The Big Question about Resilience: A panel discussion
Bria Alexander
DesignOps Curator
Laura Gatewood
Lead Design Program Manager, Central DesignOps, Salesforce
Corey Long
Senior Manager, Design Operations, Adobe
Daniel Orbach
Executive Director of Design, Small Business Credit Card, JP Morgan Chase
Laine Prokay
Principal Design Program Manager, Salesforce
Deanna Smith
Design Program Manager, Adobe Design
Summary
What’s the most important question regarding today’s theme of resilience that we, as a community, need to address? We’ve asked you, you’ve spoken—and now we’ll tackle it with the aid of Bria and some of today’s speakers.
Key Insights
-
•
Resilience in design ops hinges on a flexible mindset and excellent communication within teams (Danielle).
-
•
Kindness and a focus on the experience of people keep teams adaptable and less 'dried out' in changing environments (Laura).
-
•
Influence, built through empathy and demonstrating benefits, is key to design ops success, especially in small teams (Corey).
-
•
Energy management is more critical than time management for sustaining wellness and productivity (Lane).
-
•
Viewing feedback as objective data rather than personal criticism aids resilience and continuous improvement (Deanna).
-
•
Explicit behavioral modeling and communication of norms support personal and professional resilience in teams (Charlotte and Daniel).
-
•
Balancing energizing tasks with tedious ones and knowing when to say no helps preserve wellbeing (Corey).
-
•
Neurodiversity and personality diversity within teams are essential to support different working styles and prevent burnout (Daniel).
-
•
Allowing asynchronous and varied engagement methods in workshops gathers richer input from different personality types (Lane).
-
•
AI is becoming a powerful tool for design ops work by aiding ideation, message drafting, data interpretation, and even team facilitation (panelists).
Notable Quotes
"When I think about resilience, I think about flexibility, like trees that bend in strong winds instead of breaking — that starts with mindset and communication."
"Always approach from a place of kindness and think about the experience you want people to have as the water that keeps trees bendable."
"A lot of design ops impact comes from influence, and influence comes from empathy and showing the benefit of what you are putting out."
"It’s energy management, not time management — listen to yourself rather than comparing your output to others."
"Feedback is data, not personal — once you view it that way, it feels less like criticism and more like improvement information."
"Our behavior is implicit messaging; we need both explicit and implicit signals to support resilience on teams."
"Managing to outcome, not output, lets people own their way of working and leverages their best strengths."
"Supporting different ways people prefer to engage—like asynchronous workshops or prep time—helps introverts and extroverts contribute equally."
"What if we had AI teammates who were on every call and could help moderate, recap, and track time? That future is likely."
"AI is a great tool for drafting and summarizing, but you have to keep your unique voice because that’s what differentiates you."
Or choose a question:
More Videos
"Daniel Day-Lewis went so far as to suffer three broken ribs immersing in his role for My Left Foot."
Daniel GloydDesigning From the Inside Out: How Method Acting Can Inspire Design Research
February 12, 2026
"We’re not probing for interesting anecdotes or seating quotes for a slide deck. We’re answering real questions to provide actionable guidance."
Deirdre Hirschtritt Cesar Paredes Marie PerrotResearch is Only as Good as the Relationships You Build
November 17, 2022
"It was like giving a map that you could not read or even understand."
Benjamin RealMaturity Models: A Core Tool for Creating a DesignOps Strategy
October 1, 2021
"Sometimes you need to view your career like an investor, where you invest your time for the kind of impact you want."
Max Gadney Andrea Petrucci Joshua Stehr Hannah WickesAssessing UX jobs for impact in climate
August 14, 2024
"What is it like to be a new kid on an old block?"
Lada GorlenkoTheme 1: Intro
January 8, 2024
"Within five minutes and two seconds, they just dove right in and started collaborating."
Feyikemi AkinwolemiwaPlay to innovate: How curiosity and experimentation transform UX
March 11, 2026
"Lauren Cantor keeps all those links and other resources so we don’t have to be googling while listening."
Bria AlexanderOpening Remarks
March 29, 2023
"Processing limits and licensing terms currently restrict how much video and audio these AI tools can handle."
Llewyn Paine[Demo] Deploying AI doppelgangers to de-identify user research recordings
June 5, 2024
"OKRs can sometimes suck the oxygen out of the room if they focus only on bottom-line results, missing process and experience."
Bria Alexander Benson Low Natalya Pemberton Stephanie GoldthorpeOKRs—Helpful or Harmful?
January 20, 2022
