Rosenverse

Log in or create a free Rosenverse account to watch this video.

Log in Create free account

100s of community videos are available to free members. Conference talks are generally available to Gold members.

Scale is Social Work (Videoconference)
Thursday, March 19, 2020 • DesignOps Community
Share the love for this talk
Scale is Social Work (Videoconference)
Speakers: Jacqui Frey
Link:

Summary

Ask any design leader and the word scale is most definitely a part of their job description. In this session, Jacqui Frey, Senior Director of Design Operations at Mailchimp, will share her successes and failures with scaling design through DesignOps. Scale requires something greater than determination in order to navigate an organization through change. It requires the power of the community. Social sciences like social theory, flow, chaos theory, and Adlerian psychology reveal key understandings to ensure impactful co-existing in large communities, especially those who require intentional social change. And if there is one thing you can count on in Design, it is change.

Key Insights

  • Design operations is fundamentally a form of social work focused on building human connections and removing friction to enable creativity.

  • Scaling design ops requires shifting from a team of one handling all tasks to a larger, structured group with defined roles such as program managers and producers.

  • A useful design ops to designer ratio is approximately one ops person per ten designers for effective communication and coordination.

  • Design ops roles differ significantly from project managers by requiring systemic thinking, partnership building across departments, and acting as agents of change.

  • Giving up certain operational responsibilities to design ops should be viewed as gaining power through partnership, not loss of control.

  • High emotional intelligence and business acumen are essential skills for design ops professionals to build trust and advocate effectively.

  • Design ops plays a critical role in navigating organizational change and managing differing expectations by acting as a translator across functions.

  • Supporting designers in organizations with less mature product partnerships involves empathy, active listening, and acting as neutral advocates or 'Switzerland.'

  • Effective communication of design ops processes requires clear, audience-appropriate documentation avoiding jargon or overly complex concepts at early stages.

  • Design ops can bring joy back to design by reducing operational distractions and empowering designers to focus on their core craft.

Notable Quotes

"Design ops is about removing friction so creativity can flow."

"My job is to make the head of design look super good."

"We have a rocket booster mindset, not scarcity, but abundant collaboration."

"Design ops brings joy back to design by taking the operational weight off designers."

"The best design ops leaders act as servant leaders, playing a no-glory, all-guts role."

"One design ops person per ten designers is when communication pain points start to show."

"It’s easy to get hired as design ops but very hard to gain the buy-in to lead it effectively."

"Design ops is as much about social fabric and community organizing as it is about systems and operations."

"We need clear, simple documentation written in the language of the people we serve."

"Supporting designers with less mature product partnerships means being empathetic and acting like Switzerland in conversations."

Ask the Rosenbot
Designing Systems at Scale
2018 • DesignOps Summit 2018
Gold
Sarah Brooks
Theme 3 Intro
2021 • Civic Design 2021
Gold
Carl Turner
You Can Do This: Understand and Solve Organizational Problems to Jumpstart a Dead Project
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Jemma Ahmed
Democratization: Working with it, not against it [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Dan Willis
Enterprise Storytelling Sessions
2018 • Enterprise Experience 2018
Gold
Sam Proulx
Accessibility: An Opportunity to Innovate
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Mike Brzozowski
UX in everyday products: Empowering climate conscious choices (Videoconference)
2024 • Climate UX Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Alberto Ferreira
Making it Count: Developing a custom digital metric framework that works
2021 • QuantQual Interest Group (Rosenfeld Community)
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
John Cutler
The Alignment Trap
2023 • Design in Product 2023
Gold
Louis Rosenfeld
Day 1 Welcome
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Stephen Anderson
Puzzled? How to Coordinate Humans for Complex Challenges
2021 • Enterprise Community
Kat Vellos
Opener: The Other L Word
2024 • DesignOps Summit 2020
Gold
Sohit Karol
Designing Delightful Listening Experiences: Mixed Methods Research in the Age of Machine Learning
2020 • Advancing Research 2020
Gold
Audrey Crane
Shadow Design–Where Else is Design Happening in Your Organization? (Videoconference)
2023 • Enterprise Community
Sam Proulx
To Boldly Go: The New Frontiers of Accessibility
2022 • Design at Scale 2022
Gold

More Videos

Alex Hurworth

"The time for debate has passed; we need to act decisively and collaboratively."

Alex Hurworth Bonnie John Fahd Arshad Antoine Marin

Designing a Contact Tracing App for Universal Access

October 23, 2020

Laine Riley Prokay

"Building connections early in their career could create even more opportunities further along their career path."

Laine Riley Prokay Lisa Gordon

Carving a Path for Early Career DesignOps Practitioners

September 9, 2022

Eniola Oluwole

"People were very adverse to changes because a small 0.5% conversion increase meant millions in revenue."

Eniola Oluwole

Lessons From the DesignOps Journey of the World's Largest Travel Site

October 24, 2019

Nathan Shedroff

"Most strategy is done pretty poorly; it's misleading, sloppy, and often ignored after it's produced."

Nathan Shedroff

Double Your Mileage: Use Your Research Strategically

March 31, 2020

Sam Proulx

"Mobile browsers are typically updated with the OS, reducing variability compared to desktop browser versions."

Sam Proulx

Mobile Accessibility: Why Moving Accessibility Beyond the Desktop is Critical in a Mobile-first World

November 17, 2022

Feleesha Sterling

"Choosing the right cadence depends on your team’s resources and maturity—some do it every two weeks, others monthly."

Feleesha Sterling

Building a Rapid Research Program (Videoconference)

May 18, 2023

Neil Barrie

"You get to those iconic signature actions when product excellence meets cultural tensions and what people need."

Neil Barrie

Widening the Aperture: The Case for Taking a Broader Lens to the Dialogue between Products and Culture

March 25, 2024

John Devanney

"Incremental improvements and disruptive innovation require very different methods and measures."

John Devanney

The Design Management Office

November 6, 2017

Katy Mogal

"The most important thing is producing something that gives a perspective nobody else in the organization can bring."

Katy Mogal

But Do Your Insights Scale?

March 12, 2021