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Summary
Bad news cycles, an old friend asking why you work somewhere, endless meetings, shifting priorities, peers with louder voices - there is a lot of noise to break through to stay focused on your day to day work. In this talk, Maggie Dieringer, Sr Design Program Manager, discusses how she’s helped the Design Operations function grow and find their voice through the noise at Uber.
Key Insights
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Design operations at Uber grew from 2 to 14 people in one year by demonstrating clear tactical value and gaining executive buy-in.
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COVID-19 forced rapid shifts in design ops focus, especially on Uber Eats, requiring quick adaptation to new priorities and reduced resources.
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A VP of design who understands and champions design ops is critical to securing budget and organizational support.
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"Screenshot Thursday" in Slack proved effective in recreating informal, serendipitous design team interactions remotely.
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Design ops roles often face confusion and skepticism, sometimes being mistaken for administrative or EA functions, requiring clear differentiation.
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Collaboration and role clarity between design ops, product management, and engineering programs are essential but still evolving challenges.
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Majority female design ops teams embody skills stereotypically linked to women, like empathy and multitasking, but face recognition and voice challenges in male-dominated environments.
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Design ops involvement in interviewing designers focuses on cultural fit, process mindset, and team structure rather than portfolio review or sourcing.
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Maintaining team health and motivation during rapid change involves balancing consistency and openness to new ways of working.
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The future of design ops may involve more integrated roles encompassing CX, engineering, product, and technical program management for holistic organizational operations.
Notable Quotes
"I found that I loved starting something new and selling a function that had never existed at that agency."
"Scaling from two to 14 was possible because we proved value by partnering with skeptical individuals on specific tasks."
"We had to differentiate what we were doing versus what a product manager or designer might do."
"We became a consistent pillar when everything else was shifting around us."
"Screenshot Thursday gets the most engagement out of anything; it recreates the feeling of tapping someone on the shoulder to see what they're working on."
"One person said to me, What's the difference between you and an EA? We had to find ways to prove that design ops is unique and valuable."
"It was hard starting out, wondering if people were cutting me off because I was a woman in a room full of men."
"Design ops is about team health and happiness, fostering an environment for teams to be effective."
"Our VP of design came from Adobe and was a huge advocate of the design ops team; that helped push headcount conversations."
"The future is about bringing together design ops, product ops, technical program managers into a more holistic organizational operations view."
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