Rosenverse
Expand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff

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.

Expand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff

Gold
Thursday, September 8, 2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Share the love for this talk
Expand DesignOps Leadership as a Chief of Staff
Speakers: Isaac Heyveld
Link:

Summary

Today’s design organizations continuously face increased scope, complex deliverables, challenging people dynamics, and pressure to hit business goals. For this reason, it’s important to reevaluate how DesignOps leadership is supported so that they can be as efficient and effective as possible. An emerging solution to this challenge is the Chief of Staff role — DesignOps practitioners skilled in values-driven leadership at scale, ruthless prioritization, and building trusted partnerships, who can serve as an advisor, proxy, and operational leader to the heads of large design teams. Here’s what Isaac has learned while defining this new leadership path in DesignOps at Salesforce. Takeaways: How to lead your team as the scope of your responsibility widens How to build trusted operational partnerships How to navigate complex situations on your team as you scale up

Key Insights

  • The Chief of Staff role in design ops focuses on enabling the executive and leadership team to scale operations and strategy, not just managing individual projects.

  • Isaac Hayvin partnered for over a decade with EVP Jason Day, exemplifying the trusted partnership critical to the CoS role’s success.

  • Salesforce’s Customer 360 UX team grew from 30 to 170 practitioners almost overnight, prompting the formal creation of the Chief of Staff role.

  • The CoS serves multiple personas: goalkeeper, operator, implementer, integrator, proxy, and advisor, tailoring support to executive needs.

  • Chiefs of Staff operate closely with executive assistants and design program managers, forming a triad essential to operating a large design org.

  • Operational tasks for a design CoS include talent reviews, budget planning, quarterly business reviews, and global team investment strategies.

  • Spreadsheets remain the primary flexible tool used for resource allocation and strategic planning despite their low-tech nature.

  • Emotional intelligence and strong communication skills are vital for a CoS, who works across multiple leadership levels and teams.

  • The Chief of Staff role can be a natural next career step for Design Program Managers, expanding from team-level to organizational leadership support.

  • Adding a Chief of Staff is advisable once a design leadership team surpasses about 100 practitioners or undergoes rapid growth requiring dedicated executive support.

Notable Quotes

"The trusted partnership between the chief of staff and the executive is critically important."

"We went from a team of 80 to 170 overnight, and that was a wide open cheeks flushed moment for me."

"The chief of staff serves as a bridge between the design program managers, executive assistants, and other ux and product chiefs of staff."

"The persona of a goalkeeper is helping to triage and prioritize strategy and work for the executive."

"Emotional intelligence is key to navigating situations with senior leaders multiple grades above you."

"A lot of our work still happens in spreadsheets, because they’re flexible and dynamic."

"The chief of staff is the bridge between our executive leadership team and the design ops practitioners."

"If you’re managing over 100 design practitioners, it makes sense to start looking at a chief of staff role."

"The chief of staff can be a natural next step from a design program manager or design ops leader of one."

"Communication is an integral part of the chief of staff role, whether with leadership, the org, or partners."

Ask the Rosenbot
Jeff Sussna
What DesignOps Can Learn From DevOps
2017 • DesignOps Summit 2017
Gold
Dan Hill
Designing for the infrastructures of everyday life
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Erika Flowers
Introduction to MURAL for UX
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Uday Gajendar
Day 1 Welcome
2024 • Designing with AI 2024
Gold
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Uday Gajendar
The Rise of Meta-Design: A Starter Playbook
2022 • Enterprise Community
Xenia Adjoubei
Empowering Communities Through the Researcher in Residence Program
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Joel Branch
Humanizing AI: Filling the Gaps with Multi-faceted Research
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Aurobinda Pradhan
Introduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Steve Krug
Don’t Make Me Think 3.0: What Endures and What Evolves in UX
2026 • Advancing Research 2026
Gold
Dawn Ressel
Full-Stack User Experiences: A Marriage of Design and Technology
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Ellie Krysl
Planned Right. Managed Right. Designed Right.
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Coffee with Lou: Should You Write a (UX) Book?
2024 • Rosenfeld Community
Billy Carlson
Pro-level UI Tips for Beginners
2022 • DesignOps Summit 2022
Gold
Victor Udoewa
Radical Participatory Design: Decolonizing Participatory Design Processes
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Laine Riley Prokay
How DesignOps can Drive Inclusive Career Ladders for All
2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Gold

More Videos

Lavy Kumar

"It doesn’t matter when work is done, so long as it’s done and its quality."

Lavy Kumar Kat Temple Shan Sebastian Tara Jensen Jenn Chou

Future of Work

June 9, 2021

Andreas Huebner

"Our user base is really fun and complex, with different preferences that require nuanced automation approaches."

Andreas Huebner Amy Takata Craig Brookes

What Is It Like To Be Part of The UX Team at Compass?

March 11, 2021

Ricardo Martins

"Cluster analysis will definitely replace personas, the fictional personas of course."

Ricardo Martins

Unlocking the power of advanced quantitative methods

March 12, 2025

Monty Hammontree

"People will work harder for people than they will for a number."

Monty Hammontree

The Future of UX Research

December 3, 2020

Benjamin Real

"The designers started to send notes of thank you to the ex members of the design ops team for making their life easier."

Benjamin Real

Showing the Value of DesignOps by Not Having a DesignOps Team

October 21, 2020

Kate Towsey

"People don't learn when they're rushed, stressed, or don't trust the source of the knowledge."

Kate Towsey

Ask Me Anything (AMA) with Kate Towsey

April 2, 2025

Steve Portigal

"The core of it is really putting yourself in that other person’s shoes—it’s basic but essential empathy."

Steve Portigal Chris Chapo Kelly Goto Christian Rohrer

Discussion

May 13, 2015

Sam Proulx

"Consistency reduces cognitive load not just for screen reader users but for people with ADHD and other cognitive challenges."

Sam Proulx

Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience

March 28, 2023

Sam Proulx

"Screen magnification users are a great place to start because your prototypes and tools will mostly just work with minimal adaptation."

Sam Proulx

Prototype Reviews, People With Disabilities, and You

October 1, 2021