Operational Excellence in Design + Leadership + Design Ops with John Fukuda — DT101 E144

Jon said that when he first discovered the design operations community at the 2019 Design Ops Summit in Brooklyn, it felt like coming home. Here was this entire tribe of people who cared about the same things he’d been passionate about for years—creating systems that help designers do their best work. In this episode, I'm talking with Jon Fukuda, co-founder of Limina.co, about how design operations has evolved from an unnamed set of practices into a vital discipline that drives organizational excellence.

As organizations continue to face economic pressures, the conversation around design operations has become more critical than ever. How do we demonstrate the strategic value of design teams? How can operational excellence serve not just designers but business outcomes? Jon shares insights from his 20+ year journey—from early days defining UX practice models to his current role as a design ops leader and community builder.

This conversation reveals how the best design operations leaders think beyond tooling and process to focus on team health, cross-functional partnerships, and systems that elevate both human-centered practices and business innovation. Whether you're considering a move into design ops or looking to strengthen your design leadership approach, Jon's practical wisdom offers a roadmap for driving operational excellence in complex organizations.

• How might we structure the first 30-60-90 days in a new design operations role for maximum impact?
• What key misconceptions about design operations could undermine your effectiveness as a leader?
• When should design ops be positioned under product teams versus operating as a horizontal function?
• Why do organizations often view design teams as expendable during economic downturns, and how can we change that perception?
• How can design operations leaders demonstrate their impact on both team health and business outcomes?

Jon Fukuda is co-founder of Limina.co with over 20 years of experience as a user experience specialist. With expertise in UX strategy, design thinking, and UI design, Jon has led teams through human-centered requirements gathering, strategy development, interaction design, testing, and evaluation. His career journey started in the late 1990s when "user experience" was just being defined, giving him a unique perspective on how design practices have evolved. Most recently, Jon has dedicated his efforts to research and design operations facilitation for scalable, sustainable human-centered systems. His passion for operational excellence makes him a respected voice in the design ops community.

[01:30] Jon's journey began when "user experience" was just being defined

[02:10] Early exposure to coordinating UX work alongside business analysts and technologists

[03:40] "I always approached with a continuous improvement mindset - learn from mistakes, get better"

[04:50] The shift from individual excellence to system-level operational thinking

[06:40] Jon's team started defining specialized roles: information architects, interaction designers, visual designers

[08:40] On discovering the term design ops, "This is the work I've been doing for years - I just didn't have a word for it" — Jon

[10:00] The North Pacific Gyre metaphor: design ops managers pick up tasks no one else claims

[11:10] The community focuses on team health and infrastructure that supports practitioners

[12:20] Design ops handles everything from licensing software to managing team dynamics

[14:40] Different maturity levels: from surface-level design to strategic human-centered integration

[16:10] How design ops prevents team burnout and toxic workplace dynamics

[18:30] First steps for new design ops leaders: conduct a listening tour with your design team

[19:40] "Design operations is a servant leader role - you make sure people feel taken care of" — Jon

[21:30] Expand your listening tour to horizontal and vertical stakeholders to identify friction points

[22:40] The necessity of executive sponsorship when conducting large-scale assessments

[24:30] Building a shared vision of success that aligns stakeholders around design operations

[26:40] Design ops spans program management, infrastructure, HR partnerships, and career development

[27:00] Common misconception: reducing design ops to just design systems or program management

[29:40] Challenges of positioning design operations within product-led organizational hierarchies

[31:00] Why siloing design teams under product lines limits cross-organizational learning

[32:00] The Design Ops Assembly Slack community as a primary resource for practitioners

[34:40] Recommended resources: Nielsen Norman article and the Design Conductors book

[36:10] Design Ops Assembly Learning Labs offer stratified professional development programs

[38:40] Economic challenges lead organizations to view designers as expendable despite their value

[41:40] "The future requires better integration - both process and tooling" — Jon

[42:10] Need for better connections between design tools and broader business systems

• What surprised you most about the spectrum of activities that fall under design operations, and why?

• How does the concept of operational excellence in design challenge or enhance your current understanding of design leadership?

• Which aspects of the listening tour methodology seem most valuable for your context?

• How might you help your team understand the connection between operational excellence and strategic business outcomes?

• Where in your organization would improved design operations create the most immediate value?

• What would success look like if you implemented a structured listening tour with your horizontal and vertical stakeholders?

• What's one small experiment you could run next week to improve an operational aspect of your design practice?

• Which current friction points in your team's workflow could be addressed using design operations principles?

• How could you adapt the first 30-60-90 days framework to fit your specific organizational context?  

• How will you build stakeholder relationship management into your regular practice?

• What support or resources do you need to implement better integration between your design tools and broader organizational systems?

• Who could you partner with to practice articulating the business value of your design operations initiatives?

Nielsen Norman Group Design Ops 101 - An excellent primer that defines design operations as "the orchestration and optimization of people, processes, and craft in order to amplify design's value and impact at scale."

The Design Conductors - A new comprehensive book by Rachel Posman and John Calhoun from Salesforce, providing guidance on building DesignOps programs.

Patrizia Bertini's Website - Jon recommends her perspective on design ops and business value, with various articles on DesignOps strategy and measuring impact.

Rosenfeld Media's Design Ops Summit - The premier annual conference for design operations professionals.

Henry Stewart's Creative Operations + Design Operations Events - These events take place in New York, London, Los Angeles and other cities, often featuring co-located Design Operations Symposiums.

Operations + Human Centered Design + Art with Alvin Schexnider — DT101 E116 - Explores the intersection between operations, human-centered design practices, and artistic approaches to problem-solving, providing additional context for operational excellence in design organizations.

Creating a UX Career with Sarah Doody — DT101 E77 - Offers insights into career development for UX professionals that complements the discussion on design operations leadership and team development.

Ask Like a Designer — DT101 E61 - Introduces the six designer voices (Builder, Scout, Tinker, Facilitator, Traveler, and Pro) that can help design operations leaders develop a more comprehensive approach to supporting their teams and driving excellence.