Theme Two Intro
Summary
The speaker, collaborating with Sarah Campari Miller and John Kuda, explains the ethos behind the Design Ops conference with a focus on practicality and utility for professionals in the field. Sarah originated the concept of 'practical ops,' reflecting the community’s drive to scale design’s organizational impact and get tangible results. The trio spent months co-curating themes and speakers to ensure the content would be personal and directly relevant to everyday challenges faced by design ops practitioners. Topics span crucial operational skills including maintaining design ops roadmaps, leveraging AI as a design partner, managing documentation effectively, and streamlining inclusive design practices. The goal is for attendees to leave armed with immediately useful insights that make the time invested—despite pending Slack messages and emails—worthwhile and actionable within their organizations.
Key Insights
-
•
The term 'practical ops' was coined by Sarah Campari Miller to emphasize a focus on getting actionable work done.
-
•
Strong collaboration over six months between the three curators resulted in a conference tailored to real day-to-day design ops challenges.
-
•
Design ops seeks to scale organizational design capacity and amplify designer impact, not just focus on theory.
-
•
Speakers cover highly relevant topics like documentation teams will actually use and maintaining a design ops roadmap.
-
•
AI is explored as an emerging partner in design workflows, highlighting practical potential rather than abstract concepts.
-
•
Inclusive design practices are streamlined to ensure diversity and equity are embedded in operational processes.
-
•
The conference is designed to feel personal and immediately relevant to the audience’s everyday work, not just future career aspirations.
-
•
The collaborative energy among curators Sarah, John, and the speaker reflects in the conference’s positive atmosphere.
-
•
Attendees often feel overwhelmed after conferences but this event aims to provide takeaways that justify the time away from desks.
-
•
Practical design ops content addresses the documented gap between attending sessions and applying knowledge on return to work.
Notable Quotes
"Practical ops is about getting stuff done because it’s our job to scale the organizational ability to design and amplify the work of designers."
"All three themes and all speakers you’ll hear came together through inclusive collaboration and insightful perspectives."
"The good vibes you experience are a reflection of the positive collaborative spirit we worked hard to create for you."
"I often find myself wondering what I really gained from time away from my desk beyond swag and catching up with colleagues."
"This day is focused on me, my job and my specific day-to-day challenges, not on some invisible finish line or senior title."
"Every talk you hear today couldn’t get more personal to our community."
"Documentation your team will actually use, how to define and maintain a design ops roadmap, AI as a design partner."
"It’s about us, the design ops practitioners, and what we need today to be better at our jobs."
"We want you to leave feeling like all those missed Slack messages and emails are worth it."
"This conference is the opportunity I saw to design an experience that felt personal to our community."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Sometimes it’s reasonable to consider your design as strategy and ship a piece now and other pieces later."
Scott Jensen Sarah Delaney Carmen LiuShort Take #2: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
December 6, 2022
"Past speakers from this conference will dedicate time for reflection and synthesis."
Sarah BrooksTheme Three Intro
November 18, 2022
"Who needs a designer when we have generative AI?"
Jon FukudaTheme One Intro
October 2, 2023
"We’re obligated to treat each other with kindness and respect."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
March 29, 2023
"Sometimes, avoiding the conversation feels easier but can have bigger costs than facing it."
Joshua GravesWe Need To Talk: Navigating Conversations with Your Boss (Part 1 of 3)
April 14, 2025
"The shooter used census data to target the location to inflict the most damage on Black people."
Kyria Stephens Marlon KernerPower to Heal: Civic Design in the Aftermath of Tragedy
November 17, 2022
"At IBM, projects felt like following a recipe, but at Compass, I can promote my ideas and see how they work, which is very satisfying."
Caitlyn Hampton Monica Lee Jina YoonCompass 101: Growing Your Career In A Startup World
June 11, 2021
"You can’t lead without being a lifelong learner because when your company stops learning, it dies."
Louis RosenfeldDiscussion: What Operations can teach DesignOps
November 6, 2017
"The hardest part was losing my identity of being someone who works in tech after so many years."
Rachel GarbExit Interview #7: Facing a blank slate in retirement when constraints are all you’ve ever known
August 5, 2026
