Workshop 1: Building and Communicating a Design Vision

Objective

Enable leadership and senior design teams to collaboratively create a compelling, strategic design vision that inspires and aligns the entire organization.

Duration

2 hours

Participants

Design leadership, senior designers, cross-functional partners (optional)

Workshop Structure

1. Introduction & Importance (15 min)
   Discuss the role of vision in guiding design decisions, prioritization, and culture.

2. Individual Reflection (20 min)
   Participants write their personal vision statements addressing:

   • What impact should design have in the company?

   • What values should guide design work?

3. Small Group Sharing (30 min)
   Breakout groups discuss common themes and divergent perspectives.

4. Vision Synthesis (40 min)
   Facilitated session to draft a unified design vision and mission statement.

5. Communication Strategy (15 min)
   Plan rollout tactics: town halls, onboarding integration, leadership updates.

Expected Outcomes

• A clear, shared design vision statement

• Alignment on strategic design goals

• Plan for communicating and embedding vision

Workshop 2: Running Effective Design Critiques & Feedback Sessions

Objective

Develop skills and norms for delivering and receiving constructive feedback that elevates design quality and team trust.

Duration

90 minutes

Participants

All design team members

Workshop Structure

1. Feedback Principles Overview (15 min)
   Introduce models such as RADAR (Recognize, Ask, Discuss, Agree, Review).

2. Best Practices Presentation (10 min)
   Cover tone, timing, framing, and focus areas for critique.

3. Role-Playing Exercises (45 min)
   Break into pairs or small groups; practice giving and receiving feedback on example work or real projects.

4. Group Debrief (20 min)
   Share insights, challenges, and personal reflections.

Expected Outcomes

• Improved confidence and skill in feedback conversations

• Established team norms for respectful, actionable critique

• Increased psychological safety and openness

Workshop 3: Scaling Design with DesignOps

Objective

Equip design leaders and managers with frameworks to implement DesignOps, optimizing intake, prioritization, capacity planning, and workflow.

Duration

2 hours

Participants

Design leadership, DesignOps roles, design managers

Workshop Structure

1. Intro to DesignOps (20 min)
   Explain goals, benefits, and common challenges.

2. Intake Process Walkthrough (30 min)
   Demonstrate a centralized request intake form and prioritization framework.

3. Capacity Planning Exercise (40 min)
   Use example data to forecast workload, identify bottlenecks, and balance team bandwidth.

4. Workflow Optimization Brainstorm (30 min)
   Identify pain points and design process improvements collaboratively.

Expected Outcomes

• Clear understanding of DesignOps principles

• Ready-to-adapt intake and prioritization tools

• Capacity planning and resource management strategies

• Actionable process improvement plan

Workshop 4: Creating and Maintaining Design Systems

Objective

Introduce hands-on techniques for building, documenting, and evolving scalable design systems to ensure consistency and speed.

Duration

3 hours

Participants

Product designers, UI designers, design ops, front-end developers

Workshop Structure

1. Design System Foundations (30 min)
   Overview of design system components, benefits, and examples.

2. Component Building Exercise (90 min)
   Collaborative session to design and prototype reusable UI components.

3. Documentation Best Practices (30 min)
   Techniques for writing clear, accessible guidelines and contribution processes.

4. Governance and Versioning (30 min)
   Define ownership, update cadence, and communication workflows.

Expected Outcomes

• Practical experience in component creation

• Drafted documentation samples

• Governance model framework

• Increased cross-team alignment on design standards

Workshop 5: Career Growth & Performance Calibration

Objective

Define clear role expectations, performance metrics, and growth pathways; align leadership on calibration and promotion processes.

Duration

2 hours

Participants

Design leadership, HR partners, senior design managers

Workshop Structure

1. Role Definition Review (30 min)
   Examine competency matrices and levels.

2. Calibration Exercise (45 min)
   Practice evaluating anonymized case studies or peer reviews for consistency.

3. Career Growth Planning (30 min)
   Develop individualized growth plans aligned with org needs.

4. Promotion Criteria Discussion (15 min)
   Define transparent promotion guidelines and communication plans.

Expected Outcomes

• Shared understanding of performance standards

• Improved consistency in evaluations

• Clear career paths and growth plans for designers

• Framework for fair, transparent promotions

Workshop 6: Data-Driven Design Decisions

Objective

Teach design leaders and teams how to set meaningful KPIs, interpret data, and integrate metrics into design strategy and execution.

Duration

2 hours

Participants

Design leadership, product designers, UX researchers, data analysts

Workshop Structure

1. Introduction to Design Metrics (30 min)
   Overview of key metrics (engagement, retention, conversion, satisfaction).

2. Data Interpretation Exercise (45 min)
   Hands-on work with sample datasets or analytics dashboards.

3. Integrating Metrics into Design Workflow (30 min)
   Discuss how to use data for hypothesis validation, iteration prioritization.

4. Communicating Impact (15 min)
   Craft narratives combining qualitative and quantitative data for stakeholders.

Expected Outcomes

• Familiarity with relevant design KPIs

• Confidence in analyzing and interpreting data

• Strategy for embedding data into design process

• Improved storytelling for design impact

Summary

This Workshop Series offers design organizations a comprehensive, practical path to build foundational leadership skills, embed operational excellence, and drive strategic impact through:

• Shared vision and purpose

• Effective feedback cultures

• Scalable operations with DesignOps

• Robust design system practices

• Clear career growth frameworks

• Data-informed decision making

Each module is designed for interactive engagement and real-world application, helping teams evolve from tactical contributors to strategic design leaders.