Summary
This session explores resilience from multiple perspectives within design operations. Corey opens with an inspiring story about overcoming challenges in his 2023-2024 job search, culminating in his successful hire at Adobe. Daniel then shares insights on maintaining resilience during day-to-day work by collaboratively creating operating models despite unpredictability. Deanna Smith, Laura Gatewood, and Lane Pro K provide approaches for improving practice through optimization tools like Slack and fostering gentler team interactions. A midday panel with Corey, Deanna, Laura, Lane, and the host reflects on these shared experiences. The day closes with Silka Bcha, ALA Weinberg, and Zaria Cameron emphasizing authenticity, humanity, and moral integrity as core to personal and team betterment. Together, these stories and strategies offer a comprehensive look at building resilience professionally and personally.
Key Insights
-
•
Resilience involves both withstanding and quickly recovering from professional difficulties.
-
•
Corey’s job search journey shows resilience can lead to positive career transitions even after prolonged challenges.
-
•
Co-creating operating models with teams helps navigate uncertainty and complexity in daily design operations.
-
•
Optimization tools like Slack can enhance productivity but require intentional gentleness in communication.
-
•
Resilience is strengthened by collaboratively adapting work practices rather than rigidly enforcing them.
-
•
Midday panels provide valuable reflection opportunities to consolidate learnings on resilience and practice improvement.
-
•
Humanity and moral principles are essential foundations for sustaining resilience personally and within teams.
-
•
Sharing diverse personal stories creates a richer understanding of resilience across different roles and challenges.
-
•
The design operations community benefits from openly discussing vulnerabilities and growth to inspire others.
-
•
Sustained resilience involves internal growth as much as external process optimization.
Notable Quotes
"Resilience means the capacity to withstand or recover quickly from difficulties or toughness."
"Corey’s job search in 2023 through 2024 is a story that ends well because he joined Adobe earlier this year."
"We talk about being resilient in our day jobs and co-creating operating models with our teams even when things get hairy and squirrely."
"Deanna Smith, Laura Gatewood, and Lane Pro K share ways to better our practice through optimization and just being a little bit gentler to each other."
"Slack is not just a tool, it’s a space where we can foster gentler communication to support resilience."
"The midday panel with Corey, Deanna, Laura, Lane, and me is about all the wonderful things that have happened so far in the day."
"Silka Bcha, ALA Weinberg, and Zaria Cameron discuss ways we can better ourselves and our teammates by being true to our humanity and our morality."
"The arc of the day reflects inspiring stories all the way through ways we can improve our practice based on what we’ve learned."
"Resilience is not just an individual trait but a collective practice grounded in our journeys."
"We live in a world of design operations that constantly demands resilience and reflection."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Without shared organizational goals and customer-focused OKRs, democratization efforts fragment and fail to scale."
Jemma Ahmed Steve Carrod Chris Geison Dr. Shadi Janansefat Christopher NashDemocratization: Working with it, not against it [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
July 24, 2024
"Designers are rebels; to get their buy-in, involve them and treat them as precious collaborators."
Nina JurcicThe Design System Rollercoaster: From Enabler and Bottleneck to Catalyst for Change
October 3, 2023
"If your organization is healthy, the haters pretty quickly get marginalized when everyone else is excited about the design system."
Nathan Curtis Nalini P. Kotamraju Jack Moffett Dawn ResselDiscussion
June 9, 2016
"The canary in the coal mine is the bird that miners would bring in; if the canary isn’t doing well, there’s imminent danger and everyone needs to get out."
Saara Kamppari-Miller Nicole Bergstrom Shashi JainKey Metrics: Comparing Three Letter Acronym Metrics That Include the Word “Key”
November 13, 2024
"The re-platforming journey is transformative not just for the product, but for the people and teams involved."
Malini RaoLessons Learned from a 4-year Product Re-platforming Journey
June 9, 2021
"85% of people were leaving after just looking at one page on the old site—that was a huge problem."
Mackenzie Cockram Sara Branco Cunha Ian FranklinIntegrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research from Discovery to Live
December 16, 2022
"If you signed up for a cohort, please make sure you’re in your private cohort channel to meet and discuss with your group."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
June 9, 2021
"Everyone is looking for ways to build better products and go faster."
Jackie HoLead Effectively While Preserving Team Autonomy with Growth Boards
January 8, 2024
"When they become important is when they recede into the background and become mundane."
Dan HillDesigning for the infrastructures of everyday life
June 4, 2024