Summary
Today’s problems are often yesterday’s solutions—quick fix solutions often perpetuate the problem or circumvent them completely. How can we identify the right opportunities for DesignOps & ensure the processes or programs that emerge are successful? We’ll take a system-dynamics approach to map out the process, flows, and operational models of an organization. By combining this strategy and building technology that focuses on automation, orchestration, and measurement, we can achieve the speed, scale, and quality goals of any organization.
Key Insights
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Design operations at Workday was formalized in 2016 to scale design’s impact and velocity beyond just team size.
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Lack of clear rules initially made it hard to rebel or change processes, inspiring deliberate system mapping and problem picking.
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Design ops at Workday acts as a bridge connecting design with finance, legal, security, and workplace teams previously unrelated.
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Automation was critical to streamline complex, multi-team workflows, especially for delivering visual assets without extra overhead.
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Designers retained their familiar design tools, while automation and modular platforms handled delivery and integration with developers.
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By taking ownership of deliverables, designers gained accountability but also responsibility for quality and impact.
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Research operations prioritize data privacy compliance like GDPR by indexing content and metadata without adding extra researcher workload.
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Effective design ops tools must integrate with developer and product management systems rather than force new isolated workflows.
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The evolution from all-in-one 'Swiss Army knife' tools to specialized tooling enhances focus and productivity in design organizations.
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Successful design operations require intentional planning and curiosity, similar to organizing a complex mountain climb with attention to team morale and gear.
Notable Quotes
"It’s kind of difficult to break the rules when they’re not very clear and they’re not really there."
"We wanted to move fast in the right direction, not just going anywhere for the sake of going there."
"We had no idea where we were going, so we had to build and connect with teams like we’d never had before."
"Designers can focus on designing and developers can focus on developing — people are getting paid to do their jobs now."
"By building tools around the natural workflow and how work was being done, we moved faster and worked more productively."
"Surprising to me, PMs benefited from the platform and were able to work faster in their own lifecycles."
"There’s a lot of tools that can do everything, but they can’t do one thing really, really well."
"We had to partner closely with information security to ensure every piece of data in research files was tracked and compliant."
"If you’re intentional in your tools and choices, and curious about their impact, you’ll find aligned interests and ease."
"I’m hoping that once we figure this out, I can kind of go back to my old goal and break those rules."
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