behind EnjoyHQ

March 10, 2021

Sol Mesz

"The biggest challenge of a project is building a solution that’s going to be adopted company-wide."

Sol Mesz

Hands or Brains? How to Hire for Strategy, Strategically

January 8, 2024

Matt Bernius

"Leadership modeling of vulnerability and human challenges is the first step towards trauma-informed organizational culture."

Matt Bernius Sarah Fathallah Hera Hussain Jessica Zéroual-Kara

Trauma-informed Research: A Panel Discussion

October 7, 2021

Gina Mendolia

"Therapists create space for clients to reflect and discover insights in a safe environment."

Gina Mendolia

Therapists, Coaches, and Grandmas: Techniques for Service Design in Complex Systems

December 3, 2024

Verónica Urzúa

"We were educated to minimize the value of our own practice and just reproduce what was done elsewhere."

Verónica Urzúa Jorge Montiel

The B-side of the Research Impact

March 12, 2021

Lisanne Norman

"The best job I ever had was with those two female VPs who believed in me and gave me a chance."

Lisanne Norman

Why I Left Research

March 27, 2023

Ovetta Sampson

"Breaking up a holistic vision into quarterly milestones and celebrating those wins keeps stakeholders engaged and preserves your sanity."

Ovetta Sampson

Turning UX Passion into Real Product Influence

June 7, 2023