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Communicating and Establishing DesignOps as a New Function
Gold
Wednesday, November 7, 2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
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Communicating and Establishing DesignOps as a New Function
Speakers: Brennan Hartich
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Summary

When introducing DesignOps as a new function to an organization, the first few months are critical as you set the stage for how the organization familiarizes itself with your new team. In this session, Brennan will cover how DesignOps can partner with other functions, how to pick the right programs to tackle first, and how to measure a new team’s success. He will showcase tools that are useful to help establish your team’s newly formed brand within your organization.

Key Insights

  • Designers spent only about 37% of their time actually designing before adding design ops support.

  • Adding one design program manager (DPM) to a team of 14 designers increased design time by 50%, equivalent to adding three to four designers.

  • Design ops roles should be tailored to solve specific problems rather than hiring a generic role upfront.

  • The three Ps framework—people, process, and priorities—helps clarify design ops responsibilities versus design managers and directors.

  • DPMs reporting into a separate design ops team rather than design managers creates a therapeutic, safe space for designers to speak up.

  • Global design collaboration needs guidelines on time zones, communication norms, and sharing best practices across offices.

  • Removing unnecessary tools boosts efficiency more than continually adding new ones.

  • Assigning a DPM to design teams that don't want one leads to confusion and inefficiency.

  • Standardizing tools across all design teams is less important than good communication and adaptability.

  • Onboarding, mentorship, and team culture programs are critical design ops functions often overlooked in large organizations.

Notable Quotes

"Three hours per day was the average time designers actually spent designing—37% of their work time."

"We are the air traffic control making sure all the planes land in the right place."

"Hiring a design ops person off the bat without understanding the problem is like hiring a unicorn without a purpose."

"Design ops reporting separately from design managers creates a safe space—sometimes our DPMs are the therapists of the team."

"London is the straight-A student of our global design teams, and we've learned a lot from them."

"Adding a design program manager increased ‘maker time’ or actual design work far more than adding more designers."

"Removing tools, not adding more, was key to solving tool chaos across teams."

"Allocating a DPM to a design team that doesn’t want one just created more confusion."

"Standardizing everything is an uphill battle; communication and context matter more."

"Surprisingly, onboarding for designers was basically ‘here’s your laptop, good luck.’ We needed to fix that."

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