Dianne Que: “Real Talk: Proving Value through a Scrappy Playbook” DesignOps Summit 2019 • October 23-24, 2019 • New York, NY, USA http://www.designopssummit.com

1. Real Talk:
Proving Value through
a Scrappy Playbook
Dianne Que
@dianneque
DesignOps Summit 2019

2. Hi, I’m Dianne !

4. Does this sound familiar?

5. Re-Orgs
Leadership Changes
Attrition
New Hires

6. Ambiguity
Instability
Uncertainty

7. Evolving
Grounding
Rebuilding

9. "

10. # #

11. What we’ll cover today…

12. BEING SCRAPPY
CREATING A PLAYBOOK
PROVING VALUE
MEASURING OUTCOMES

13. REAL TALK

14. What do I mean by
“scrappy?”

15. scrap•py
/‘skrapē/ • adj
consisting of disorganized, untidy, or
incomplete parts.
Source: Oxford
“A scrappy pile of notes”

16. scrap•py
/‘skrapē/ • adj
determined, argumentative, or quarrelsome
Source: Oxford
“A scrappy New Yorker”

17. scrap•py
/‘skrapē/ • adj
seemingly small and unthreatening,
but shockingly able to kick your ass
Source: Urban Dictionary
“A scrappy Design Program Manager”

18. Source: Me
scrap•py
/‘skrapē/ • adj
determined to get shit done
without letting perfect
get in the way of better

19. What were some of our
team’s challenges?

20. “The team doesn’t understand
who is responsible for what.”
–VP
Challenges

21. “What’s the difference between a Design
Manager and Design Lead?”
–Product Designer
Challenges

22. “How do we prioritize projects that aren’t
committed on our roadmap?”
–Product Designer
Challenges

23. “People don’t follow our workflow…
because nobody reads our Wiki.”
–Design Program Manager
Challenges

24. “Nobody knows what DesignOps is.”
–Design Program Manager
Challenges

25. Clarity

26. To prove value, know
what your audience values.

27. The Playbook

28. The Playbook
A Deck

29. 1. Being a Real Team
2. A Compelling Direction
3. An Enabling Structure
4. A Supportive Context
5. Expert Coaching
Playbook: Contents
Source: Richard Hackman’s Five Factor Model

30. 1. Being a Real Team
2. A Compelling Direction
3. An Enabling Structure
4. A Supportive Context
5. Expert Coaching
Playbook: Contents
Source: Richard Hackman’s Five Factor Model
A Compelling Direction
An Enabling Structure

31. Playbook Contents: A Compelling Direction
Pandora
Digital Product
Development
Product
Design
Vision, Mission, Purpose, Principles
Vision, Goals, Strategies, Metrics
Goals, Team Principles, Experience Principles

32. REAL TALK
Our Product Design goals
and principles weren’t
buttoned-up.

33. REAL TALK
Our first deck wasn’t this pretty.

34. Design Ops 101: Objectives, Values, Core Areas of Design Ops
How We’re Organized: Product Groups and Feature Areas
Org Design North Star
Roles & Responsibilities
Core Capabilities & Expectations
Decision-Making Frameworks: Horizons & DACI
Workflow & Process
Meetings
Systems & Tools
Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

35. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

36. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

37. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

38. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

39. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

40. Playbook Contents: An Enabling Structure

41. Provide visibility,
visualization, and vocabulary.

42. Initial Value

43. Initial Value
The playbook became
a springboard.

44. Initial Value
The project was a
forcing function.

45. Initial Value
It made our team
feel better.

46. We’re not always proving
value upwards, but also
across and down.

47. REAL TALK
We rolled out the playbook
without our manager's approval.

48. Measuring Impact
and Outcomes

49. Intentional
Unintentional
Measuring Impact and Outcomes

50. Clarity
Measuring Impact and Outcomes

51. “Without clarity, organizations quickly come
unglued and little bumps—like an angry
client or misinformed employee—turn into
mountains.”
Measuring Impact and Outcomes
Source: Chris Myers, Forbes

52. After
4.6
Before
3.1Clarity
Measuring Impact and Outcomes

53. Measuring Impact and Outcomes
This makes me realize how
much I take for granted. It’s so
useful to have a source of truth
for all this stuff, especially
when we get lost.
- Product Designer
You guys have your shit
together.
- Sirius XM partner
A lot of people want to
move toward this type of org
design, but you illustrated it in a
way that’s easy to digest and
understand.
- Engineering partner

54. Turn feelings into data

55. Extensibility
Playbook content used in:
• Onboarding:
Sirius XM, partners, new hires
• Cross-functional product kick-offs
• Executive shareouts
• Other people’s random decks
Measuring Impact and Outcomes

56. Extensibility
Measuring Impact and Outcomes
Amplification
Acceleration
Collaboration

57. Outcomes emerge over time.
Measure baselines.

58. REAL TALK
This isn’t really about a
playbook. It's about a
process.

59. REAL TALK
We re-orged one month after
rolling out the playbook.

60. There is no end-state
in DesignOps.

61. What’s Next?

62. 1. Evolve & Improve Content
2. Continue Roadshow
3. Define DesignOps Metrics
What’s Next?

63. 1. To prove value, know what your audience values.
2. Provide visibility, visualization, and vocabulary.
3. We're not always proving value upwards, but
also across and down.
4. Turn feelings into data.
5. Outcomes emerge over time. Measure baselines.
6. There is no end-state in DesignOps.
Key Takeaways

64. REAL TALK
We’re all in this together.

65. Thanks $
Dianne Que
@dianneque