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.

Creating Consistency Through Constant Change
Gold
Monday, January 8, 2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Share the love for this talk
Creating Consistency Through Constant Change
Speakers: Maggie Dieringer
Link:

Summary

The hustle of “Uber 1.0” (moving fast and breaking things) is still remnant in parts of Uber's culture today. As a DesignOps team of two to start, Maggie had to break through many barriers to help quickly and effectively implement a new practice. Within one year, the team grew to 14 Design Program Managers working across 6 global, distributed design studios. How does a team scale and find their voice amidst many cultural challenges, negative news cycles, and multiple rounds of layoffs? This talk will explore how DesignOps can remain a constant pillar of reliability when the structures around a Design team are constantly evolving.

Key Insights

  • Uber's design ops team grew from 2 to 15 practitioners in under three years, supporting seven global studios.

  • Shifting responsibilities off individuals was resisted initially but critical for scaling design ops at Uber.

  • Implementing structured processes like launch characterization enabled clear visibility and prioritization of design work.

  • Design ops operationalized quality programs such as 'Ship Magic' that fix 10-15 designer-identified bugs monthly.

  • Design teams' passion for social responsibility can be activated through structured sprints like the 'design for good' hackathon.

  • Clearly defined engagement levels replaced complex resource allocation models to help teams prioritize work and avoid burnout.

  • Building a self-service UX research hub empowered cross-functional teammates to conduct research independently.

  • Establishing internal rules and frameworks for budgeting, headcount, and policies brought calm to teams amid external chaos.

  • "Structured flexibility" allowed Uber’s design ops team to dynamically move people across projects responding to shifting business needs.

  • Layoffs and constrained resources forced the team to say no to low-impact work, which improved focus and morale.

Notable Quotes

"Working at Uber requires grit."

"Do not judge me by my success, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again."

"If you’re going to push through change, you have to create consistency across your teams."

"We acted like a startup still – moving fast and in prove-it mode constantly."

"Reviews might seem simple, but building that cadence with senior stakeholders was a muscle many hadn’t built."

"Our designers deeply care about quality but usually have no time to prioritize fixing bugs after launch."

"The power to say no has been the blessing in disguise from layoffs, allowing us to refocus on high priority work."

"We had to partner with skeptics deeply on things they cared about to prove the value of design ops."

"When the world outside feels crazy, make sure your team knows you’ve got internal order and the DPMs have their back."

"Structured flexibility means being dynamic and agile because you cannot predict what’s going to happen next week or month."

Ask the Rosenbot
Laura Weiss
Turn Down the Heat: 3 Ways to Handle Conflict in the Moment
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Maria Taylor
Knowledge is Power: Managing the Lifeblood of the Design Org
2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Gold
Laura Gatewood
Beyond Buzzwords: Adding Heart to Effective Slack Communication
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Sam Proulx
Designing For Screen Readers: Understanding the Mental Models and Techniques of Real Users
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Ashley Cortez
Shifting Toward Community-Led Innovation in Local Government
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Brad Peters
Short Take #1: UX/Product Lessons from Your Industry Peers
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Florence Okoye
AfroFuturism and UX Research
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Opening Remarks
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Coffee with Lou: Should You Write a (UX) Book? (Videoconference)
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Amahra Spence
Designing for Liberation, Rehearsing Freedom
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Ivana Ng
Level Up Your Program with ProductOps
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold
Jen Crim
Culture, DIBS & Recruiting
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Jennifer Kong
[Case study] Journeying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Kristen Honey
"Let’s Talk About Data and Crisis”: Public Digital Service Delivery = Open Data + Human Centered Design (Videoconference)
2021 • Civic Design Community
Jorge Arango
Scale Smart: AI-Powered Content Organization Strategies
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Kristen Guth, Ph.D.
Out of the FOG: A Non-traditional Research Approach to Alignment
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold

More Videos

Angelos Arnis

"Tech layoffs are basically an instance of social contagion where companies imitate what others are doing."

Angelos Arnis

Navigating the Rapid Shifts in Tech's Turbulent Terrain

October 2, 2023

John Calhoun

"The eight competencies in design ops include trusted relationships, program management, leadership, communication, and business acumen."

John Calhoun Rachel Posman

Bring your DesignOps Story to Life! The Definitive DesignOps Book Jam

October 3, 2023

Alfred Kahn

"Design is often a subsidiary of product, really there to serve engineering—wireframe people."

Alfred Kahn

A Seat at the Table: Making Your Team a Strategic Partner

November 29, 2023

Dan Willis

"It’s never all or nothing — product success must balance user needs and business constraints."

Dan Willis

Enterprise Storytelling Sessions

June 3, 2019

John Maeda

"Understanding computation is critical to understanding modern tech, more so than design alone."

John Maeda Alison Rand

About Design Organizations (Videoconference)

May 13, 2019

Anat Fintzi

"I learned I had to stop asking questions and start telling them what I was thinking, then say tell me what you think."

Anat Fintzi Rachel Minnicks

Delivering at Scale: Making Traction with Resistant Partners

June 9, 2022

Uday Gajendar

"Craft should evolve from making a beautiful final object to serving as a facilitative anchor in enterprise UX."

Uday Gajendar

The Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX

May 13, 2015

Kristin Skinner

"We were really forming a community of people who I like to call maybe design ops curious."

Kristin Skinner

Theme 1 Intro

September 29, 2021

Maish Nichani

"We locked everyone in a room for months to review 1000 pages using the bond raising method—it worked because we aligned on principles and focused on the job."

Maish Nichani

Sparking a Service Excellence Mindset at a Government Agency

December 9, 2021