How to Scale Design Operations for Growing Tech Companies

Scaling design operations (DesignOps) is key for growing tech companies to maintain efficiency, collaboration, and consistent quality. Here's a quick guide to get started:

• What is DesignOps? It's about streamlining workflows, standardizing processes, and improving team collaboration to handle growth challenges like silos and inefficiencies.

• When to Scale? If you notice inconsistent workflows or misaligned tools and practices, it's time to scale.

• Key Steps:

  • Align teams with shared tools, terminology, and clear prioritization.

  • Set measurable goals (e.g., time to market, user satisfaction).

  • Automate repetitive tasks like version control and handoffs.

  • Build a strong design system with reusable components and clear standards.

  • Choose scalable design tools with features like real-time collaboration and version history.

• Working with Partners: Incorporate external design teams by standardizing documentation, communication, and workflows.

Getting Started: Core Requirements for Scaling

Now that DesignOps is defined, here’s how to prepare your team for growth.

Recognizing When It's Time to Scale

You’ll know it’s time to scale if gaps in your processes are causing inconsistency. Start by reviewing your design workflows to identify areas for improvement. Look at tools, hiring practices, metrics, and guiding principles - are they aligned and standardized?

Structuring Your Team for Success

• Dedicate specific time and channels for design collaboration.

• Ensure everyone is using the same tools and terminology across design, development, and product teams.

• Implement a clear, unified process for prioritizing projects.

Establishing Measurable Growth Goals

• Identify key performance indicators (KPIs) such as time to market, user satisfaction, error rates, and cost per design.

• Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound) goals that connect directly to business objectives, and revisit them regularly to track progress.

Once these steps are in place, focus on refining workflows through automation and prioritization.

Making Workflows More Efficient

Once your team is aligned and goals are clear, the next step is to streamline workflows for better productivity.

Using Automation to Save Time

Automation can handle repetitive tasks like version control, asset exports, and handoffs. This not only saves time but also allows designers to focus on more strategic, creative work[1].

Improving Team Communication

Clear communication is essential for smooth collaboration between designers, developers, and product managers. Standardizing workflows and terminology helps avoid confusion and keeps everyone on the same page[1][2].

Here are a few steps to consider:

• Define metrics to measure the design team’s impact over time[2].

• Establish design principles to guide decision-making and assess quality[2].

• Standardize prioritization for incoming design requests to ensure consistency[2].

Managing Design Priorities

A transparent prioritization framework is crucial. Align it with business goals and refine it regularly to handle increasing demands while maintaining quality and efficiency[2][1].

Key focus areas include:

• Setting up metrics to track and evaluate the team's contributions over time[2].

• Developing clear design principles to maintain high standards[2].

• Creating a consistent process for managing design requests[2].

Building Better Design Systems

A strong design system is the backbone of efficient and consistent design operations, especially as your company grows.

Beyond improving workflows, a well-built design system ensures uniformity across projects.

Creating Standard Design Components

Use design tokens to strike a balance between uniformity and adaptability. These tokens are centralized repositories that store key design choices, such as:

• Typography scales

• Color palettes

• Spacing units

Automating token management can help keep styles consistent across platforms while minimizing errors [3].

Build Modular Components

Focus on creating modular, reusable components that can evolve with your product. Key elements to include:

• Pre-coded objects to speed up development

• Style guides to ensure visual harmony

• Detailed documentation for clarity

• Usage guidelines to avoid confusion

Maintaining Design Standards

An organized and updated design system requires clear processes. Here are a couple of effective practices [3]:

1. Announce updates through Slack channels or your intranet to keep everyone informed and reduce resistance to changes.

2. Encourage feedback using tools like Slack or Jira, allowing team members to report issues or suggest improvements.

Picking the Right Design Tools

Choosing the right design tools is key to scaling your design operations as your tech company grows. The tools you select should enable smooth collaboration and ensure consistent design across expanding teams.

Comparing Design Software Options

When evaluating design software, focus on features that support efficient workflows and reusable components. Key things to look for include:

• Real-time collaboration to allow multiple designers to work together simultaneously.

• Version history with branching for tracking changes and experimenting without losing progress.

• Scalable file and component structures with clear, consistent naming conventions.

These features help maintain uniformity and make handoffs faster as your team grows [4].

Connecting Design Tools to Your Stack

Integrating a new design tool successfully involves a few key steps [4]:

1. Run a pilot program
   Start with a small, representative team to figure out infrastructure needs and workflow adjustments.

2. Set clear organizational guidelines
   Define how projects should be structured, establish naming conventions for files and components, and outline version history workflows.

3. Use version history effectively
   Keep version titles concise (under 25 characters) and descriptions brief (under 140 characters). Use clear, action-based language to explain changes.

Make sure your tool choice aligns with your scrum team setup - typically one Product Owner and one Senior Designer per team - to ensure the transition is smooth.

Up next, we’ll look at how to expand these workflows when working with external design teams.

Working with Design Partners

Expand your capacity by incorporating external design partners into your DesignOps framework. This approach works best when workflows, systems, and tools are already streamlined.

Mixed Internal and External Teams

When combining internal and external design teams, clear organization is key:

• Assign an internal design lead to maintain brand consistency.

• Standardize documentation for files, assets, and feedback to keep everyone aligned.

• Use dedicated communication channels to centralize discussions and updates.

• Treat external teams as part of your in-house staff to foster collaboration.

Monthly Design Support Plans

Monthly design support plans can help manage fluctuating workloads effectively. These plans typically include:

• A dedicated team that works in sync with your brand and processes.

• Flexible systems for submitting requests and setting turnaround times.

• Regular check-ins with set hours for better budget management.

For example, Prakti Studio offers an Ongoing Support plan for $5,995 per month. It covers services like web strategy, A/B testing, conversion optimization, automations, integrations, maintenance, and unlimited design requests.

Choosing the Right Partner

When selecting a design partner, consider these factors:

• Scalability: Ensure they can adjust resources as your needs change.

• Integration: Confirm they can align with your tools and workflows.

• Response time: Look for quick turnaround times to keep projects on track.

• Quality assurance: Include review steps to maintain high standards.

A solid onboarding process and clear communication channels are essential for smooth integration with external teams.

Steps to Scale Your Design Team

Here’s how you can effectively expand your design team:

1. Standardize Processes

   • Use the same tools and workflows across the team.

   • Set clear metrics to measure the team's impact.

   • Implement consistent onboarding procedures to get new team members up to speed.

2. Improve Communication

   • Develop a shared vocabulary to ensure everyone is on the same page.

   • Document design principles and standards for easy reference.

   • Set up regular feedback sessions to keep communication open and productive.

3. Refine Team Structure

   • Pair designers with scrum teams for better collaboration.

   • Add specialists to address specific needs as they arise.

   • Increase team size strategically to keep up with project demands.

Tackle these steps in phases to ensure smooth growth and sustained efficiency as your design team expands.