Summary
At the 2024 Rosenfeld Design Ops Summit, the speaker reflects on their journey to become a subject matter expert in measuring design ops' value, emphasizing how complex and intangible this impact can be. They address the challenge of capturing the real value design ops contributes to people, processes, and organizational culture. The talk sets the stage for a series of presentations by leaders in the field: Cassandra discusses balancing strategic vision with tactical execution to gain stakeholder support; John and Rachel introduce frameworks from their book Design Conductors to better define and assess design ops impact; John Paul shares how a small UI firm improved consistency and employee wellbeing through automation and human-centric design; Reman Amrit illustrates enterprise transformation by empowering designers as decision makers; Emily and Maria focus on harnessing collective intelligence through unified systems; Orge explores AI-driven content organization to scale impact efficiently; and Brianna inspires leadership ecosystems that thrive on change. The session encourages collaboration, human-centered metrics, leadership recognition, and the use of data to amplify team success and future-proof design ops practices.
Key Insights
-
•
Design ops impact is difficult to quantify because it often involves intangible frameworks and human-centered work rather than countable outputs.
-
•
Collecting 'You Made My Job Easier' messages can serve as a motivational metric that illustrates practical impact.
-
•
Balancing strategic vision with tactical execution is key to securing stakeholder buy-in and driving adoption, as Cassandra highlights.
-
•
Frameworks like those shared by John and Rachel in Design Conductors provide structured ways to define and measure design ops impact on business and stakeholders.
-
•
Automation and custom tools, combined with human-centric approaches, can boost consistency, efficiency, and employee wellbeing in small design firms.
-
•
Large enterprises can transform designers from mere doers into influential decision makers, expanding impact beyond individual contributors.
-
•
Unified systems can harness collective intelligence to amplify team potential and streamline collaboration.
-
•
AI can organize intelligence and content at scale, especially useful for design ops teams with limited resources.
-
•
Cultivating adaptive leadership ecosystems helps teams not just survive but thrive amid rapid change.
-
•
Humanizing impact metrics helps recognize quiet leaders and supports a more empathetic approach to measuring success.
Notable Quotes
"The impact of design ops isn’t as easy to define or predict like other business value measures."
"We’re building and securing better frameworks and futures rather than tangible, countable, easy-to-quantify widgets."
"I seriously encourage all of you to make a portfolio of ‘You Made My Job Easier’ messages because it shows you your progress and is a great pick me up."
"How might we unlock the full capabilities of our most valuable resource, our people, their skills, their knowledge and their potential?"
"Cassandra will share how to balance strategic vision and tactical execution to inspire teams and secure stakeholder buy-in."
"John and Rachel will preview powerful frameworks from their new book Design Conductors to help better define and measure design ops impact."
"John Paul showcases how a small firm leveraged automation and human-centric approaches to boost consistency and employee wellbeing."
"Orge shows how AI can help organize intelligence and content at scale, even with limited resources."
"Brianna cultivates a leadership ecosystem that not only adapts but thrives on rapid change."
"We must humanize how and what we measure and recognize as impact."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"By observing Jeff's concerns and asking questions, I was able to show empathy and distract myself from getting defensive."
Darian DavisLessons from a Toxic Work Relationship
January 8, 2024
"We built an equity learning community with 25 virtual sessions, 4 interagency roundtables, and one-on-one consultations with 37 agencies."
Aaron Stienstra Lashanda HodgeLeveraging Civic Design to Advance Equity and Rebuild Trust in the US Federal Government
December 8, 2021
"Trying something new can feel very daunting, especially if you rarely interact with people who use assistive technology."
Kavana RameshMeaningful inclusion: Practicing accessibility research with confidence
September 24, 2024
"Anticipatory design is design anticipating customer needs and serving up what they want before they request it."
Helen ArmstrongAugment the Human. Interrogate the System.
June 7, 2023
"A model is a simplified representation of a system, whether in math or UX."
Scott PlewesWhy Isn't Your UX Approach Going Viral?: A Mathematical Model
March 28, 2023
"Empathy in design has been too focused on people and often on standardized personas rather than true diversity and marginalized voices."
Christian BasonExpand—Rethinking Design for Public Challenges
September 14, 2022
"Tool use lets the model decide itself when to call external APIs or services to get needed information."
Peter Van DijckBuilding impactful AI products for design and product leaders, Part 3: Understand AI architectures: RAG, Agents, Oh My!
July 30, 2025
"Semiotics isn’t just words and pictures; it includes every stimulus in your waking and even perhaps sleeping life."
Soma Ghosh Savina Hawkins Dave Hoffer Rob Thomas Victor UdoewaWhat emerging methods are advancing UX research [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
September 28, 2023
"You have to deliberately quiet that noise in your head and focus on humans in a world of humans."
Steve Portigal Susan Simon-Daniels Tamara Hale Randolph Duke IIWar Stories LIVE! Q&A-Discussion
March 30, 2020
