Distributed Design Operations Management

Long distance relationships are hard – and managing Design Operations for a global team is no exception. Even with the best collaboration tools (and occasional late night phone calls), teams can struggle with isolation and lack of motivation. But there is a way to avoid bad break ups and international team malaise, and Jilanna Wilson knows how. She keeps the love light burning for a team that is spread across 5 continents and 8 time zones. In this session you will hear practical suggestions for topics that are challenging many DesignOps leaders, such as how to manage your team’s critical meetings, maintain consistent onboarding and documentation practices, select effective collaboration tools, and achieve a healthy team culture in a distributed environment.

So You’ve Got a Seat at the Table. Now What?

For the past year, “Having a seat at the table” has been one of the most widely-discussed topics in the research community. However, what happens once that seat has been won? What we’ve typically seen is researchers struggling to discern between the specific needs and expectations of senior leadership and stakeholders, and those of the product teams they’re grown accustomed to working with. This presentation will distill, from several previous studies, lessons to guide researchers in how to go from just having a seat at the table, to actually using it towards influence strategic decision-making.

Designing Delightful Listening Experiences: Mixed Methods Research in the Age of Machine Learning

Millions of listeners around the world use Spotify to listen to audio experiences that are personalized to their taste, yet relevant in the broader cultural context. Spotify is a unique product because unlike many other eyes the first app, a majority of Spotify experience is phenomenological – it happens in listeners’ ears, minds and bodies, after they hit “Play”.

Why do people form Meaningful Connections™ with some type of audio content, but not all, and how do we ensure that our ML models respect the nuances of what makes listening to music and podcasts enjoyable? This talk will shed light on such topics and leave the audience with ideas, challenges and possible best practices for using Mixed Methods Research in the age of ML to build delightful product experiences.

Designing Data Services

Cross-disciplinary collaboration is key to tackling large scale change in hypertension rates (Margins of Victory) in underserved communities (Innovation at the Margins). Low income minoritized populations have shown to have a high prevalence of hypertension but a low treatment rate . There are many factors that play a role in these statistics many of them which are historical and systemic. In order to design a hypertension study for these populations, co-design methods that emphasize collective good must be employed by a comprehensive team.

Our process to build this study focused on sharing power with members of the community to decentralize the designer and build design capability with the participants. We prioritized building relationships to combat mistrust of healthcare professionals and address difficult topics like social determinants of health (healthcare access, housing challenges, employment, etc) – both key factors in high hypertension rates.

This presentation will bring together the collaborative team that built the Pressure Check study. First, a Yale cardiologist who is an expert in this space and acknowledges the influence and perspective that the design process can provide. The second speaker is a design research and strategy professional who defined an inclusive and relational protocol that tapped into the deepest needs of the study community and translated them into the study materials. The third, is a visual designer who incorporated the learnings into patient education and study tools to overcome deeply ingrained perspectives on healthcare. This team and the outputs demonstrate how critical it is to have a team that brings in shared and lived experiences into service design.

Use These Words and Count These Things

In this panel session, three seasoned DesignOps practitioners will rise to the challenge of creating a shared vocabulary for discussing impact and maturity—while avoiding the use of DesignOps buzzwords.

Panelists, who have each grown and matured DesignOps as a function within their organization (past or present), will represent a mix of DesignOps archetypes outlined in the 2023 DesignOps Benchmarking report (agency, startup, scale-up, enterprise).

The discussion will cover defining, measuring, and communicating DesignOps impact as a way to drive DesignOps maturity. The moderator will draw from some of the key findings from the 2023 DesignOps Benchmarking Report to frame the topics.

Coffee with Lou #5: Tell the Publisher: What UX books do you need written?

This event is free to attend for members of the Rosenverse. Log in to get access to registration. Not a member? Sign up.

Take a quick look at your professional bookshelf. What’s missing? What topics could you really use a book to guide you today? And what do you anticipate you’ll need to read a year or two from now? Here’s your chance to start plugging those empty spaces on your bookshelf: tell Rosenfeld Media publisher about the books you wish you could be reading right now. Lou will also share some ideas about the books he’s dying to publish.

The Future of Research: Bridging the Gaps (Videoconference)

During this call, Advancing Research 2021 conference curators invite a special panel of researchers to discuss the future of research. In particular, panelists share their perspectives about the research practice and how they expect the discipline to evolve. To provide additional grounding for our conversation, we discuss, broadly, results from the survey we recently launched, which is designed to learn more about the topics and themes that you, the community, believe will be important to advancing the research and insight industry over the next year. Our esteemed panel of cross-disciplinary researchers, includes: Steve Portigal (Principal Researcher & Rosenfeld Media Author), Dr. Gloria Osardu (Senior Researcher at Amazon), Alba Villamil (Principal Researcher and HmntyCntrd Facilitator) and Sam Ladner (Principal Researcher at Workday). Dr. Jamika Burge (Entrepreneur and Head of Experience Products & Platforms Research at Capital One), one of our AR curators, will be moderating the discussion. Join us!

Shift Happens: Previewing the Design at Scale 2022 conference

Covid has fragmented our teams, workplaces, work rituals, and in some circumstances, our self-confidence. It has also forced us to learn, adapt, and improve our work at a stunningly rapid pace.

It’s a great time to take stock of what we learned these past two years, and get ready to apply those lessons in the years to come. In this episode of the Rosenfeld Review, Lou speaks with long-time Design at Scale conference curators Kit Unger and Lada Gorlenko to discuss how the conference presents the perfect opportunity to make that pivot—and make the case for you to be a part of the conference program.

Topics discussed include:

• How closely-aligned teams can forge ahead despite the challenges Covid has presented
• The importance of reconsidering how teams currently support objectives
• Learning to work together in new ways that help shift the existing work dynamic into a positive and more powerful frame
• Uncovering drivers that allow teams to surpass pre-established boundaries around collaboration
• Shifting how we perceive ownership—across all levels—in organizations
Operationalizing teams to scale quality

Pain and Curiosity Precede Successful Design Systems Change with Dan Mall

While we’ve been developing design systems for years, we’re only just now learning how to create systems that are successful and sustainable. Dan Mall is the author of the soon-to-be released Design That Scales: Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice, which explores the cultural elements that contribute to sustainable design systems.

Not surprisingly, it’s usually pain that motivates change. In fact, companies occupying the number one spot in their respective markets usually have the least incentive to change. As the saying goes, “Number two tries harder.” But even in the most-ready-for-change scenarios, design systems sit, at best, at a third level of priority. Dan asserts that the challenge is to approach design systems as a byproduct of the products and features that bring customers value. Otherwise, design systems will always be on the backburner.

Dan and Lou discuss tricky topics around design systems:
– Designers’ fear of job loss to design systems.
– As we move toward sustainable design systems, who should make the decisions? Who does what and when?
– How to approach design systems in a sustainable way.
– The best way for product and systems teams to collaborate.

What you’ll learn from this episode:
– Why culture, rather than product maturity, will determine whether design systems are successful
– How to address fears of job loss as a result of design systems
– How to keep people motivated through a systems change
– How product and design teams can work together efficiently
– How design systems have changed over time
– The role of governance in systems change
– Why following precedent within your company will get you farther faster

Quick Reference Guide
[0:00:32] Introduction of Dan Mall and his book Design that Scales – Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice
[0:04:49] On reaching cultural alignment
[0:07:01] What prompts design systems change
[0:09:26] When jobs feel threatened
[0:12:21] Cultural signs and markers of design system success
[0:16:59] November 29th, 2023 – Design in Product Conference
[0:18:20] On governance and sustainability
[0:24:44] On collaboration between product and design teams
[0:27:33] The evolution of design systems for ICs
[0:30:35] Design Systems University
[0:32:38] Dan’s gift to listeners

UX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation (Videoconference)

At our September Enterprise Experience Community call, we host a double-header of topics — “UX metrics that matter” and “The future of our conference”. First, we have Jack Moffett, well-known design leader currently at Boeing, in a conversation about identifying and advocating for measurable user experience for enterprise apps and services.