The aim of this guide is to collect useful DesignOps information in one place to make design teams’ lives easier. It is not a rule book, nor is it definitive. Most of these items can be run using plain old spreadsheets, blogs and productivity suites – power up with modern SaaS tools linked at the end.
Please add URLs to your existing tools, data, documents or services you use daily to store or manage items in this checklist.
Team Database
Setting out one spreadsheet/database with the following sheets/tables allows us to create a systematic workflow for finding information, querying, tracking and reporting. It’s recommended to keep a working version of this data away from SaaS products. This will allow you to quickly model out new fields and test new products before committing.
| Team Database Tables: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| People | name, email, job title, manager, discipline, level, skills… | Link |
| Projects | name, initiative, stakeholder, contact, status, start date … | Link |
| Resourcing | current, forecast versions, ideal, … | Link |
| Roadmap | initiative, strategy, teams, goal, functions, budget, … | Link |
| Org Chart | name, title, level, function, reports, expertise, email … | Link |
| Skills Matrix | title, level, specialism, requirements, skills, expertise … | Link |
| Recruitment | job title, level, project, finance code, live date, … | Link |
| Equipment | asset name, serial no, assigned to, … | Link |
Design Systems
The world of design + systems is moving at such an incredible pace that hiring dedicated experts in is a must. The basics are listed here for a sense check and to help connect data. Design practitioners should lead and influence daily progress, test emerging tools and run forums/committees for features, updates and deprecation. Close relationships with engineers implementing systems are a must.
| Design Systems + Tooling: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| Interface design software | Figma, Sketch, … | Link |
| Atomic components | symbols, workflows … | Link |
| Design version control | branches, revisions, merging, … | Link |
| Prototyping software | Framer, Proto.io, Principle, … | Link |
| Documentation | principles, usage, storybook, access, owners, assets, | Link |
| Systems team | discussion committee, owner, strategy, milestones, issues, roadmap | Link |
Documentation / Wiki
Getting these essentials down helps onboard new team mates, communicate clearly across the business, present externally to vendors and at conferences. Activities and deliverables clearly define process and practice for teams, improve systems and improve forecasting of work milestones.
| Documentation / Wiki: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| Who we are | team pics, department mission, org chart, … | Link |
| What we make | shipped work, case studies, work in progress, … | Link |
| How we make it | methodology, ways of working, sign-off, testing, … | Link |
| Activities + Deliverables | by discipline, format, example asset, templates, … | Link |
Workflows
These should be created for any repeatable set of steps. For tracking purposes workflows can be duplicated and renamed to match their instance (e.g. new employees name). They are used to optimise process, reduce time and risk whilst making sure teams can run autonomously if needed.
| Workflows / Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs): | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| Onboarding | pre-start, first day, first week, first month, manager, … | Link |
| Recruitment | open roles, 1st stage, 2nd stage, offer, start-dates, … | Link |
| Off-boarding | documentation, exit interview, tech access, … | Link |
| Content publishing | idea list, drafts, 1st edit, creative production, proof, … | Link |
| Workshops | brief, goals, attendees, schedule, activities, capture, … | Link |
| Proposal, Business Case | confluence template page, notes, ideas, draft, … | Link |
Views + Reporting
Sometimes referred to as dashboards – these views should provide business leaders with insights for conversations. There are primary accountancy views that always worth creating for financial decision making. Further views for managing team scheduling and project status support status meetings.
| Views + Reporting: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| Project status | phase, blockers, risks, edits, milestones, live, … | Link |
| Project budgets vs actual | budget, actual to date, forecast completion, notes, | Link |
| People assigned to projects | project, planned team, actual team, delta, … | Link |
| Recruitment | open positions, finance ref, applicants, candidates, process | Link |
Finance Sheets
Keeping budgets, costs and estimates in one place allows us to segment, combine and forecast numbers without a lengthy process.
| Finance + Budget Sheets: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| People | hiring, salaries, raises, finance code, contractor rates, … | Link |
| Learning | books, video subscriptions, courses, talks, … | Link |
| Hardware | machine, monitor, input devices, … | Link |
| Software | design, ux, research, project management, testing, … | Link |
| Entertainment | celebrations, away days, cultural trips, … | Link |
| Calculators | headcount, project, software, team events, … | Link |
Recruitment
Often hiring talent will involve lots of people across the business. Keeping these teams in sync is crucial, beyond the items below it’s helpful to create views for hiring status and workflows for teams to follow during the key steps.
| Recruitment: | ||
|---|---|---|
| Name | Variables | Live Version |
| Job Descriptions | templates, by level, by discipline, … | Link |
| External Recruitment Website | about us, how we work, how we interview, blog, … | Link |
| Job post marketing | social, events, ads, sponsorship, network, … | Link |
| Reviewing applications | criteria, feedback, … | Link |
| Interviewing | questions, task, info pack, … | Link |
| Onboarding | see workflows ? | Link |
Resources, Software, Tools and more
| Design Systems | https://designsystemchecklist.com/ https://uxtools.co/ |
| Workflows | https://trello.com/ https://www.process.st/ https://zapier.com/ |
| Views & Reporting | https://www.10000ft.com/ https://www.float.com/ |