Design & Research Operations Assessment Package

In the last 6 months I have been working with clients to help them understand their current Design Operations (DesignOps) and Research Operations (ResearchOps) situation. Only by understanding a team’s current state can we then strategize and plan for how we will elevate these practices to amplify the value they add to their host organizations. I have been learning quite a bit through these engagements. The biggest learning I have had, is how the beginning is the hardest part. So I’ve crafted this starter engagement package to kickstart this work.

Three core issues keep a DesignOps practice from starting up:

1. Time: “We are all heads down. Popping up for the things I know I have to do is hard enough. How do I convince people to take such valuable time for something so far abstracted from their day-to-day work?”
2. People: “Who should I be including and during what part of the process? How do I get them to come?”
3. Knowledge: “I don’t know enough about my current state to know where to begin to move from and towards what?”

Number three is where you need to start. If you have knowledge of your current state you can begin to consider how much time to invest and why to invest it, and whom you need that investment from.

I can help you get the knowledge you need by running an assessment of your current Design & Research Operations. Whether you’ve designed it intentionally or not, you have an operating model in place. Let me help you identify it. Given my cross-organizational experience, I can help you understand your current state against a set of heuristics I have developed across the 3 or 4 lenses I have described.

An engagement would consist of the following pieces (all pieces can be done in person or remotely):

1. 1-hr. course describing DesignOps & ResearchOps to your leadership team so everyone has a common frame for what they are and how they are relevant to them.
2. Each leader will need to facilitate a session using the DesignOps Canvas (up to 5 unique teams)
3. 2-day joint session of design leaders combining canvases, interviews with key stakeholders outside of design, and a sessions analyzing results for opportunities and challenges, (8hr/day; up to 5 stakeholders)
4. A report that includes an assessment, suggestions for how to move forward. Report is presented to whomever you like (up to 1 hr).

As you can see there is already some amount of people and time commitments just to begin this process. But so far I have found that organizations that start this initial assessment period make immediate shifts in their mindset and start setting new goals to help their design & research operations as part of the outcomes.

Contact me and lets find out if I can help you move your operations forward.