Summary
We will cover some of the key principles and guidelines of collaborative DesignOps and share experiences of setting up design operations using a tech platform. You will know more about how to: Define a design process and convert it into a design roadmap. Share design goals and measure impact. Manage design processes and activities. Get started with curated set of tools, templates and best practices.
Key Insights
-
•
Design teams are scaling rapidly, with design recruitment growing tenfold in the past two years, demanding new tools and processes.
-
•
Current DevOps tools like Jira are inadequate for managing Design Ops due to fundamental differences in work styles and workflows.
-
•
There is a significant gap between strategizing design, executing it, and measuring its impact, which Design Ops platforms must bridge.
-
•
Design Ops encompasses multiple user roles including design managers, Design Ops managers, product managers, and design producers, each with distinct needs.
-
•
Design managers focus heavily on maintaining team health while achieving goals, whereas Design Ops managers emphasize process standardization and knowledge reuse.
-
•
Product managers seek transparency into design timelines and deliverables, viewing design as a black box without clear visibility.
-
•
Design producers prioritize creative autonomy and prefer working within beloved tools like Figma, resisting workflows that interrupt their creative process.
-
•
Qubits enables quick creation of standardized design roadmaps by offering flexibility in process choice (Agile UX, Clean UX, Design Sprint) and team assignments.
-
•
Tracking design metrics aligned to business outcomes is crucial for demonstrating design’s ROI and justifying design investments.
-
•
Integrations with tools such as Jira, Slack, Google Drive, Figma, and analytics platforms are essential for seamless collaboration and data-driven insights in design teams.
Notable Quotes
"Design teams are growing really fast, and design recruitment has gone 10x or more in the last two years."
"Design Ops being pushed under the umbrella of DevOps with tools like Jira is not right; the playgrounds are incompatible."
"Design managers care deeply about team health and achieving goals simultaneously."
"Design Ops managers want to standardize the design process and organizational knowledge to bring clarity and confidence."
"Product managers feel design is a black box, with no visibility into timelines or accountability."
"Design producers want to stay in their favorite tools like Figma and avoid being forced into additional tools or reporting."
"You can create a design roadmap in Qubits in just half a minute based on your chosen design process."
"Our platform aligns the entire design team with a process so everyone knows their activities and timelines."
"Design metrics are how businesses measure design’s ROI, so tracking these is essential."
"We aim to integrate deeply with Jira, Slack, Google Drive, Figma, and analytics tools to remove silos and improve collaboration."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"I have to triangulate socially because Yorkshire folks are quite reserved; they won't openly admit issues."
Adam Cutler Karen Pascoe Ian Swinson Susan WorthmanDiscussion
June 8, 2016
"We don’t get upset when users say one thing and do another, but we freak out when our leadership behaves that way."
Peter MerholzThe Trials and Tribulations of Directors of UX (Videoconference)
July 13, 2023
"Human biases are the real problem behind algorithmic bias, not the algorithms themselves."
Lisa WelchmanCleaning Up Our Mess: Digital Governance for Designers
June 14, 2018
"Investing in sustainability today will yield dividends for future generations."
Vincent BrathwaiteOpener: Past, Present, and Future—Closing the Racial Divide in Design Teams
October 22, 2020
"Growth and learning is your long term change management plan."
Brenna FallonLearning Over Outcomes
October 24, 2019
"Thick data is the opposite of big data; it’s stories, qualitative, and crucial during moments of rapid change."
Tricia WangSpatial Collapse: Designing for Emergent Culture
January 8, 2024
"Creating hypotheses from pain points with measurable success criteria helped prioritize which to pursue."
Edgar Anzaldua MorenoUsing Research to Determine Unique Value Proposition
March 11, 2021
"Context-related data gathered through qualitative research is the first to reach our decision-making centers in the brain."
Designing Systems at Scale
November 7, 2018
"Ethics evolve faster than law; just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s ethical."
Erin WeigelGet Your Whole Team Testing to Design for Impact
July 24, 2024