Bria Alexander
DesignOps Curator
Laura Gatewood
Lead Design Program Manager, Central DesignOps, Salesforce
Corey Long
Senior Manager, Design Operations, Adobe
Daniel Orbach
Executive Director of Design, Small Business Credit Card, JP Morgan Chase
Laine Prokay
Principal Design Program Manager, Salesforce
Deanna Smith
Design Program Manager, Adobe Design
Summary
What’s the most important question regarding today’s theme of resilience that we, as a community, need to address? We’ve asked you, you’ve spoken—and now we’ll tackle it with the aid of Bria and some of today’s speakers.
Key Insights
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Resilience in design ops hinges on flexibility in mindset and strong communication within teams, as Danielle explains.
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Laura highlights that kindness and focusing on user experience nurture resilience like water sustaining flexible trees.
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Cory underscores the impact of influence and empathy for driving design ops changes, particularly in small teams.
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Lane reframes wellness as energy management rather than time management to sustain resilience personally.
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Deanna advocates viewing feedback as objective data, not personal criticism, to protect wellbeing.
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Daniel stresses building neurodiverse teams and managing to outcomes, not outputs, to accommodate varied working styles.
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Providing asynchronous and prepared inputs in workshops allows introverts and extroverts to engage effectively.
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Modeling healthy work boundaries and norms, such as limiting off-hours contact, supports professional resilience.
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Panelists see AI as an evolving teammate that can draft, summarize, moderate, and help measure success, not replace humans.
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Authenticity and unique human voice remain essential in job applications and communications, even with AI assistance.
Notable Quotes
"Resilience is about flexibility like trees bending in strong winds rather than breaking."
"Start with kindness and focus on the experience you want people to have – that waters the tree to keep it bendable."
"The best way to achieve influence in design ops is to clearly show the benefit of what you're doing."
"It’s energy management, not time management – listen to yourself to recharge effectively."
"Feedback is data. It’s not personal. That mindset shift protects your wellbeing."
"Build teams with neurodiversity so different working styles can thrive, not just clusters of extroverts."
"Manage to outcomes, not output. Focus on what you need, not how someone does it."
"Use prep times and async options in workshops so introverts can think and contribute on their own terms."
"Imagine AI as a teammate on every call and email, moderating and helping drive team efficiency."
"AI is a tool, not a replacement for human voice and authenticity in your work."
Or choose a question:
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