Design Ops. What, When and How?
I believe a concise definition of Design Ops is:
“Design Ops are all those decisions that make the design function ‘functional’ and efficient.”
This definition synthesizes my learnings at the different HUG Podcasts by Hi Experience (in Spanish) from design leaders like Jesús Gorriti, former VP of Design at RBC; Hugo Sierra and Sagrado Nova, design leaders at BBVA; Turo López and Elisabeth Martínez from Design Ops at Adevinta, Raúl Marín, head teacher at IMMUNE Institute of Technology, Eloy Rodríguez, Lead Designer at Roche, and Alex de Fuenmayor, Design Ops Lead at Banc Sabadell.
In every organization, Design Ops takes a unique shape, but all share the common goal of streamlining design. In some cases, the focus is more on the people aspect, while in others, it’s on the technical side. However, the core purpose remains the same: The organization needs an efficient, scalable, and sustainable design function.
What Does “functional” Mean in the Context of the “Design Function”?
Understanding what design function is, is crucial. It refers to all design activities not necessarily carried out by dedicated design teams; instead, each designer works in a different, often multidisciplinary, squad. Therefore, the concept of a “design team” becomes more diluted. The community of designers in an organization is no longer a team, but a collective of individuals distributed across various teams, performing a similar function.
Functional Design
We can consider this community ‘functional’ when it can perform its duties and achieve its goals despite each member facing different realities. For instance, in companies like BBVA, these realities are so diverse that team members might be on different continents, working in different languages, and designing for users with different interaction patterns such as blind people who only interact with the product audibly.
Despite these challenges, they efficiently, sustainably, and scalably fulfill their functions, delivering as standardized an experience as possible with their designs.
The organization needs an efficient, scalable, and sustainable design function.
- Efficient Design is one that accomplishes its functions while minimizing resources without sacrificing quality.
- Scalable Design can extend its reach while minimizing additional effort.
- Sustainable Design remains robust as it scales and withstands the test of time. It should be sustainable technically (through the use of systems, components, and libraries), economically (avoiding an excessive consumption of resources), socially (being inclusive to access the entire market), ecologically (aiming to minimize environmental impact) and psychologically (not relying on sacrificing the health of design professionals to function properly).
In a way so that designers not only achieve short-term goals, execute tasks, and solve challenges but also establish work bases, processes, and tools for addressing increasingly complex future challenges. This approach helps contain cost increases while the design function matures and ensures better team stability and the predictability and economy of design within the organization.
So… in practice, what is Design Ops?
Design Ops, short for “Design Operations,” is a discipline aimed at optimizing the design function. It addresses the complexities that arise in large teams, ensuring efficient communication, clear procedures, and continuous growth.
Practically, it encompasses a combination of actions, tools, and processes that ease the professional lives of designers, allowing them to perform their functions effectively.
Among these, we typically find:
- Design systems, preventing the need to reinvent the wheel for each design decision.
- Standardized processes and procedures, saving time in project and task planning and execution.
- Tools like software, documentation, templates, and other physical or digital materials that streamline routine task execution.
- Ceremonies, milestones, and protocols for work tracking, such as briefing sessions, weekly meetings, retrospectives, design reviews, and guidelines for obtaining constructive feedback.
- Professional development programs like career and training plans, mentorships, and resource libraries.
- And more, depending on each organization.
“The orchestration and optimization of people, processes, and craft to amplify the value and impact of design at scale.” — Norman Nielsen’s definition for Design Ops
When and How to apply Design Ops?
All design teams, to varying degrees, engage in Design Ops. From the moment a common tool is chosen for work, between two design colleagues, Design Ops comes into play. (Or, at least, thats how Zalando Product Design approaches what they call a Design Ops mindset)
Therefore, the question is not when to apply Design Ops, but how to apply them according to each organization’s reality. This decision is complex and should be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case. Therefore, while specific recommendations will vary, these are some general guidelines that can help you frame an approach:
With a small Design function
From the inception of an organization and the inclusion of design professionals, we can start applying the previously mentioned Design Ops mindset.
Even without dedicated Design Ops personnel, this mindset should permeate the entire team, inspiring decisions that progressively make design more effective, efficient, scalable, and sustainable.
For example, standardizing and reusing design components, styles, and patterns makes sense, even without a Design System. It’s also wise to standardize and minimize the software and most frequently repeated processes used in the organization.
In the absence of a leader, this initiative should arise democratically from a conscious collective of design professionals.
As the function grows
As the number of design professionals in the organization increases, especially as they face diverse daily realities, the need for standardized work practices becomes more apparent.
These practices should not only make design predictable, scalable, and sustainable but also ensure that professionals in different situations do not feel discriminated against nor get frustrated, and maintain high motivation and commitment to the organization.
At this stage, commonly, it becomes necessary to have people dedicating part or all of their time to formalizing Design Ops, paying attention to team needs and providing what they need to do their jobs with a maximmum performance.
In a large organization
In larger teams, the complexity of Design Ops also grows. The diversity of realities faced by design personnel increases, and organizational challenges become more intricate. Scalability of team health becomes increasingly vital.
Here, it’s common to build a complete team dedicated to Design Ops, with specialized roles in areas like human resources, system leadership, tool procurement or process management.
These teams become pivotal in executing design at scale, particularly in multinational organizations.
The Challenge of Design Ops 🚀
The real challenge of Design Ops lies in creating effective systems that enable collaborative work in design and highlight progress in each project. These systems serve not only as operational tools but also as engines that maintain and grow team motivation. Transparency and celebrating achievements become essential, creating an environment that nurtures innovation and fosters a sense of accomplishment in every team member.
With Design Ops, we optimize processes and create fertile ground for increasing design’s impact and fostering collaboration in the dynamic digital product environment, leading to better outcomes and the potential to retain and boost talent.
👋🏻 About me
I’m Álvaro del Pozo, COO @ Hi Experience. For the past 7 years, I have been fostering the growth of UX teams in major corporations. Some of the companies I have worked with include INDITEX, Futbol Club Barcelona, ISDIN, Boehringer Ingelheim, among others.
Do not hesitate to reach me through LinkedIn if you want to talk about it.
🇪🇸 You can find this post in Spanish in Hi Experience’s blog.