Day 1 Welcome
Summary
In the opening remarks of the eighth Design Ops Summit, Lou Rosenfeld from Rosenfeld Media welcomes attendees and highlights the extensive preparations by curators Bria Alexander, John Kuda, Ilana Solana, and Francis Solana in crafting a rich program focused on advancing design operations. Lou stresses the importance of participants setting clear personal goals for the conference and taking advantage of the opportunity to connect and learn within the vibrant Design Ops community. Bria Alexander, serving as the MC and a senior design program manager at Adobe focused on DEI and AI initiatives, introduces the summit's themes: resilience, impact, and innovation, spread across three days. She details the structure of the event, including breaks, time zone adjustments, main and sponsor programming, and encourages participation in social and networking activities such as the Cozy Juicy Reel game event. Lou and Bria also underscore the value of sponsor support, the accessible virtual swag bag, and the availability of comprehensive resources like session notes and videos shortly after presentations. The importance of a respectful and inclusive conference code of conduct is reinforced, ensuring a safe and welcoming environment. Special recognition is given to Manuel Herrera, the conference sketch note artist, for his creative contributions. The opening sets an inviting, goal-oriented tone and prepares attendees for a collaborative and inspiring summit experience.
Key Insights
-
•
The Design Ops Summit has been held annually for eight years, evolving from in-person to virtual gatherings.
-
•
Curators including Bria Alexander, John Kuda, and Francis Solana invest months refining the program and speaker presentations.
-
•
Attendees are urged to set personal goals for the summit to maximize their learning and networking experience.
-
•
The 2024 summit themes are resilience, impact, and innovation, each curated by different design operations leaders.
-
•
Sponsor sessions are integrated carefully so they never conflict with main programming and are freely accessible to all.
-
•
A digital swag bag with sponsor deals replaces physical swag due to the virtual format, enhancing accessibility.
-
•
Slack is a key platform for community interaction, with structured channels and threads to manage questions and discussions.
-
•
Manuel Herrera’s sketch notes visually capture conference content, supporting engagement and creative learning.
-
•
The conference emphasizes an inclusive, respectful code of conduct to foster a safe environment for all attendees.
-
•
Social events like the Cozy Juicy Reel game session foster informal networking and community bonding.
Notable Quotes
"What is your mission for this design Ops summit? When this conference ends, what do you want to feel?"
"This is a great opportunity. This is a gift to yourself to dig in with other design ops peers and really learn together."
"Our curators have been working for months taking presentations from little ideas to something big that advances design ops as practice."
"The sponsor sessions are equal in quality and quantity as our main programming and completely free for anyone to attend."
"You can change the conference time zone to your local time zone in the upper right corner so there’s no confusion about start times."
"Please put your questions in the Slack thread associated with the talk, not just the general channel, or they’ll get lost."
"We have got you covered with sketch notes, resource lists, session notes, videos, and decks all shared ASAP after presentations."
"I want you to have the best time possible and bring your fullest self to our conference today."
"Manuel Herrera, our sketch noter, has contributed wonderfully to visually capturing the spirit and content of the conference."
"If you want to make this conference better for you, just let us know in Slack — we want you to have a positive experience."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"More frequent, open communication and direct conversations helped us avoid assumptions and deliver something usable quickly."
Iain McMaster IHan ChengDesign and Product: from Frenemy to Harmony
November 29, 2023
"OKRs help highlight intentions to leadership and open up conversations that generate alignment and support."
Bria Alexander Benson Low Natalya Pemberton Stephanie GoldthorpeOKRs—Helpful or Harmful?
January 20, 2022
"Too often research is something we do to people, but participatory research invites participants as co-creators of knowledge."
Nidhi Singh Rathore Amber DavisEmbracing participation to unlock deeper truths in commercial research
March 12, 2025
"Building more ethical, responsible, and humanistic forms of technologies requires diverse and interdisciplinary conversations."
Prayag Narula Rida QadriHCI 2.0: Humanity Deserves the Attention that UX Research has to Offer
March 28, 2023
"The only time you get to build design ops at the same time as the organization structure is like in startups, but they’re so chaotic you don’t get to enjoy it."
Dan WillisFilling the Void
November 7, 2018
"This is probably the biggest change we are going to see within our working careers."
Robert Fabricant Sahibzada Mayed Nidhi Singh RathoreIndustry junctures: Paths forwards for UXR and the critical decisions that get us there [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
October 2, 2024
"Much to my surprise, it was one of the most impactful research pieces I had produced in my career."
Cara Maritz Rachel NyThe Art of Extrapolation
March 29, 2023
"People put stressful topics like money at the back of their head, so self-reported surveys on money stress are often inaccurate."
Yasmine KhanChecking Bias and Listening to Financially Vulnerable Americans
March 30, 2020
"No s**t designers burnout more than any other function."
Peter MerholzThe 2025 State of UX/Design Organizational Health
November 12, 2025
