Design Ops

MUFG Design Management

My Role: Design Ops Specialist

Duration: Eight months in three phase

Please Note: Due to the highly sensitive nature of this project, I can only provide a high-level overview without disclosing specific details or displaying actual designs and the process.

Project Overview

How this project started

As a Design Ops specialist, I was tasked with implementing a Design Ops to streamline and optimise the UX/UI design processes across the UX and CX teams.

Project Goal

The goal was to improve efficiency, consistency, and collaboration in design workflows.

Having just a design team wasn't helpful in a large and complex organisation like MUFG, which has around nine super fund managers and a vast digital product catalogue. So, we have decided to implement the Design Ops in this organisation for efficiency and management.

Main Challenges

Inconsistent design practices across different teams
Inefficient handoff processes between designers and developers
Lack of standardised design practices and processes
Limited visibility into design progress and resource allocation
Difficulty in scaling design processes with growing team size.

Research And Analysis

I conducted a comprehensive analysis of the existing design processes:

Interviews with designers, developers, and product managers and client partnerships.
Workflow audits to identify bottlenecks and inefficiencies
Review of existing design tools and resources
Benchmarking against industry best practices

Key insights

Management

Designers spend excessive time on repetitive tasks.

Standardisation

The lack of clear design guidelines resulted in inconsistent user experiences.

Dependencies

Inconsistent use of design tools led to collaboration issues.

Control

Limited automation in design-to-development handoff processes

Design Ops Solution

Based on the research findings, the design ops are planned in three phases:

Phase 1: Establishing the Foundation and infrastructure
- Assessment and Planning
- Frameworks and Tools
- Process Standardisation

Phase 2: Scaling and Optimisation
- Full Implementation
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Cultural Integration

Phase 3: Optimisation and Expansion
- Measurement and Iteration

Training

To ensure successful adoption of the new Design Ops framework:

Conducted workshops and training sessions for all design team members
Created comprehensive documentation and guidelines
Established a Design Ops support team for ongoing assistance

Key Results

The implementation of the Design Ops framework led to significant improvements:

Reduction in time spent on repetitive design tasks
Faster design-to-development handoff process
Improved consistency in user experience across all products
Enhanced collaboration between design, development, and product teams and business analysts team.

Final Outcome

This project highlighted the importance of:

Balancing standardisation with flexibility to accommodate different project needs
Continuously gathering feedback and iterating on the Design Ops processes
Investing in proper training and support to ensure successful adoption
Measuring and communicating the impact of Design Ops to demonstrate value

By focusing on streamlining processes, improving collaboration, and establishing clear standards, we were able to significantly enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of our design teams, ultimately leading to better user experiences and faster time-to-market for our products.