DesignOps emerged as a function to manage the growing complexity in the E2E design processes. But what are the specific skills and tools that make DesignOps unique and different from other functions? — Why DesignOps has become ‘a thing’? If we look back at the past 25 years, one of the biggest changes is the transformation of the role of the designer and the positioning of design as a business discipline.

Enabling and streamlining product design’s best practices is one of DesignOps’ critical tasks. But to outline workflows that embed best practices, DesignOps practitioners need a consolidated understanding of product development and delivery methodologies, such as Lean Startup and Agile. — As digital experiences and products grow and become more structured and complex, design and product teams need to review both their cross-functional and their internal ways of working to increase consistency, reduce inefficiencies and errors.

Deciding when your organisation is ready to introduce their dedicated DesignOps practice is a critical aspect for any Design team. These 6 signs will help you to understand if the time for DesignOps has arrived. — DesignOps has become a hot discipline and an increasing number of organisations is introducing a design operation function to support their teams. Despite the advantages and benefits that DesignOps brings to an organisation, not all teams and businesses need a full-time DesignOps practitioner: smaller, stable, and efficient teams with consolidated…

As an efficiency-focused transformational function, DesignOps needs to be able to quantify and measure impact and results. Identifying the right goals and defining the right KPIs are therefore essential steps for every DesignOps strategy and roadmap to ensure impact and progress can be objectively assessed. — A DesignOps strategy will always begin with an assessment of the status quo, which includes a measurements of all operational dimensions to allow a clear definition of the the actions needed. …

If DesignOps is about designing processes and defining transformative strategies, it is important to apply a Systems Thinking approach to ensure the strategy delivers on the expectations and does not move inefficiencies across the organisation. — Systems Thinking is a holistic critical thinking approach that focuses on the analysis of the relationships between the system’s parts to fully assess the context (more here). By understanding how every part of the system is interconnected to the others and by evaluating how a change to one part affects…

DesignOps is a transformative function that focuses on the very heart of the teams’ operative system. For this reason, a participative approach to change management is key to ensure success and impact. Yet, the importance of change management as a core skill is still often overlooked. — A successful DesignOps initiative is a transformational act that delivers value to the teams, the leaders, and the organisation by optimising and improving processes, ways of working, engagement models, and tools ecosystems. As a process and inward-looking discipline (see here) DesignOps works on the core operational structures that enable relationships…

What is the relationship between DesignOps and Design? Is a DesignOps Manager the same as a Design Programme Manager (DPM)? Understanding the roles and responsibilities of each of these roles is key to ensure Design teams thrive. — While Design teams have been growing and scaling fast in the past few years, the growth of the design teams has also seen an increase in the number of design-related roles and growth in the number of operational models applied to run the Design function (NN/g 2021).

The role of designers is changing and new approaches are needed to foster a mindset that can support them to become more impact-focused and a key strategic partner. How can DesignOps help driving Designers’ transformation to maximise results and influence? — Design has gone a long way in the past 10 years thanks to the rise and impact of Design Thinking and to the impact design has had on businesses. …

Organisations have always faced a challenge in balancing productivity and creativity due to organisations’ constraints and priorities. But the right DesignOps strategy can deliver innovation at scale and achieve a true Organisational Ambidexterity. — DesignOps’ goal is to maximise value generation for both the business, the design teams, and the design leaders through the creation of efficiencies and the optimisation of end-to-end design processes. …