1. DESIGN OPERATIONS
September 2023
Product Tank Cracow

2. HI THERE!
PRODUCT TANK CRACOW
ROLAND
RYCHLIK
Agile Coach, Scrum Master,
Interia.pl
ANIA
WOJCIESZCZAK
Manager, Design
Operations & Culture,
Brainly

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THINK:
YOUR LAST PROJECT

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5. DesignOps
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6. WHAT DESIGN OPS
EXACTLY IS?
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8. 86% of employees and
executives cite lack of
collaboration or ineffective
communication for
workplace failures
Source: Salesforce
86%
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Heraclitus
The only constant is
change
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10. What we practice at a small scale
sets the patterns for the whole
system.
ADRIENNE MAREE BROWN
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11. DesignOps in collaboration with the Design
Leadership Team tackles cross team and
functional matters. That is why we need to act as
a creative problem solver, connector and
relationship builder inside and outside of the
Design Community and whole Organisation.
DesignOps job is to break the silos.
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12. WHEN DOES IT MAKES SENSE
TO INTRODUCE DESIGN OPS
ROLE?
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UNDERSTANDING
THE SIGNS
THE NEED FOR DESIGNOPS
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14. ● Different design styles across products.
● Taking too long to move designs to developers.
● Feedback sessions are messy and rare.
MORE DESIGNERS,
MORE CHALLENGES
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15. PROBLEMS IN
OUR PROCESSES
● Using too many different tools.
● Designs take too long to get approved.
● Missing or repeating design steps.
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16. WE DON'T UNDERSTAND
EACH OTHER
● Often getting messages wrong between teams.
● Hard to explain why a design is done a certain way.
● People are kept in the dark about design decisions.
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17. DESIGN'S EXPANDING
ROLE
● Design as more than just aesthetics:
now a key business driver.
● Challenges in keeping design aligned
with business goals.
● The shift: from just reacting to being
ahead of the curve in design strategies.
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DESIGN
BUSINESS

18. RECOGNIZING FEEDBACK
BOTTLENECKS
● Struggles in adapting to diverse feedback.
● Difficulties in amalgamating feedback from various
channels.
● Delays that hamper swift design iterations.
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HOW BIG SHOULD MY TEAM
BE BEFORE I CONSIDER
BRINGING IN DESIGN OPS?
OK, BUT…
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21. R&R
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EVERYTHING, EVERYWHERE, ALL AT ONCE
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26. PROCESSES
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28. SUPPORTING
DESIGN
COMMUNITY IN
DEFINING AND
OPTIMISING
DESIGN RELATED
PROCESSES
● Identify pain points
● Collaborate with Design Leadership
● Collaborate with Design Community
● Win your stakeholders
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29. BRAINLY’S DESIGN PROCESS IS BASED ON THE DESIGN
THINKING FRAMEWORK AND DEDICATED ROLES &
RESPONSIBILITIES REFLECTING DESIGN ROUTINE AT BRAINLY
Each step of the process covers:
Key tasks & outcomes Roles & responsibilities Best practices & tools
Goal of the step
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31. MANAGING DESIGN TOOLS
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32. ESTABLISHING PROCESSES
& MANAGING DESIGN TOOLS
AND VENDORS
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Collaborating with Domain Managers,
Product Managers, Legal, Finance & IT
to make our work & life easier.
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33. SELECTING
THE RIGHT TOOLS
● Align with workflow
● Complement design philosophy
● Integrate with existing systems
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34. STREAMLINING
TOOLS
● Reduce redundancies
● Ensure inter-tool compatibility
● Elevate productivity
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35. MORE THAN
JUST DESIGN TOOLS...
Bridging design & company-wide
tools for designers.
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36. TOOL TRAINING,
ONBOARDING
AND MAINTENANCE
● Tackle the learning curve
● Maximize utilization
● Smoothen the transition
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37. PEOPLE AND CULTURE
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39. Processes, documentation, tools,
collaboration… All that to work as a one
Design Community and let our people
shine
SUPPORT GROWTH
OF ALL OUR TALENTS
Testing & Iterating
Helping our talents grow
Identifying crucial skills
Communicating
process to the Team
Aligning with HR
and Direct Managers
Collaborating super closely
with Design & Direct Managers
Defining the process
Referring to the
levels framework
Creating set of supporting
tools e.g. Skill Matrix
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40. Proactively and regularly monitoring
morales within Design Community,
setting-up metrics and collaborating
with Domain Managers on
improvements!
DESIGN COMMUNITY
HEALTH CHECK
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42. COMMUNICATION
AND TRANSPARENCY
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43. Effective
communication
builds clarity
and alignment in
design projects.
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44. CONNECTING DOTS,
BRIDGING SILOS
● Minimize departmental silos.
● Foster inter-departmental collaboration.
● Share insights & drive collective success.
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45. TRANSPARENCY, FOSTERING
TRUST AND CONFIDENCE
● DesignOps documents design rationales.
● Ensures decision-making clarity.
● Fosters trust through open communication.
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46. AMPLIFYING COMMUNICATION
BY REVAMPING OR
ESTABLISHING CHANNELS,
ROUTINES AND FORMATS
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Confluence, Slack channels, mailing
groups, Monthly meetings, 1:1s,
cross-team workshops, Design
Newsletters and other….
INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS
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47. CULTIVATING FEEDBACK FOR
BETTER DESIGN OUTCOMES
● Encourage open channels for feedback.
● Quick integration of feedback into design
revisions.
● Continuous improvement: Ensuring designs
evolve with insights.
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48. WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF
HAVING DESIGNOPS IN YOUR
ORG?
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49. THE IMPACT OF ONE
+1 DESIGN OPS
● Improved productivity & visibility
● Reduced distractions
● Completed initiatives
● Enhanced team happiness & retention
● Innovational space creation
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50. THE SYMPHONY OF
COLLABORATION
● Perfect alignment of talent, roles, and
responsibilities.
● Elevated team performance at its peak potential.
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DesignOps is
a force
multiplier.
BOB BAXLEY | Director of Design at Yahoo, Apple, Pinterest
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DesignOps is not just
about process efficiency.
It's about making space
for the best creative work.
Meredith Black | Design Ops at Pinterest
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53. WHAT ARE THE RISKS OF
HAVING DESIGN OPS IN YOUR
ORG?
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58. SIMILAR, BUT DIFFERENT
OPS-RELATED ROLES IN
PRODUCT ORG…
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59. ResearchOps
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RESEARCH OPS: CURATING
USER INSIGHTS
● Streamlining UX Research.
● Building a Repository of User Insights.
● Collaborative Workspaces & Toolkits.
● Ensuring Ethical Standards.
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61. Agile Coach
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AGILE COACH:
NURTURING AGILE MINDSETS
● Embeds agile thinking across the company.
● Fosters continuous improvement and quick
adaptability.
● Bridges the gap between methodology and
real-world application.
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BRAINLY
DesignOps meets Research needs. Close
collaborations, dual focus, and driving
initiatives.
INTERIA.PL
Agile Coach in action. Championing operations,
tailor-made processes, and marrying design
with agile loops.
THE FLUIDITY OF ROLES -
A PERSONAL INSIGHT
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64. SO, THAT’S ALL…
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65. Let Designers focus on design.
Let Design Managers focus on managing and supporting
their designers and their work.
Let Design Ops focus on everything else.
DOMINIQUE WARD
HEAD OF DESIGN OPS @ ATLASSIAN
DESIGN OPS 65

66. Q&A
DO YOU HAVE ANY
QUESTIONS?