How DesignOps helps you Focus on What Matters / Meredith Black / Ep. #210

Service Design Show

Ever feel like the weight of the world on your shoulders as a service design professional... That you're constantly juggling your "actual" work with the complexities of organizational processes and structures? Well, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Our DesignOps friends are here to lighten that load. They enable us to focus on what we do best - design – by handling the operational intricacies that so often slow us down, and drain our energy. I've heard many firsthand stories of how transformative a DesignOps partner can be. But to fully unlock the potential of this partnership, we need to understand what's happening in the ever-evolving DesignOps world. That's why I'm very excited to have Meredith Black join us on the Show. Having contributed to building DesignOps teams at major companies like The New York Times, Pinterest, and Figma, and as co-founder of the largest online DesignOps community, Meredith is one of the most influential and well-informed people on the planet when it comes to DesignOps. In this episode, we dove into questions like: * What does it take to grow a successful DesignOps practice inside your org? * How does the shift towards remote work impact DesignOps strategies? * Why effective DesignOps might initially not look like what you'd expect? * And what's Meredith's secret for quickly gaining momentum and buy-in? Whether your organization already has an established DesignOps practice or you're just beginning to explore this field, I'm confident that the lessons Meredith shares in this conversation will make you a better service design professional. With the risk of over-exaggerating, tapping into Meredith's years of hard won wisdom feels a bit like cheating. So if you want to know how DesignOps can help you deliver your best work, don't miss out on this conversation. As you'll hear, DesignOps has faced quite some challenges in recent years. But at the same time it's clear that the train has left the station and will continue to move forward. DesignOps is here to stay and the future is brighter future than ever.

--- [ 1. GUIDE ] ---

00:00 Welcome to Episode 210

04:00 Her credibility for this topic

07:00 Mental shift in Design Ops

13:00 Hard conversations

16:30 Recalibrating expectations

19:00 Living up to promises

24:00 advertising model) vs subscriber model

27:30 Building those relationships

29:30 Make or Break in Design Ops

33:15 Slow consistent progress vs immediate results

37:00 Clients confusion about our role

41:15 Judging your success

45:00 Community building expectations

48:00 Our hope for the community

50:00 How we can help realize that wish

51:30 Resources

--- [ 2. LINKS ] ---

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/msmeredithblack/
• https://x.com/msmeredithblack
• DesignOps Assembly - https://www.designopsassembly.com/⁠
• Kate Towsey's Books - https://katetowsey.com/book
• DesignOps Summit 2024- https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-summit/2024/register/

--- [ 3. CIRCLE ] ---

Join our private community for in-house service design professionals.

⁠https://servicedesignshow.com/circle