Design is not just about making things look good but also about working well, solving problems, and delivering. That’s key in the Product Lifecycle Management!
Still, it can also be a complex process. How can you ensure your design team is efficient, effective and aligned with your Business Strategy? That’s where DesignOps comes in.
This post will explore DesignOps 101, its importance and how to implement it in its operational aspects. Are you ready to embrace the future with Design Operations?
What is DesignOps?
You may have heard of DevOps, which combines Software Development and IT Operations to deliver faster and better software products.
The idea behind Design Operations, also known as DesOps or DesignOps, is quite similar. But what is Design Operations?
The DesOps meaning focuses on unifying design processes and tools across the steps of Product Management and Product Development.
Likewise, DesOps streamlines and optimizes the design process for both development and product teams, from ideation to version control and design delivery.
From designers to the development team, DesignOps can reduce operational blockages while fostering collaboration to ensure teams deliver high-quality products on a fast track.
With strong roots in Agile Methodology, DesOps improves the efficiency and quality of design operations while ensuring Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment.
Rather than a buzzword, DesOps or DesignOps is a strategic approach to user-centered and design-thinking-driven procedures to deliver better products and services.
How Does DesignOps Work?
We went over the question, “What is DesignOps?” Now, let’s get to how Design Operations work and what role it can have in design delivery and quality.
To sum it up, DesignOps connects "how the design work gets done" to "what matters" regarding creative consistency and User Experience (UX).
This procedure helps address and ease changes in Product Design and Product Development workflows to improve the quality of project execution.
The core of DesOps has three main focuses: people, business and workflows. However, each area weighs differently depending on the size and purpose of DesignOps in a company.
For instance, a larger company with several team members in its design and development team may need more people operations to ensure skill alignment and optimal outcomes.
In contrast, a small company with fewer members in product teams may need more business operations to secure the budget and resources on a fast track.
By streamlining design processes and removing inefficiencies, DesignOps allows designers to leverage the resources and procedures they need to deliver successful products.
DesignOps also helps companies evolve design teams by operationalizing workflows and managing project intakes, budgets and hiring.
Pros and Cons of DesignOps
Benefits of DesOps
- Productivity: DesignOps can help teams standardize processes, reduce time and effort spent on repetitive and mundane tasks and help organize Design Sprints.
- Consistency: DesOps can guarantee that design roadmaps meet desired goals, focusing on Quality Assurance to ensure bug-free and user-friendly products.
- Innovation: Design Operations can build more agile and flexible design processes, allowing teams to meet market demands and user preferences on a fast track.
Challenges of DesOps
- Skepticism: DesignOps may face opposition from members who may see it as a threat to their autonomy— it’s key to emphasize the value of DesOps while addressing their concerns.
- Complexity: DesOps involves a lot of coordination among different teams, using several procedures and productivity tools, so it’s crucial to clarify roles and responsibilities, as well as establish protocols for all design operations.
- Maintenance: The management of Design Operations can require significant time, money and effort, especially in the initial stages— DesOps requires a strategic allocation and assessment to avoid business risks.
How to Manage an Effective DesOps Team?
Building and managing a DesignOps team is a challenging but rewarding task that requires a clear vision, a mature design practice, and a strong design culture.
Here are some steps to help you create a high-functioning dedicated DesOps team:
- Definition: Before starting, you need a clear vision of what you want to achieve and how DesignOps can support that. It can also help to define the roles and responsibilities of your DesOps team and how they will collaborate with other teams.
- Documentation: As you build a DesOps team, documenting processes, workflows and best practices is crucial to improve operational efficiency. With tools like Figma, you can build design systems and templates for a standardized SOT.
- Maturation: A key element to successfully grasping the concept of what is DesignOps is maturation, as it allows to establish a solid foundation for the whole design process. This procedure includes methods for User Research, Layout Prototyping, and KPI tracking.
- Collaboration: Beyond designers, DesOps or DesignOps teams include Product Developers and Product and Project Managers, among other roles. You can ensure seamless design delivery and processes with tools like Slack and Jira.
- Design: Of course, Design Operations have a strong focus on design. It’s key that all team members put UX and UI Design at the center to guarantee products that resonate with end users while complying with business goals and dynamic markets.
Why Follow DesignOps Principles?
At its core, DesignOps addresses the growing design requirements, needs and challenges of the modern world.
As design processes are becoming more challenging and involve more people, tasks, and tools, keeping up with dynamic demands is imperative.
Design is no longer an isolated activity but a core and integrated part of any Product Development process!
Following DesOps practices can help you evolve with these changes and demands with a systematic and strategic approach that can amplify capabilities and impact.
With a design-operations-oriented mindset, your company can build products that are outstanding, functional, scalable and sustainable.
Conclusion
DesignOps is not just a buzzword but a way to empower ambitious companies to improve from ideation and processes to design delivery and quality.
Whether you have a small or large team, a mature or emerging company or a simple or complex challenge, DesOps can help align design with business objectives!
