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."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Each species lost is a thread untethered from the web of life that supports us all."
Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine MarinDesigning a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access
October 23, 2020
"Building connections early in their career could create even more opportunities further along their career path."
Laine Riley Prokay Lisa GordonCarving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners
September 9, 2022
"You won’t know what success looks like until you put something out there and see how it works in practice."
Eniola OluwoleLessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site
October 24, 2019
"Traditional MBAs are confident about many things that aren’t true, and your research will often challenge their worldview."
Nathan ShedroffDouble Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically
March 31, 2020
"Mobile devices not only have built-in screen readers but also pitch-to-zoom and magnification settings out of the box."
Sam ProulxMobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World
November 17, 2022
"Product and design teams are usually the best initial stakeholders to engage for rapid research programs."
Feleesha SterlingBuilding a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)
May 18, 2023
"Starting with specific, meaningful priority communities rather than homogenized personas leads to powerful breakthroughs."
Neil BarrieWidening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture
March 25, 2024
"Knowledge management isn’t just about preserving work, it’s about retaining motivated, growing people."
John DevanneyThe Design Management Office
November 6, 2017
"It’s not about the specific tool, but about how you expose people to the insights in a way that excites them."
Katy MogalBut Do Your Insights Scale?
March 12, 2021