Designing the Designer’s Journey: Scaling Teams, Culture, and Growth Through DesignOps
Summary
Over the past few years, we faced the intense challenge of adapting to aggressive, continuous scaling. As our design org at Commencis grew rapidly—from a humble team to over 70 Designers and Researchers—it became clear that headcount and tooling alone weren’t enough. So I collaborated with lots of stakeholders to produce our process diagrams, templates, artifacts for our design org, as well as frameworks, guidelines, and rituals. And right now, we have a sane leadership, nearly happy team members, and again nearly well-organized processes and documentation.
You’ll hear real-life examples—from co-created processes to meaningful rituals and systems that helped us scale fast and stay human. This talk is for DesignOps leaders, team builders, and anyone designing for sustainable org growth in a remote-first world.
Key Insights
-
•
Design ops centers on caring for designers through intentional systems rather than just fixing immediate problems.
-
•
Rapid post-pandemic scaling exposed the need to redesign onboarding, hiring, and connection mechanisms to prevent burnout and cultural drift.
-
•
Mapping the designer’s entire journey helps reveal operational needs and highlights moments requiring empathy and support.
-
•
A well-structured candidate experience with clear guidance and transparent feedback increases talent attraction and retention.
-
•
Collaborative design roundtables and co-creation with leads improved onboarding clarity and fostered shared ownership.
-
•
Competency mapping combined with individual and team growth plans guides development and hiring decisions effectively.
-
•
Creating team rituals and social sessions sustains belonging and recognition, vital for culture through rapid growth.
-
•
Integrating AI competency as a 'patch' into existing skill matrices prepares designers to embrace technological disruption.
-
•
Designers are innovating by building no-code AI tools and plugins, showing how new tech democratizes design workflows.
-
•
Design ops must continuously foresee future challenges and create environments that keep teams adaptable, human, and resilient.
Notable Quotes
"Design ops is a way to care for the people who design."
"We must not only fix today’s problem but also foresee what the future holds to build the best playground for our teams."
"How might we scale fast without losing our culture, our clarity and stay human?"
"Designers should not be left to figure things out alone as we grow faster."
"Sustainable teams require visible shared growth paths; designers’ growth should be supported, not accidental."
"Many times when planning to hire, we first assess our team competencies to identify the necessary talent."
"Designers should have a sense of belonging too. They should be having fun while learning and working."
"Artificial intelligence is reshaping our workflows. Our roles are shifting."
"We created AI OKRs allowing our team members to experiment and then share their findings with the team."
"Tomorrow of design ops belongs to those who lead with foresight into designs and designers future, to stay human and resilient."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"People were overwhelmed, missing the point, and didn’t even know where to start with all this change."
Erin HauberDesign is Not the Frosting on the Scaled Agile Layer Cake
October 24, 2019
"Confidence doesn’t dull criticality; self-doubt is a statement about your own worth, which we want to reduce."
Megan KiersteadYou Are a Badass at UX: Overcoming Imposter Syndrome
March 10, 2021
"Getting designers into a cadence of reviewing work with senior stakeholders was not a muscle the team had built."
Maggie DieringerCreating Consistency Through Constant Change
January 8, 2024
"We’ve seen organizations try to run 52 projects with only 36 teams—distraction at its worst."
Meaghan Waters Fotina KoutropoulousLack of Product Thinking will Doom Your Legacy Modernization
June 9, 2021
"Market researchers have an air of arrogance like an old cat, confident and unbothered by disruption."
Jemma AhmedBringing together market and user research
October 17, 2019
"The more you know, the more you have the ability to make informed decisions and better control events."
Maria TaylorKnowledge is Power: Managing the Lifeblood of the Design Org
October 3, 2023
"Simulation or personas can never replace testing with real users to build empathy and get accurate results."
Sam ProulxUnderstanding Screen Readers on Mobile: How And Why to Learn from Native Users
June 6, 2023
"We introduced 'go-to' people, like account managers, responsible for particular business areas to maintain relationships."
Catherine BlizzardUsing Integrated Insight to Drive Growth
March 10, 2022
"Research is about being ready for anything, even what you didn’t imagine."
Randolph Duke IIWar Stories LIVE! Randy Duke II
March 30, 2020
