Rosenverse

This video is only accessible to Gold members. Log in or register for a free Gold Trial Account to watch.

Log in Register

Most conference talks are accessible to Gold members, while community videos are generally available to all logged-in members.

When Design Ops Comes in H.O.T. : A Tale of a Transformed Design Org
Gold
Thursday, September 30, 2021 • DesignOps Summit 2021
Share the love for this talk
When Design Ops Comes in H.O.T. : A Tale of a Transformed Design Org
Speakers: Briana Thomas and Christina Rodriguez
Link:

Summary

TIn their first 60 days at Zendesk, Briana and Christina, a 2 person design ops team, conducted a Program Manager Audit looking at these 3 key areas: People, Process, and Portfolio. 90 days later, Product Design has transformed from a siloed, disjointed team into a well-organized, collaborative environment with a unified tool strategy, inclusive team spaces and more focus on design craft. In this talk you will learn how to not only conduct a thorough and data-centric Program Manager Audit, but how to come in H.O.T. (Humble, Orchestrated, and Timely.)

Key Insights

  • Ops-focused discussion guides tailored to people, practice, and portfolio help extract actionable feedback from diverse roles and levels.

  • An effectiveness scale with criteria like audience, purpose, and culture can objectively evaluate meetings and rituals for redesign.

  • Meeting engagement can deteriorate over time due to high volume content and irrelevant slide sharing, including spam.

  • Quick, strategic execution on recommendations is critical to maintain trust within design teams.

  • Project charters are effective tools for documenting goals, success criteria, and timelines, fostering accountability.

  • Involving leadership early with transparency about evaluation criteria increases buy-in for ops-led changes.

  • Evangelizing positive aspects during feedback sessions builds credibility and motivates change rather than just highlighting negatives.

  • Ops roles serve as connectors who orchestrate processes and fill gaps across teams to create cohesive workflows.

  • Handling ineffective tools or rituals outside of design’s direct control requires identifying stakeholders and articulating organizational impact.

  • Scaling meetings for large global teams requires shifting from individual updates to curated, practice-focused content and shorter cadence.

Notable Quotes

"Coming in hot means being honest, orchestrated, and timely."

"We had no idea what our producer roles were supposed to do when we started."

"We started seeing more pictures of dogs and even spam in slides — that was the moment to rethink UX Weekly."

"An ops-focused discussion guide is different; we have to nerd out on people, practice, and portfolio."

"Always conclude with a thank you and what you’re going to do with the data because people hold us accountable."

"We created an effectiveness scale with seven criteria to ground our recommendations in real data."

"Sometimes meetings are happening too often or not enough; cadence really matters."

"When leadership is busy and misses feedback deadlines, unapologetically move forward and use surveys."

"Project charters are our best friends for accountability and showing when and how we'll get work done."

"The new Product Design Biweekly blends practical insight, growth, project work, and new initiatives perfectly."

Ask the Rosenbot
Adam Cutler
People + Places + Practices = Outcomes
2016 • Enterprise UX 2016
Gold
Ben Davies
Expert Panel: The Principles of Research Repository Design
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Andrew Michael
Building a Product Insights Team
2022 • Advancing Research 2022
Gold
Maggie Dieringer
Cutting through the Noise (Videoconference)
2020 • DesignOps Community
Christian Bason
Expand—Rethinking Design for Public Challenges (Videoconference)
2022 • Civic Design Community
Silke Bochat
5 Antifragile Strategies for a DesignOps 2.0
2024 • DesignOps 2024
Gold
Michael Weir
Mixed Methods and Behavioural Science (Videoconference)
2023 • Rosenfeld Community
Niko Laitinen
Adaptable Org Design for Resilient Times
2021 • Design at Scale 2021
Gold
Sarah Coyle
Design and Analytics with Sarah Coyle (Videoconference)
2020 • DesignOps Community
Emily Williams
When UX Research and Institutional Racism Collide: A Case Study
2021 • Advancing Research 2021
Gold
Kyria Stephens
Power to Heal: Civic Design in the Aftermath of Tragedy
2022 • Civic Design 2022
Gold
Sam Proulx
Online Shopping: Designing an Accessible Experience
2023 • Enterprise UX 2023
Gold
Jill Fruchter
Inconvenient Insights: The Researcher's Role is to Stay Curious
2023 • Advancing Research 2023
Gold
Sam Ladner
Methodologies: Beyond the interview [Advancing Research Community Workshop Series]
2024 • Advancing Research Community
Product and Design at Bloomberg: A 15-year Evolution
2022 • Design in Product 2022
Gold
Denise Jacobs
Interactive Keynote: Social Change by Design
2024 • Enterprise Experience 2020
Gold

More Videos

"When teams lose a sense of agency, they act strange, cutting corners and racing to get something out the door."

Standardizing Product Merits for Leaders, Designers, and Everyone

June 15, 2018

Simon Wardley

"There’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all methods; what works in one part of the map doesn’t work in another."

Simon Wardley

Maps and Topographical Intelligence (Videoconference)

January 31, 2019

Sandra Camacho

"The Reflexive Compass helps us discern bias patterns early, take accountability, and measure impact."

Sandra Camacho

Creating More Bias-Proof Designs

January 22, 2025

Darian Davis

"When fellow co-workers label an individual as difficult, it’s hard not to treat that person as a problem."

Darian Davis

Lessons from a Toxic Work Relationship

January 8, 2024

Fisayo Osilaja

"My goal today is to showcase how generative AI can go beyond just speeding up our processes and actually catapult us in our career."

Fisayo Osilaja

[Demo] The AI edge: From researcher to strategist

June 4, 2024

Uday Gajendar

"There is a common thread in craft: dignity, purpose, utility, and beauty."

Uday Gajendar

The Wicked Craft of Enterprise UX

May 13, 2015

Davis Neable

"No official kickoff was held, which meant shifting expectations and lack of alignment."

Davis Neable Guy Segal

How to Drive a Design Project When you Don’t Have a Design Team

June 10, 2021

Eniola Oluwole

"People felt designs were self-evident and too much explanation was a barrier to using the patterns."

Eniola Oluwole

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

October 24, 2019

Aurobinda Pradhan

"We believe tracking design metrics aligned to business goals is important to demonstrate design’s impact."

Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank Deshpande

Introduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts

September 9, 2022