Designers, like many other professionals, rely on career leveling or ladders to guide their growth within their organizations. These guidelines provide structure and a sense of direction for designers and design organizations to follow. However, when developing these guidelines, it’s essential to consider more than just industry standards. I am using “designers” as an example, as currently I am supporting […]
DesignOps Skills Transferable to Chief of Staff Role A possible career path for DesignOps practitioners who want to continue in the individual contributor path can be the Chief of Staff(CoS). And many DesignOps leads do consider themselves as the CoS for the design leader. Design Operations (DesignOps) is a discipline that focuses on managing the people, processes, and platforms/tools involved […]
With all the massive tech layoffs, I’ve been thinking about what ops people can help—short-term and long-term.
To people who are affected
To people who are on the job
To the business and teams, we support
Have you thought about becoming a manager? What does it take, and how to move from your individual contributor role into a people managing role?
Being a people manager is not a goal for everyone. But for some ICs, this is an aspiration. With the right mindset and skills, you will find it interesting, challenging, and rewarding. It also comes with new responsibilities. Let’s talk about the transition from ICs to people managers.
Taking the Oxford Women’s Leadership Development Program pushed me to examine how we develop people. In the past, I have been advocating how we need to utilize people’s superpower vs. trying to focus on room for improvement. But there is nuance to this general statement. For example, I was looking at a designer on a design team. What if a […]
Finding a mentor is rarely easy. However, as a person who has been in both roles, I can say it is beneficial. I’ve learned new skills, built long-lasting relationships, and expanded my professional network by being a mentor and mentee. So, whether you are a mentor or a mentee, it is worth the effort and time you put into it.
Photo credit: Unsplash For many years, I’ve struggled to speak slower. It might seem to be a trivial problem, but it had a much more significant impact on my career. When you talk slower, your idea is easily understood. You pause to give people time to think about your concept and compose their questions for deeper understanding. You pay more […]
Changes will not happen overnight, and it will take time and effort. While individuals struggle within their own companies to articulate the business value of design, as an industry, people like Maria and Christopher educate a wider audience and reach out to more diverse disciplines that will bring the change incrementally.
What is the difference between a practice lead vs. a design-operations lead?
Roadmapping, 2×2 prioritization, and data analysis all sound too familiar for product development teams; these are the same essential skills for running a successful Design operation org, especially if we are the DesignOps team-of-one. The product management skills create stability, scalability, and maps out a process. Coming from a practice lead background, we can easily apply the same skills to design operations. What makes it different is the scale and complexity. For DesignOps, operationalize it is the key.
For designers who want to explore a career path as a designops lead, consider what you are passionate about: do the work, or help others do the job. What energizes you, being in the spotlight, showcase the achievement, or staying behind the scenes cheering up for your teammates. There is a career path for both.