Dragan Babic enables design.

Why you need design operations & benefits of investing in design process

As companies increasingly recognize the importance of design in driving business success, many are turning to design operations specialists to help them optimize their design processes.

All fine and dandy, but who actually does this?

Sometimes it’s an in-house senior designer, provided that the organization is mature enough and already handles design in-house. More often it’s a specialist they need to hire, and this role is usually described as “design operations specialist”.

A design operations specialist is a strategic thinker who understands both the business goals and the design process, and can help align the two to drive maximum value for your organization.

The main responsibility of a design operations specialist is to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their design team.

This means streamlining collaboration and communication, implementing effective design systems and tools, and tracking key metrics, a design operations specialist can help a design team work more efficiently and deliver better results.

Overall, a design operations specialist can be a valuable addition to any organization that values design, and sees how design as an asset can be used to their advantage.

This path will require consistent investment in design, reflected in money, and a certain amount of autonomy and authority which you will have to allow to your designers and design leaders.

Another option is to hire a third party design partner in the staff augmentation model. Think of it as a dedicated and fully managed, off-site design department.

Agencies like Superawesome are specializing in this model of collaboration, which represents a true symbiosis between the client and the vendor. If you're interested, don't hesitate to hit me up.

Created
2022-12-01

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Dragan Babic is a design consultant enabling creatively challenged organizations to nurture design, and work with design professionals in productive ways.

You are reading his blog.