Summary
DesignOps has been maturing in recent years and the adaptation of the practice has increased. With data from over 200 companies from all over the world, we are taking a deep dive into how DesignOps professionals are structuring their roles and/or teams in different companies. We are learning all about their impact, tools, and practices, as well as how are they adapting to the new normal, and how they are tackling social issues.
Key Insights
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Design operations professionals are mostly seasoned designers aged 35-44 with 10-20 years of experience.
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Only 31% of design ops practitioners have formal design degrees, reflecting diverse career paths.
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High emotional intelligence, especially empathy, is critical for success in design ops roles.
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Design ops roles typically become relevant once design teams scale beyond 30-40 members.
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Most design ops teams are very small, often just one individual handling many responsibilities.
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Remote work has become dominant post-pandemic, increasing the importance of distributed design ops.
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Design ops tasks cluster around communication, systems/processes, onboarding, culture, partnerships, project management, and governance.
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Figma is the main design collaboration tool, Slack leads in communication, and Google Docs and Drive are key for documentation and file storage.
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There is no clear ratio for hiring design ops personnel relative to design team size; the role requires prioritization of high-impact activities.
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Geographical disparity exists, with limited design ops presence or data from regions like Africa, Asia, and Canada.
Notable Quotes
"Design ops people need to be seasoned for the role; you won’t learn this right out of college or bootcamp."
"Empathy in design ops turns inward first, towards our own designers, then to other stakeholders."
"Most design ops teams are a team of one, which means you have to choose your battles and focus on highest ROI."
"There is an increase in demand for design operations; design leadership needs it now more than ever."
"Figma seems to be the primary tool for most teams, with Slack taking the lead on communication."
"In Europe, people tend to work 40 hours or less, while in the US 50+ hour workweeks are more common."
"The biggest hindering factors for adopting tooling are company policies, security, and budget."
"There is no perfect ratio of design ops people to designers; reality is messier than we expect."
"Most people want more out of design ops, especially around how companies use product data for decision-making."
"No one is married to a company; people can leave, so the focus should be on creating environments where designers want to stay."
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