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 functions are rapidly growing, with market size expected to reach $400 billion by 2026, increasing demand and complexity.
-
•
Most companies struggle with lack of operational glue linking strategy, execution, and measurement in design teams.
-
•
Traditional devops tools are task- and issue-centric, making them unsuitable for process-oriented design workflows.
-
•
Design teams suffer from fragmented tools creating silos, complicating access to a single source of truth for documents and artifacts.
-
•
Distinct stakeholder groups in design include design managers, design Ops leaders, product managers, and design producers, each with unique needs.
-
•
Design leaders want predictable roadmaps and healthy team utilization; Design Ops seek process standardization and knowledge reuse.
-
•
Product managers require transparency, accountability, and coordination across design, product, and engineering teams.
-
•
Design producers value autonomy using favorite creative tools but desire automation in reporting and feedback cycles.
-
•
Qubits enables custom definition and modification of design processes including popular ones like Double Diamond and Lean UX.
-
•
Integration with Jira (two-way), Slack, and plugins for design tools allows Qubits to fit seamlessly without forcing tool changes.
Notable Quotes
"The operational glue that binds strategy, execution, and measurement in design is often missing, and that’s critical for scaling."
"Most of us in design are very process-oriented, but traditional devops tools are task and issue-centric, making collaboration hard."
"Finding a single source of truth for design documents and artifacts is extremely hard because most tools operate in silos."
"Design leaders want predictable roadmaps and healthy teams, measurable against timelines and goals."
"Design Ops people want to standardize processes and reuse organizational knowledge for clarity and confidence."
"Product managers feel design is a black box; they want visibility, transparency, and accountability on timelines."
"Design producers love their creative tools and want to keep using them without multiple manual reporting steps."
"At Qubits, you can customize or copy standard design processes like Lean UX and add or remove activities easily."
"Our two-way Jira integration allows you to link design activities directly with epics, user stories, and tasks."
"We believe tracking design metrics aligned to business goals is important to demonstrate design’s impact."
Dig deeper—ask the Rosenbot:
More Videos
"Our mission is to empower everybody to learn, not just have a few people learning on behalf of the rest."
Monty HammontreeThe Future of UX Research (Videoconference)
December 3, 2020
"There have been deadly fights in clinics as locals assumed refugee children were favored, exposing deeper systemic issues."
Liz EbengoThe Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
December 4, 2024
"Tell a story with your design by starting with background, introducing the users, and demonstrating how the design benefits them."
Billy CarlsonTips to Utilize Wireframes to Tell an Effective Product Story
June 6, 2023
"Design operations is designing how we design, and inclusive design is design ops we need to be intentional about."
Saara Kamppari-MillerInclusive Design is DesignOps
September 29, 2021
"A good one-on-one needs some framework so that even if I'm tired or burned out, I can still provide value."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016
"Equal pay for equal results — content designers and product designers at Intercom have the same compensation bands and equity."
Jonathon ColmanHow to Maximize the Impact of Content Design
January 8, 2024
"What users say they want and what they really need can be very different; you need to be careful about how you interpret feedback."
Maria SkaadenContinuous Design: One eye on the horizon and the other on the next wave
November 8, 2018
"I'm not a Python developer. I've used Python, but I'm getting a lot of assistance from ChatGPT to help me write that."
Bryce Benton[Demo] AI-powered UX enhancement: Aligning GitHub documentation with USWDS at Austin Public Library
June 4, 2024
"Men in this report consistently report higher income than women, but don’t draw early conclusions — seniority levels and positions matter."
Marc FonteijnFirst Insights from the 2025 Service Design Salary(+) Report
December 4, 2024
