State of DesignOps: Learnings from the 2021 Global Report
Summary
DesignOps has been maturing in recent years and the adaptation of the practice has increased. With data from over 200 companies from all over the world, we are taking a deep dive into how DesignOps professionals are structuring their roles and/or teams in different companies. We are learning all about their impact, tools, and practices, as well as how are they adapting to the new normal, and how they are tackling social issues.
Key Insights
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Design ops professionals are typically seasoned with 10-20 years of experience and often transition from design craft or design management roles.
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Emotional intelligence, especially empathy inward towards designers and stakeholders, is a critical competency for design ops roles.
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More than half of design ops professionals in the survey are women, and the average age group is 35-44 years old.
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Design ops teams are mostly small, often consisting of just one person, yet this one individual can support anywhere from a handful to 200 designers.
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The role becomes relevant primarily when design teams grow to about 30-40 designers, especially in enterprise and post-Series C startups.
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Common focus areas of design ops include communication, system/process management, team growth, culture, partnerships, project management, and governance.
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Tools like Figma, Slack, Miro, Google Docs, and Google Drive dominate as essential for remote collaboration and documentation.
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Remote work is the new norm, with 90% of respondents working exclusively remotely post-pandemic, increasing the need for design ops.
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There are notable geographic gaps in design ops adoption and data from Africa, Canada, and much of Asia remain limited.
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Challenges for solo design ops professionals include prioritizing high-ROI initiatives and balancing project management with organizational strategy.
Notable Quotes
"Design ops people need to be seasoned for the role. There’s experience you can’t learn in college or a bootcamp."
"Empathy in design ops turns inward toward our own people first and extends to other stakeholders."
"One design ops person can work for anything from a handful of designers up to 200 designers, which can be quite challenging."
"Design ops becomes relevant when a company’s design team scales to about 30 or 40 designers."
"Communication and processes are the core focus areas where design ops teams invest most of their efforts."
"Most design ops professionals work fewer than 40 hours per week, with Europeans more likely to keep this balance than their US counterparts."
"The biggest blockers to adopting new tools are often company policy, security concerns, and budget constraints."
"Remote and distributed work models create more demand for design ops as teams need systems to enable collaboration and alignment."
"Emotional intelligence encompasses self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management—key for design ops."
"No one is married to a company; people will leave if their needs aren’t met, so retention and team happiness are important success indicators."
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