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.

Cultivating Design Ecologies of Care, Community, and Collaboration
Gold
Wednesday, October 4, 2023 • DesignOps Summit 2023
Share the love for this talk
Cultivating Design Ecologies of Care, Community, and Collaboration
Speakers: Sahibzada Mayed and Lauren Lin
Link:

Summary

“How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale” (Adrienne Maree Brown). To truly put humans in “human-centered design,” we must be care-centered. And how we practice care in our own teams or the “small scale” will influence the downstream impacts of our design work. This session is an invitation to explore how we practice and build ecologies of care, community, and collaboration to shift towards mutual power and symbiotic relationships throughout the design process. Drawing from a perspective of trauma-centeredness and harm reduction, we will all engage in deep (sometimes complex) reflection about what it means to care for yourself, with others, and develop an ethics of care to guide design teams. If the purpose of DesignOps is to build systems, processes and tools to support stronger design teams and individuals, this is the case for care: to show up as humans first, before we are designers, researchers, employers/the employed, technologists, or however you define your role.

Key Insights

  • Design ecologies view organizations as fluid systems with interconnected relationships rather than rigid hierarchies.

  • Decentralizing power within organizations is crucial to enabling authentic care and collaboration.

  • Collective care goes beyond individual self-care, focusing on mutual care and interdependence within teams.

  • Care can flow bidirectionally in relationships, creating reciprocal and multi-pathway connections.

  • Drawing from indigenous and transformative justice practices helps reframe organizational care.

  • Adrian Marie Brown’s fractals of change principle shows how small-scale care practices can scale up to larger systems.

  • The network-of-care framework encourages mapping core and extended relationships, identifying emotional and practical care needs.

  • Practicing anti-urgency and boundary-setting at work fosters sustainable care and collaboration.

  • Care practices in corporate environments require intentional conversations and tools to shift power dynamics and build buy-in.

  • Integrating care with accountability and recognizing systemic inequities supports liberated, abundant relationships.

Notable Quotes

"What would it look and feel like to be surrounded by a network that is rooting for you to grow and blossom?"

"Ecology isn’t about sustainable product design but about creating sustainable and cared-for organizations."

"Your organization exists within larger ecologies and ecosystems, including the land and waters around us."

"Decentralizing power is really important because power impacts how we can practice care and collaborate."

"Knowing that you love the earth activates you to defend, protect, and celebrate, but feeling that the earth loves you back transforms that into a sacred bond."

"Ecologies thrive on collective care and interdependence, not just individualistic self-care."

"How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large scale."

"Design ops is uniquely positioned to plant new seeds and empower care-centered collaboration."

"Care is a relational practice, a form of reciprocity and kinship that looks different for every person."

"Being anti-urgency and setting boundaries at work are acts of care that support wellbeing and collaboration."

Ask the Rosenbot
Victor Udoewa
Research in the Pluriverse
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Ted Booth
Discussion
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Ash Brown
Silver Linings: What DesignOps Learned in the Shift to WFH
2020 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Kate Kalcevich
Designing inclusively with AI
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
John Maeda
About Design Organizations (Videoconference)
2019 • DesignOps Community
Ariel Kennan
Theme 2 Intro
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Dave Hoffer
UX Job Search AMA with Joanne Weaver and Dave Hoffer
2025 • Rosenfeld Community
Nalini P. Kotamraju
An Organizational Story: Salesforce Lightning Design System
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
B. Pagels-Minor
Breaking the Tension: The Power of Enabling Your Employees to Show Up Authentically
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold
Kit Unger
Theme 2: Introduction
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Patrizia Bertini
Pushing DesignOps’ Influence into New Global Markets
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Jennifer Kong
[Case study] Journeying toward AI-assisted documentation in healthcare
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Melinda Belcher
Insider preview of Enterprise Experience 2020 (Videoconference)
2020 • Enterprise Community
Dr. Jamika D. Burge
A Genuine Conversation about the Future of UX Research (Videoconference)
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Isaac Heyveld
Expand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Dominique Ward
The Most Exciting Time for DesignOps is Now
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold

More Videos

Alex Hurworth

"The time for debate has passed; we need to act decisively and collaboratively."

Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine Marin

Designing a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access

October 23, 2020

Laine Riley Prokay

"Building connections early in their career could create even more opportunities further along their career path."

Laine Riley Prokay Lisa Gordon

Carving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners

September 9, 2022

Eniola Oluwole

"People felt designs were self-evident and too much explanation was a barrier to using the patterns."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Nathan Shedroff

"If your budgets don’t connect to strategy goals, maybe those budget items shouldn’t exist."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020

Sam Proulx

"The smaller screen makes it easier to angle the device for adequate viewing, which computers just can’t replicate."

Sam Proulx

Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World

November 17, 2022

Feleesha Sterling

"If your design team cannot act quickly on findings, rapid research is not the method for you."

Feleesha Sterling

Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)

May 18, 2023

Neil Barrie

"Culturally resonant experiences can influence society in ways governments only dream of, with velocity and speed."

Neil Barrie

Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture

March 25, 2024

John Devanney

"A well framed project is a rare thing — it’s also a creative exercise that unleashes teams’ possibilities."

John Devanney

The Design Management Office

November 6, 2017

Katy Mogal

"One analyst became our research associate by diving deep into the diary videos and organizing the data."

Katy Mogal

But Do Your Insights Scale?

March 12, 2021