Emily Parcell

Design Operations Leader

Hi, I’m Emily.

I’m an experienced Design Operations leader, coach, and teacher.

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I apply my deep understanding of the human-centered design process to create operationally efficient and effective UX design team cultures.

I’m also passionate about eating

Operations-inclined since 1999

Case Studies

AUTOMATION ANYWHERE

Increasing �Design Maturity

PROBLEM

How might we help the business to realize their investment in scaling design?

ROLE

As Director of Design Operations, �I was responsible for:

• Discovery
• Provide frameworks for design standards & measurement

ADDITIONAL STAKEHOLDERS

Cross-functional VPs & Directors

Design Team

VP of Design

Design Leadership Team

Design Operations Team

CLOSE COLLABORATORS

PROCESS

DISCOVER

• Research maturity models
• Capture current state

DESIGN

• Co-design
• Pilot tests

BUILD & MEASURE

• Documentation
• Rollout & socialization plans
• Training sessions
• Quarterly OKR reviews

Partnerships

Quality

Current State vs Goals

IMPACT

SOLUTION

• Codify a new product development workflow & approach to cross-functional collaboration
• Develop expertise and leadership to help drive change from within the design team
• Establish standards, systems, and tools to allow for measurement of improvement
• Generate executive buy-in for design investments by leveraging pilot success stories that demonstrate the strategic impact of design

Effectiveness

Increased product usability

Efficiency

Derisked product development

AUTOMATION ANYWHERE

Building Inclusive Hiring Practices

PROBLEM

How might we apply consistent standards when evaluating candidates?

ROLE

As Director of Design Operations, �I was responsible for:

• Establishing a new process
• Creating documentation
• Communication
• Change management

ADDITIONAL STAKEHOLDERS

Lead Designers

VP of Design

Design Leadership Team

CLOSE COLLABORATORS

PROCESS

DISCOVER

• Research into best practices
• Analysis of past hiring decisions
• Feedback-gathering workshop

DESIGN

• Brainstorming workshop with team
• Draft process and content
• Feedback from leadership

BUILD & MEASURE

• Finalized process and content
• Documentation
• Training sessions
• Retrospective

IMPACT

SOLUTION

• Reconcile hiring evaluation criteria with career ladder
• Assign themes to each interview stage & provide a related behavioral interview guide
• Standardize feedback collection through use of a survey

Effectiveness

Leadership’s confidence in hiring decisions increased

TIGERSPIKE

Designing Distributed Collaboration

PROBLEM

How might we enable distributed teams to utilize the best team members globally for any project?

ROLE

As Lead Program Manager, I was responsible for:

• Discovery
• Design
• Release of a new internal process

SPONSOR

Global CEO

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STAKEHOLDERS

President of Americas & Europe

Heads of Design, Engineering & Project Management globally

PROCESS

DISCOVER

• Research into best practices
• User interviews

DESIGN

• Process sketching
• Validation survey
• Process iteration

BUILD & MEASURE

• Change management documentation
• Educational video production
• Rollout plan
• Training sessions
• Implementation Support
• Retrospective

IMPACT

SOLUTION

• Establish standards for when to engage in synchronous vs asynchronous communication
• Create frameworks to structure and standardize communication and documentation
• Determine standardized remote toolset

Efficiency

Improved global utilization of resources & reduced travel costs