Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.
Log in Create free account100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.
Cutting through the Noise
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
-
•
Maggie discovered design operations six years into her career, highlighting the role’s nascency even in large companies.
-
•
Uber’s design ops team grew quickly from 2 to 14 in one year, supported by early tactical wins and strong VP advocacy.
-
•
Early skepticism about design ops was overcome by demonstrating distinct value separate from product managers or executive assistants.
-
•
COVID-19 forced Maggie to shift teams rapidly, managing new priorities and resourcing cuts while keeping teams sane and motivated.
-
•
Remote team engagement benefits from lightweight rituals like Screenshot Thursday and optional breakout sessions rather than mandatory Zoom calls.
-
•
Design operations at Uber involves hiring support focused on cultural fit and process mindset, not portfolio vetting.
-
•
Diversity and inclusion efforts are gaining more organizational focus recently but remain an ongoing challenge requiring intentional strategies.
-
•
The design ops team at Uber is predominantly female, reflecting skills such as empathy, multitasking, and communication traditionally attributed to women.
-
•
Collaboration between design ops, product managers, technical program managers, and engineering is crucial but still evolving toward a more integrated operational approach.
-
•
Maggie advocates for servant leadership in design ops, balancing behind-the-scenes support with the need for organizational recognition and influence.
Notable Quotes
"I found a place I could activate my passions in design operations about six years into my career."
"We started small with two people and grew to fourteen because we proved our value through tactical work and strong VP support."
"People initially asked what’s the difference between a design program manager and an EA or product manager."
"During COVID, the roadmap that worked one day was completely uprooted and we had to quickly adapt."
"Screenshot Thursday in Slack became one of the most engaging and anticipated rituals on the team."
"We had to reduce optional virtual social meetings after burnout hit, which showed the importance of balance."
"Our design ops hiring focuses heavily on cultural fit and process thinking rather than portfolio skills."
"Being a predominantly female team brings stereotypes and challenges, especially in male-dominated product organizations."
"We try to build bridges between design ops, product ops, TPMs, and engineering for a holistic program management approach."
"Design ops is servant leadership — if everything goes well, no one notices, but if it goes poorly, we are the first to be blamed."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Tags are a balance; project tags are wild and flexible, global tags must be controlled to avoid chaos."
Taylor Jennings Joe Nelson Alex KnollRepository Retrospective: Learnings from Introducing a Central Place for UX Research
March 9, 2022
"How we orient ourselves to the future impacts how we experience the present."
Nicole AleongFuture Orientations to Everyday Life: Futures Anthropology as a Methodology
March 26, 2024
"Nordstrom decided that innovation needed to be a corporate value, not a lab value."
Jeff GothelfInnovation Studios: the Engines of Enterprise Experimentation
May 14, 2015
"If you don't have dedicated accessibility people, start grassroots by building empathy and rallying teams around user stories."
Saara Kamppari-MillerDesignOps for Inclusive Design and Accessibility
May 26, 2022
"There’s a lot of pressure on ops people and managers to make everything perfect all the time for staff."
Tess DixonC'mon Get Happy
September 29, 2021
"Our skills matrix became the center of gravity for our practice—it started writing job descriptions and guiding recruitment."
Liam ThurstonWhy Your Design Team Is Quitting, And How To Fix It
June 10, 2022
"Innovation is about being fearless, breaking rules, and refusing to stop at the way things have always been done."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"If you make rules, put numbers in them, and say them confidently, sometimes people actually do them."
Leisa ReicheltOpening Keynote: Operating in Context
November 7, 2018
"Getting to know someone as a person first—the vibe check—is the first step to successful UX research collaboration."
Rachael Greene Alison DavisBuilding a Design Ops Practice that Really Works (Most of the Time)
October 2, 2025