For the love of Design Operations!
Introducing my personal newsletter on design operations, working in tech, and all of the nice little things I've picked up along the way.
Thank you for checking out my substack 🙏 Follow along for handy resources, tips, and thoughts on the craft of Design Operations.
I’ve had an appetite to write for a while, so if this thing does anything for anyone, it will at least satisfy the need to check something off my never ending list of things to do.
I’ve had a very fortunate career, working in Operations for the past 16 years focused on Design Ops for the past decade. I’ve worked the full buffet of companies including early stage startups, megacorps, and even a brief stint in agency land. Through these experiences I’ve honed some very handy skills and knowledge worth sharing — to both inspire and support the next person with their ugly first pancake. So the logical next step is to blog about it all, right?
I got into Design Ops before it had an official name or job ladder, circa 2013. I was working as a Product Marketing Manager focused on Growth at Square. I had been with the company since it was a 100 person team working in a tiny office in the Chronicle Building, downtown San Francisco. In my time there, I was given many opportunities to grow and learn through the work I was doing. At this particular juncture, I was working on a web re-architecture project with the Brand Studio and we were having a blast. The project was straightforward, meaningful, and the work was beautiful. Sometime mid-project, the Brand Director asked me if I would ever consider being a producer. I was fairly organized, designers trusted me, and the project was going great! They saw my potential and nudged me to consider a different field.
A provocation, a reorg, and an opportunity for change led to an offer for a role that started as a Content Strategist and morphed into leading creative strategy and operations (Thanks Ty!) Naturally, I lept at the opportunity. In this new role, I got the chance to manage a small team of producers and run the go-to-market operations for the company. If you wanted to launch something, you talked to me and I would help you figure out a plan. Then our lovely crew of specialized producers would drive the work across the finish line. I finally felt like I was on the right career track with a job that fit my strengths paired with my passion for design (I went to school for Industrial Design but have never worked as a designer. I’ll write about that at some point!) It was the perfect job for me — and still is — lucky indeed.
Since that formative experience, I’ve had many wonderful opportunities to learn and grow through my work at world class organizations including Dropbox, Facebook, Twitter, and Google. I’ve been a manager, a director, and individual contributor many times around. I’ve run big organizations and built up little skunkworks projects — each assignment connecting me to brilliant, talented people who have taught me many smart things along the way. (Shout out to DesignOps Assembly for creating a space to connect and learn from the community!)
But this is not about me! It’s about YOU. I’m not writing to tell you about my accomplishments, I’m writing to share what I’ve learned with the hope that it helps you navigate this emerging field, taking a little pain out of the creative process along the way. Besides, it would be against the core principles of Design Ops to keep the good recipes a secret! Whether you’re a designer who has never worked with a producer or project manager, a design manager who wants a little more order in their life, or a design program manager who is looking to learn from others in the field, this newsletter is for you.
Thanks for reading. Let’s do this!
-MM