Field Guide: Flying Solo in Design Ops

Several people have written about what Design Ops is - but when you’re on the ground trying to execute, and you are a department of one, how do you succeed? First and foremost, it’s essential to recognize that as a department of one, you both have to lead and execute. You’re responsible for developing your discipline within the organization and taking care of your team (which is yourself). As a leader and someone with considerable reach, you’re also responsible for setting an example for others to follow. Above all, you must keep it all in balance and make it look like magic.

Step 1: Network. Build relationships with your partners that are authentic. By forming strong relationships, you’ll develop a community and a support system that can help you pull off a role that’s much bigger than one person. Relationships within Design, Product, Engineering, and Marketing are important, but also make sure you are developing your relationships with Finance, HR, Legal, IT, and any other support systems within your organization. While these relationships are certainly functional and will bring value to you and your Design Organization, the diverse perspectives you’ll gain from authentic community will make you better.

Step 2: Clarify. Clarity is key. Clarity in priorities, responsibilities, processes, and goals. When your job can sometimes feel like “everything,” it’s essential to be able to articulate to yourself and others what’s most important and who is accountable. You can’t make good decisions unless you’re clear on the objectives for your role and the role of the teams you support. Clarity allows you to prioritize and focus on where you can have the most impact and helps balance all the different hats a Design Ops leader needs to wear.

Step 3: Teach. Many of the Operations leaders I’ve interacted with share a standard drive to be helpful and are sometimes a little too focused on perfection. This creates a storm where the operations leader can become overwhelmed with doing everything themselves instead of delegating or letting “good enough” actually be good enough. As a Design Ops team of one, many of the things you think you should do as part of being a support function or should do as part of your drive to make everything perfect aren’t things you can do without becoming overwhelmed. Instead, lean into teaching the team to self-serve. Find repeatable processes that you can offload to others to execute. When troubleshooting a challenge, or adapting to a new workflow, take the time to share the rationale for your decisions with other leaders and individual contributors on the team. By teaching the team why you make the decisions you make and offloading clear processes, you will be able to focus on challenges of more significant strategic impact or greater urgency.

Step 4: Set Alarms. Early warning systems are the greatest ally to any Design Operator. Especially in organizations with more extensive design functions, a single Design Operations person can’t be in every room or understand every project, team, workflow, transaction, contract, or need. To keep yourself focused and adaptable to the emerging issues facing your team, you need to set up systems that let you know when something needs your attention, just before it becomes an issue. This doesn’t mean you have alerts for every bump in the road. Think of these alarms as the leading indicators of success or failure. Assuming you have a strong network and clarity into priorities and you’ve taught the team to self-serve when possible, what are the things that indicate that there are rough seas ahead? How can you find out about those indicators before your ship starts to toss in the waves? These alarms become a crucial part of organizing your time because they let you know where processes, networks, priorities, and people might need your support to keep running.

Step 5: Plan. Plan. Plan. Know where you’re going before you get there. As a leader, it’s your job to set a vision for what your function will look like in six months and six years. It’s also your job to think about the growth and development of the design team and how you’re going to scale yourself, your department, and the teams you support to meet ever-evolving business needs. By planning for these things now, you can develop a point of view that will help you make better and faster decisions in the future. This doesn’t mean you have written plans for every potentiality. It means you have perspective and have thought about what comes next. It allows you to become more nimble, and it means that your decisions today should be building a foundation that will be sturdy when tomorrow comes.

Step 6: Breathe. Take care of yourself, take care of your relationships and networks, and take care of your friends and family. Being a team of one can be lonely - and it can feel like you’re the only person who can properly keep all the plates spinning. Remember to take time to focus on your well-being and the well-being of your network. You’re not alone, and you have to take care of yourself before you can take care of anyone else.

Hopefully, this guide provides some perspective on one way to approach being a Design Ops team of one. Don’t forget that every team, organization, and individual is different. Your mileage may vary, but the principles likely won’t. Enjoy the adventure that comes from building a Design Ops practice, and remember to keep your own needs in mind.