When does a design team actually need DesignOps (or a similar supporting role)?
I hear this question a lot from design leaders and it was also a topic at this year’s Design Leadership Retreat. Large design organizations usually treat DesignOps as a given. Small and medium sized teams wait too long in my experience.
Some signs it may be time:
- Designers and managers burn out from extra work
- No standardized workflows or common practices
- Growing entropy in approaches and tools
- Onboarding differs for every new hire
- Miscommunication, lost knowledge, or inconsistent quality
- Sharing information and updates gets harder
For a rough benchmark, the DesignOps Assembly’s Benchmarking Report found that many teams have one dedicated DesignOps (or similar) role per 15 to 30 designers or researchers.
Growing or evolving teams tend to sit below that ratio (as in: have more support), traditional enterprise teams above it. The report offers much more nuance and recommendations for different team types and maturity levels, so it is worth a look.
A dedicated operations or program management role is great, but many teams simply lack the budget to create one.
Here an organic path can work well: let senior team members grow into the role with a time budget for organizational topics, set up working groups, bring in a part-time team assistant, or draw on company resources such as project or program management.
These structures can then evolve as the team grows. Nielsen Norman Group’s overview of common DesignOps team structures shows what that can look like.
Knowing when to build support structures is one of many calls design leaders have to make. In my upcoming book 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘋𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘯 𝘓𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 I write about what design leaders need to focus on. Learn more about my book.
Sources
DesignOps Assembly (2024) 2024 Benchmarking Report. DesignOps Assembly.
Kaplan, K. (2022) DesignOps: 5 Common Team Structures. Nielsen Norman Group.
Le Phan, L. (2023) When’s the Right Time for DesignOps, and Why It’s Important. Zeplin.
Hi, I’m Katharina Koberdamm, Design Consultant and Coach. I created the Design Leadership Framework to empower design leaders to become more strategic, build a strong design function, and drive impactful change. In this blog I share my thoughts and insights from my research and coaching practice. You can find me on LinkedIn.
