Design Ops Practice

Design Ops is the practice of optimizing design team operations through process design, tool selection, template creation, and workflow automation. Examples: design system governance, design review processes, design asset management, design tool setup (Figma orgs, permissions). A poorly-run design team (no templates, no asset organization, no critique process) delivers 50% slower than a well-run team. Good design ops = designers spend 80% on design, 20% on admin. Bad design ops = 50-50 split. Mastery takes 3-4 months. Premium: 5-10% because design ops directors create force-multiplier value (one person enables 10 designers).