{"id":887,"date":"2019-03-10T16:47:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-10T16:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/?p=887"},"modified":"2019-03-10T16:50:23","modified_gmt":"2019-03-10T16:50:23","slug":"wtf-designops","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wtf-designops\/","title":{"rendered":"WTF DesignOps?"},"content":{"rendered":"<section class=\"section section--body section--first\">\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<p>A guest column\u00a0<span style=\"color: var(--color-neutral-600);\">by\u00a0<\/span><a class=\"ds-link ds-link--styleSubtle ui-captionStrong u-inlineBlock link link--darken link--darker\" dir=\"auto\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@fabriciot\" data-action=\"show-user-card\" data-action-value=\"50e39baefa55\" data-action-type=\"hover\" data-user-id=\"50e39baefa55\">Fabricio Teixeira a<\/a>bout another trend in digital product design (courtesy our friends at AirBnB):\u00a0<strong>DESIGN OPS.\u00a0<\/strong>What exactly is it? Does my company need it?\u00a0 And where do I fit in?<\/p>\n<div class=\"uiScale uiScale-ui--regular uiScale-caption--regular u-flexCenter u-marginVertical24 u-fontSize15 js-postMetaLockup\">\n<div class=\"u-flex0\">\n<div class=\"u-relative u-inlineBlock u-flex0\">\n<div class=\"avatar-halo u-absolute u-textColorGreenNormal svgIcon\">By<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"u-flex1 u-paddingLeft15 u-overflowHidden\">\n<div class=\"u-paddingBottom3\"><a class=\"ds-link ds-link--styleSubtle ui-captionStrong u-inlineBlock link link--darken link--darker\" dir=\"auto\" href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/@fabriciot\" data-action=\"show-user-card\" data-action-value=\"50e39baefa55\" data-action-type=\"hover\" data-user-id=\"50e39baefa55\">Fabricio Teixeira<\/a><span class=\"followState js-followState\" data-user-id=\"50e39baefa55\"><button class=\"button button--primary button--smallest button--dark u-noUserSelect button--withChrome u-accentColor--buttonDark button--follow js-followButton u-marginLeft10 u-xs-hide\" data-action=\"toggle-subscribe-user\" data-action-value=\"50e39baefa55\" data-action-source=\"post_header_lockup-50e39baefa55-------------------------follow_byline\" data-subscribe-source=\"post_header_lockup\" data-follow-context-entity-id=\"599411bdfb32\"><span class=\"button-label  button-defaultState js-buttonLabel\">Follow<\/span><\/button><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--outsetColumn\">\n<figure id=\"df40\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--layoutOutsetCenter graf-after--h4\" data-scroll=\"native\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"progressiveMedia js-progressiveMedia graf-image is-canvasLoaded is-imageLoaded\" data-image-id=\"1*XWCrOtVijQ8gqcEWKuWMBA.jpeg\" data-width=\"2048\" data-height=\"1369\" data-action=\"zoom\" data-action-value=\"1*XWCrOtVijQ8gqcEWKuWMBA.jpeg\" data-scroll=\"native\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"progressiveMedia-image js-progressiveMedia-image\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/1200\/1%2AXWCrOtVijQ8gqcEWKuWMBA.jpeg?w=625&#038;ssl=1\" data-src=\"https:\/\/cdn-images-1.medium.com\/max\/1200\/1*XWCrOtVijQ8gqcEWKuWMBA.jpeg\" \/><\/div>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"imageCaption\">Photo by\u00a0<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--figure-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/1K9T5YiZ2WU?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-href=\"https:\/\/unsplash.com\/photos\/1K9T5YiZ2WU?utm_source=unsplash&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_content=creditCopyText\">Tim\u00a0Gouw<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<p id=\"84ca\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--figure\">As design teams scale within organizations, our industry starts to turn the spotlight to\u00a0<strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">DesignOps<\/strong>, a new nomenclature for an old profession that is becoming increasingly important to create great, consistent, and efficient work. But what does DesignOps mean for startups and small design teams?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"1d36\" class=\"graf graf--figure graf--iframe graf-after--p graf--trailing\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder is-locked\">\n<div class=\"aspectRatioPlaceholder-fill\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body\">\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<h3 id=\"0a33\" class=\"graf graf--h3 graf--leading\">Before we start\u2026 what is DesignOps?<\/h3>\n<p id=\"779b\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3\">It is the department that plans, defines, and manages the design process within an organization.\u00a0<span class=\"markup--quote markup--p-quote is-other\" data-creator-ids=\"anon\">Their goal is to ensure the design team becomes a well-oiled machine, functioning at high efficiency, low friction, and generating high-quality design outputs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p id=\"196f\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The term DesignOps (or DesOps) has been around for at least a few years, and is clearly a spin on DevOps (the discipline who does the same for developers). Even before the term DesignOps came about, the role itself already existed. Back in the day, it was the title given to PMs that were more focused on processes than projects.<\/p>\n<p id=\"546c\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">The focus of DesignOps is to\u00a0<strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">keep the design team healthy, running smoothly and efficiently<\/strong>. To achieve that, they take care of a few different aspects of a team:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"postList\">\n<li id=\"d2e3\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--p\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Workflow:\u00a0<\/strong>how the design workflows within the company<\/li>\n<li id=\"f71d\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Tools:\u00a0<\/strong>what they need to get the job done<\/li>\n<li id=\"d774\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Governance:\u00a0<\/strong>who needs to see the work, and when<\/li>\n<li id=\"3e78\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Infrastructure:<\/strong>\u00a0what the team needs to work more efficiently<\/li>\n<li id=\"2dd6\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Budget:<\/strong>\u00a0how much running that team costs, and why<\/li>\n<li id=\"a7f8\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Headcount:<\/strong>\u00a0how many people are needed, with which skills<\/li>\n<li id=\"e8e6\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Pipeline:<\/strong>\u00a0projects coming up and how well staffed the team is<\/li>\n<li id=\"bef8\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Retention:<\/strong>\u00a0how to make people want to stay<\/li>\n<li id=\"cd12\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Education:<\/strong>\u00a0what skills are missing and how to learn them<\/li>\n<li id=\"d220\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--li-strong\">Evangelization:<\/strong>\u00a0help the org understand the value of design<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"f9de\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--li graf--trailing\">They can operate at\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">company-level<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">project-level<\/em>. The former is about looking at design staffing holistically; the latter is about understanding each project\u2019s specific needs and challenges, to adapt all the aforementioned pieces accordingly.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<h3 id=\"98dd\" class=\"graf graf--h3 graf--leading\">Why are people talking about DesignOps now?<\/h3>\n<p id=\"363b\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3 graf--trailing\">Because design teams are growing. Because the role of design within organizations is growing. The number of teams designers serve is growing. Multi-office work, remote work, and distributed teams are growing. Design solutions and products are growing in complexity.\u00a0<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/im-sorry-but-design-ops-is-not-new-6c73a1f00e5a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/im-sorry-but-design-ops-is-not-new-6c73a1f00e5a\">Nothing has changed<\/a>\u00a0in terms of what DesignOps is and what it does. You\u2019re just going to start\u00a0<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--p-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/the-rise-of-design-ops-in-2018-f439edbc1513\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" data-href=\"https:\/\/uxdesign.cc\/the-rise-of-design-ops-in-2018-f439edbc1513\">hearing about it more often<\/a>\u00a0the more companies grow.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<h3 id=\"b634\" class=\"graf graf--h3 graf--leading\">What does that mean for my startup? Do I need to hire a DesignOps person?<\/h3>\n<p id=\"2f4b\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3\">Let me start with an important distinction here.<\/p>\n<p id=\"0d9e\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">There\u2019s\u00a0<strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">DesignOps-the-mindset<\/strong>, and there\u2019s\u00a0<strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">DesignOps-the-role<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p id=\"474b\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">Every design team with more than 1 person needs some form of DesignOps thinking, simply because you want to make sure designers are not working in silos. If you\u2019re looking for higher quality and efficiency in your design process, it\u2019s important that your designers share the same tools, templates, and workflow, for example. Making sure there is a clear naming structure for files and folders, for example, will end up saving you time when you need to go back and find an old file in your servers.<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"03cf\" class=\"graf graf--pullquote graf-after--p\"><p>Having a \u201cDesignOps mindset\u201d in your team is important, no matter how big your company is. It creates efficiencies in the long run, and generates more consistent work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"abd9\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--pullquote\">Now, whether you need to hire a\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">dedicated DesignOps person<\/em>? Well, that\u2019s a different question.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"postList\">\n<li id=\"9f5a\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--p\">You\u2019ll probably only need to hire someone when your design team headcount surpasses 40\u201350 designers;<\/li>\n<li id=\"bfb5\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\">That might happen earlier in case your team structure is too fragmented, or if you have distributed teams;<\/li>\n<li id=\"540d\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li graf--trailing\">That might happen later if your design managers already take that responsibility on;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"section section--body section--last\">\n<div class=\"section-divider\">\n<hr class=\"section-divider\" \/>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"section-content\">\n<div class=\"section-inner sectionLayout--insetColumn\">\n<h3 id=\"fae4\" class=\"graf graf--h3 graf--leading\">Making sense of the ever-increasing complexity of product\u00a0design<\/h3>\n<p id=\"744a\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--h3\">The products we build are becoming increasingly complex; our internal methodologies more sophisticated; our teams bigger and more diverse in terms of skillset and technical expertise.<\/p>\n<p id=\"99a4\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">For that reason, companies like Airbnb have been perfecting the science of DesignOps in the last couple of years, and pioneering the use of new technologies to enable a more efficient process.<\/p>\n<blockquote id=\"cc33\" class=\"graf graf--pullquote graf--startsWithDoubleQuote graf-after--p\"><p>\u201cWorking daily across so many disciplines, from Engineering to Product Management, Research, Content Strategy and an array of Design specialties, every little overhead in the transfer of information compounds. Inversely, every optimization significantly lowers friction for everyone. This is why we\u2019ve created DesignOps, to ease collaboration and amplify effectiveness, not only across product disciplines, but also between the increasingly complex world of Product Design.\u201d\u200a\u2014\u200a<a class=\"markup--anchor markup--pullquote-anchor\" href=\"https:\/\/airbnb.design\/designops-airbnb\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" data-href=\"https:\/\/airbnb.design\/designops-airbnb\/\">Adrian Cleave,\u00a0Airbnb<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p id=\"a813\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--pullquote\">Airbnb\u2019s most famous example of an integrated and seamless process is their\u00a0<strong class=\"markup--strong markup--p-strong\">AI-assisted design tool that turns hand sketches into code in a matter of seconds<\/strong>. The vision that drove the creation of the tool is that\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">the time required to test an idea should be zero<\/em>, and it is a perfect example of some of efficiency and integration DesignOps can bring to an organization in the long run.<\/p>\n<div id=\"317c\" class=\"graf graf--mixtapeEmbed graf-after--p\"><a class=\"markup--anchor markup--mixtapeEmbed-anchor\" title=\"https:\/\/airbnb.design\/sketching-interfaces\/\" href=\"https:\/\/airbnb.design\/sketching-interfaces\/\" rel=\"nofollow\" data-href=\"https:\/\/airbnb.design\/sketching-interfaces\/\"><strong class=\"markup--strong markup--mixtapeEmbed-strong\">Sketching Interfaces<\/strong><br \/>\n<em class=\"markup--em markup--mixtapeEmbed-em\">Generating code from low fidelity wireframes The time required to test an idea should be zero. This was the very first\u2026<\/em>airbnb.design<\/a><\/div>\n<p id=\"89e1\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--mixtapeEmbed\">The answers that a DesignOps mindset is always pushing for:<\/p>\n<ul class=\"postList\">\n<li id=\"3eb6\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--p\">How can you equip your team with the right tools, infrastructure, training, and governance they need to create high-quality work more efficiently?<\/li>\n<li id=\"0224\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\">How do you integrate Design with your other teams and make it a central piece of the puzzle? How do you facilitate communication and documentation between different groups, without creating extra work?<\/li>\n<li id=\"e809\" class=\"graf graf--li graf-after--li\">How do you create efficiencies across every step of your workflow? How do you reduce time? How do you eliminate unnecessary steps? How can automation technology support that?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p id=\"e51c\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--li\">So, while your company is still a small startup, you probably don\u2019t need to\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">hire<\/em>a dedicated DesignOps person right now.<\/p>\n<p id=\"1207\" class=\"graf graf--p graf-after--p\">But you should definitely start incorporating a\u00a0<em class=\"markup--em markup--p-em\">DesignOps mindset<\/em>\u00a0into everything you do. The earlier, the better.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n\r\n\t<div style=\"\">\r\n\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"vertical\" data-text=\"WTF DesignOps?\" data-url=\"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wtf-designops\/\" >Tweet<\/a>\r\n\t<\/div>\r\n\t<script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Having a \u201cDesignOps mindset\u201d in your team is important, no matter how big your company is. It creates efficiencies in the long run, and generates more consistent work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-887","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-designops","category-ux"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/SHORPY-8d00282a.jpg?fit=1800%2C1186","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2L8f5-ej","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=887"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":890,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/887\/revisions\/890"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/grapnel.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}