DesignOps: The API of design teams

A presentation at Converge in September 2022 in London, UK by Inayaili León

Process & Design systems & Workflows & Onbo & Playbooks & Hiring & Project management & Research & Career development & Documentati Capacity planning & Change management & Community & Stakeholder influence & Strategy Templates & Practices & Scale & Budget plannin Metrics & Planning & OKRs & Bootcamps & Skills Learning & DI&B & Meetings & Workshops & Offs Dashboards & Asset management & Procureme

Are you the design ops? 🤔 @yaili Converge 2022

What is DesignOps? 😬 @yaili Converge 2022

Connects endpoints A system where different things can interact Hides complexity Makes connections with purpose @yaili Converge 2022

🪣 🪣 🪣 People Practices Tools @yaili Converge 2022

DesignOps themes People Practices Tools Hiring Planning and tracking work Access to software Learning and development Budgets Plugins Playbooks Documentation Career ladders Capacity planning Design systems Building community Meetings Asset management Onboarding @yaili Converge 2022

@yaili
Converge 2022 now-3 months 3 6 months • Hiring • Onboarding 6 12 months • Career development

DesignOps brings strategic vision to how a design team operates. @yaili Converge 2022

DesignOps is like glue: you notice it’s not there when things start falling apart. @yaili Converge 2022

How can design deliver value and not be a bottleneck? @yaili Converge 2022

Design onboarding projects @yaili Converge 2022

@yaili Converge 2022 on Unsplash Photo by Kaleidico

Seek and foster feedback: good and bad @yaili Converge 2022

Title Text Working with other teams Add image

@yaili Converge 2022 on Unsplash Photo by airfocus

Define systems and processes that don’t need you to function. @yaili Converge 2022

Title Text Sharing work in progress Add image

@yaili Converge 2022 Fibre on Unsplash Photo by Compare

DesignOps needs to balance the team’s need for change with the human need for stability. @yaili Converge 2022

Add image @yaili Converge 2022Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash Photo by Desola

DesignOps’ focus changes as Looking ahead the team and company grow. @yaili Converge 2022

DesignOps never starts from scratch. Start by amplifying the good. @yaili Converge 2022

DesignOps connects with existing systems. @yaili Converge 2022

Who’s doing your DesignOps work right now? 🤨 @yaili Converge 2022

These folks may be doing DesignOps… Project managers Design managers @yaili Converge 2022 Product managers Designers You? Engineers Eng managers

Is the work being celebrated? 🥳 @yaili Converge 2022

Inayaili León
@yaili

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DesignOps is the glue that keeps a design org together, and the connective tissue that links design to other disciplines across the company, and beyond. Even if your company doesn’t have a formal DesignOps team, this work is likely being done by someone.

At GitHub, we’re thinking about our DesignOps practice as the API that connects designers to designers, and design to the wider company. Just like when designing APIs, we’ve tried things that didn’t work quite well, and have had to ship several breaking changes as we move towards a more stable release.

In this talk, you will learn:

How to identify opportunities for DesignOps to be executed more intentionally
How to see DesignOps as an opportunity to connect not just designers, but design to other disciplines, and design to the community
Some things we’ve tried at GitHub that didn’t work so well — and some that did

Buzz and feedback

Here’s what was said about this presentation on social media.

Up next, let’s hear all about #DesignOps and designing the API of design teams from @yaili! We’re ready to learn 👀 #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/Sm15HhozBv
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
Now @yaili is talking to us about DesignOps. She says it was liberating when that job title started being used because there was finally a name for what she does. #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/QGGsCFXO74
— Josh Tumath (@JoshTumath) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps is like glue: you notice it’s not there when things start falling apart.” - @yaili

Talk: #DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams#ConvergeLDN 🚀 #WDSW22
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
A nice explanation of what DesignOps is by @yaili #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/h8o4Y0jk8Y
— Jan Toman (@HonzaTmn) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps brings strategic vision to how a design team operates.” - @yaili

Talk: #DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams#ConvergeLDN 🚀 #WDSW22
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps brings strategic vision to how a design team operates.” — @yaili at @zeroheight’s #ConvergeLDN
— Dan Mall (@danmall) September 21, 2022
DesignOps is embedded in design teams. It thinks a lot about the collaboration between designers and developers. @yaili #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/AJIDe45zV4
— Josh Tumath (@JoshTumath) September 21, 2022
Oof, so true.

“Design ops is like glue: you notice it’s not there when things start falling apart” @yaili at #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/tcuYcUCAs2
— Lily Dart (@lily_dart) September 21, 2022
Meet our youngest #ConvergeLDN Conference audience member!👶🏻🥹@yaili #WDSW22 @designsystemswk #designsystems #dsl #design pic.twitter.com/fPVoQxJlv2
— Design Systems London (@DSLconf) September 21, 2022
Are you the design ops at your company? 🤓😱🧐 @yaili #convergeLDN #WorldDesignSystemsWeek #Converge #DesignSystems pic.twitter.com/Q47roEI5ZN
— ǝıuɐןǝɯ xnoɹnp (@melaniedrx) September 21, 2022
“Sometimes, multiple ways to do things is itself a barrier for entry.” — @yaili at @zeroheight’s #ConvergeLDN
— Dan Mall (@danmall) September 21, 2022
"Seek and foster feedback: good and bad" -@yaili on "DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams"#designsystems #dsl #design #WDSW22
— Design Systems London (@DSLconf) September 21, 2022
“Define systems and processes that don’t need YOU to function.” — @yaili at @zeroheight’s #ConvergeLDN
— Dan Mall (@danmall) September 21, 2022
The goal of @yaili in her DesignOps work is to not be needed once the process is established.

You shouldn't be constantly needing to handhold people through processes or you can never move on. #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/RYGSYsJVZT
— Josh Tumath (@JoshTumath) September 21, 2022
“Define systems and process that don’t need you to function... You can always come back, adapt and change processes you’ve implemented.” - @yaili

Talk: #DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams#ConvergeLDN 🚀 #WDSW22
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps needs to balance the team’s need for change with the human need for stability.” — @yaili at @zeroheight’s #ConvergeLDN
— Dan Mall (@danmall) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps needs to balance the team’s need for change with the human need for stability.” - @yaili

Talk: #DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams#ConvergeLDN 🚀 #WDSW22
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
“Making systems easily maintainable is super important” -@yaili #ConvergeLDN
— preventDavesFault(💙💛) (@dletorey) September 21, 2022
"DesignOps needs to balance the team's need for change with the human need for stability." @yaili #ConvergeLDN
— Stuart Wainstock (@stuartwainstock) September 21, 2022
#ConvergeLDN So much this @yaili 👌 pic.twitter.com/vsdeXzKxFG
— Dan | Design Advocate @zeroheight (@hereinthehive) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps never starts from scratch. Start by amplifying the good.” — @yaili at @zeroheight’s #ConvergeLDN
— Dan Mall (@danmall) September 21, 2022
“DesignOps never starts from scratch. Start by amplifying the good.” - @yaili

Talk: #DesignOps: Designing the API of Design Teams#ConvergeLDN 🚀 #WDSW22 @designsystemswk
— zeroheight (@zeroheight) September 21, 2022
Doing design ops without realising it- oh hai! 🖐 Wonderful talk exploring recent experiences of how to get started with #DesignOps by @yaili #ConvergeLDN pic.twitter.com/9Yzsbv9qQk
— James Alegría 🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ (@_jamesalegria) September 21, 2022
Wow, the opening talks at #ConvergeLDN by @Amy_Hupe, @lily_dart, @yaili and @iknowdavehouse have been incredible! 👏

Really thought provoking morning session. ❤️
— Imran Afzal (@avimran) September 21, 2022
After the break, @yaili gave a brilliant talk about design ops: an often nebulous beast that can be hard to define. Yaili’s talk broke down what comprises design ops and emphasised the importance of starting with existing processes that are already serving you well 4/11 pic.twitter.com/a6upID9lYg
— Amy Hupe (@Amy_Hupe) September 22, 2022

DesignOps: The API of design teams

@yaili

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