Impact of DesignOps at ServiceNow (DesignX DesignOps Day)

The impact of DesignOps 
at ServiceNow
Director of Product Design for NowX
Peter Boersma
DesignOps Day, Amsterdam, October 25, 2019

© 2019 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Peter’s “two truths and a lie”
In the early ‘90s 
I created my 
own Masters’ 
program, called 
“Information 
Ergonomics”.
I have presented 
at more than 40 
conferences but 
I have never 
presented further 
east than Berlin.
For 3 weeks, I 
designed website 
prototypes for 
the government 
of Jamaica, in 
Kingston, Jamaica.

The impact of DesignOps 
at ServiceNow

© 2019 ServiceNow, Inc. All Rights Reserved.!5
Like DevOps
A mindset, aimed at closer
collaboration (originally
between Dev and Ops),
continuous delivery,
automation, feedback,
efficiency, innovation.
Like Roadies
Running the show from
backstage: planning
events, writing the
playbook, defining the
process, selecting the tools.
Like Management
Focussed on building
teams, having 1-on-1’s,
creating career ladders,
collaboration amongst
designers and with others,
quality of output.
Three flavours of DesignOps

DesignOps 101 by Nielsen Norman Group
DesignOps refers to the orchestration and
optimization of people, processes, and craft
in order to amplify design’s value and impact
at scale. 

DesignOps is a collective term for addressing challenges such as:
• growing and evolving design teams
• finding and hiring people with the right skills
• creating efficient workflows
• improving the quality and impact of design outputs.

1. How we work  
together
Organize
• Organizational structure
• Team composition
• Role definition
Collaborate
• Meetings
• Environment
• Communities of Practice
Humanize
• Career paths
• Hiring and onboarding
• Career development
3. How our work 
creates impact
Measure
• Design standards
• Metrics
• Definitions of “good” and “done”
Socialize
• Success stories
• Reward and recognition
• Education
Enable
• Skills training
• Playbooks
• Workshops
2. How we get our 
work done
Standardize
• Guiding principles
• Design process
• Consistent toolsets
Harmonize
• Design systems
• Research repositories
• Digital-asset management
Prioritize
• Balancing workflow
• Estimation
• Allocation
Components of DesignOps organisations

“The shape of DesignOps will and
should look very different from one
organization to the next.”
Kate Kaplan, Nielsen Norman Group, DesignOps 101, July 21, 2019

Every UX designer everywhere
“It depends…”

ServiceNow makes work, work better for people.
We transform old, manual ways of working into
modern digital workflows, so employees and
customers get what they need, when they need
it — fast, simple, easy.
When people work better, business works better.

Workflow engine
(IT) systems inventory Employees & Org chart
Customer data

“IT tickets” or “requests” or "incidents” 
(large but shrinking % of our revenue)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUrv0I8x5Ek

Motaz Altaher, 
Senior UX Designer 
Performance Analytics & Reporting
Amsterdam

Every 6 months, 
we release a new version 
of every product
Product teams, made up of product
managers, designers, developers and
quality assurance staff, actively work on
the design & development of a release,
while preparing for the next few releases
in parallel.
(c) copyright I, Laslovarga, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/
wiki/File:0327New_York_City_Statue_of_Liberty.JPG
Our releases are named after cities. 
Most customers are on the London or Madrid version. 
We just released New York, are working on Orlando, and
are busy planning Paris, Quebec, etc.

This year’s challenge: moving to a new UI platform
classic lists & forms modern, flexible canvas

Experience Organisation size over time
0
75
150
225
300
2004 2008 2012 2016 2018 2020
300
200
50
20
10
0
we are going to need 
DesignOps!
today: 257

Design in the OrgChart
CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir 
x5
CIO CCO CMO
VP
Dir
Mgr
UX
10.000
CFO 2.500
250
25
10
5
1
DirSr.
Mgr
Princip 
UX
Sr.Dir

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir
CIO CCO CMO
Dir
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
10.000
CFO 2.500
250
25
10
5
1
DesignOps

Services of DesignOps at ServiceNow
Process definition
• Design Project Life Cycle
• Design Review process (DERT)
• Product Content process
Design support
• Design Workflow Tool
• Design Manager checkins
• DERT calendar & sessions
• Tool selection 
(Abstract, Sketch, InVision, Miro)
Program Management
• Release Management
• Project Armstrong (move to new UI platform)
• Design System project management
• Accessibility training
Communication
• Weekly newsletter
• Office hours
• Slack channel
• Sharepoint articles

Design Project Life Cycle
Understand Ideate Build
Intake
Discovery & 
Analysis
Conceptual 
Validation
Refinement & 
Usability 
Testing
UX 
Specifications
Development
Instance 
Grooming
Approval
+ activities
+ deliverables

Purpose
The Design Experience Review Team (DERT) is a process and a cross-functional team
which helps to ensure quality and consistency in user experience and user interface
across the ServiceNow platform and to validate conformance and
contributions to ServiceNow Design Systems.

Goals  
• Guide teams from concept to code
• Connect with all teams across ServiceNow to share design patterns and resources
• Evangelize UX patterns and best practices back to stakeholders
• Ensure a consistent look & feel that results in product harmony and customer delight
Design Experience Review Team (DERT)

DERT process

DERT dashboard

DERT calendar & sessions

Design Workflow Tool - Design project dashboard

Design Workflow Tool - Design project list for PA&R

Design Workflow Tool - Design project record

This year’s challenge: moving to a new UI platform
classic lists & forms modern, flexible canvas

Program Management - Inventory of screens & components

Program Management - Design Jams
50+ people
2x2 weeks

Related to DesignOps
Design System
BizOps
Insights
Leadership

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir
Dir
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
10.000
2.500
250
25
10
5
1
Dir
Sr.UX
X4
Dev
Mgr.
Mgr.
X4
UX
X10
Dev
X6
Related: Design System

• Documentation of components
• Team has developers and works with Development
• Contribution model for other Business Units
• Office Hours & Slack channel for support

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir
Dir
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
10.000
2.500
250
25
10
5
1
Sr.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Comm
Spec.
Related: BizOps
Dir
Sr.UX
X4
Dev
Mgr.
Mgr.
X4
UX
X10
Dev
X6

Related: BizOps
• Determining headcount and support with hiring
• Templates and organisation of annual reviews
• Development of career ladder
• In-house events & training
• Budget for team outings
• Internal newsletter
• Sponsorships

Related: BizOps - Annual reviews

Related: BizOps - career ladder - skills for Designers

Related: BizOps - Newsletter

Related: BizOps - Sponsoring
Photo Enterprise Experience booth from post-event Deck

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir
Dir
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
10.000
2.500
250
25
10
5
1
Sr. Dir
Arch.
Mgr.
X4
Dir.
Res
X19
Related: Insights (Market/User Research & Evaluation)
Sr.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Comm
Spec.
Dir
Sr.UX
X4
Dev
Mgr.
Mgr.
X4
UX
X10
Dev
X6

The Insights team performs market & user research and evaluations of concepts,
prototypes and launched products. The team also supports its researchers
(ResearchOps!) as well as product teams to do research themselves.
• 3 or 6-month user & market research programs
• Usability test participant pool & rewards
• Design Partner Program
• ProductLab for surveys

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir 
x5
Dir
10.000
2.500
250
25
10
5
1
Related: Experience Org Leadership
Sr. 
Mgr
Princip 
UX
VP
Dir 
x5
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Arch.
Mgr.
X4
Dir.
Res
X19
Sr.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Comm
Spec.
Sr.UX
X4
Dev
Mgr.
Mgr.
X4
UX
X10
Dev
X6

Related: Experience Org Leadership
EO Leadership has bi-weekly calls and quarterly face-to-face meetings where the
overall status of the Experience Organisation is discussed.
Typical topics are:
• EO-wide Goals
• Aligning people & processes to other Business Units
• Bonuses & promotions
• Promotion of ServiceNow design

CEO
CPO
HoD
Sr.Dir 
x5
Dir
10.000
2.500
250
25
10
5
1
DesignOps + Design System + BizOps + Insights + Leadership
Sr. 
Mgr
Princip 
UX
VP
Dir 
x5
Sr.UX Sr.UXSr.Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Arch.
Mgr.
X4
Dir.
Res
X19
Sr.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Prog.
Mgr
Comm
Spec.
Sr.UX
X4
Dev
Mgr.
Mgr.
X4
UX
X10
Dev
X6

Source: DesignOps survey, September 2019
Impact of DesignOps - awareness of services
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
D
ERT
Slack
C
hannels
N
ew
sletter
O
ffice
Hours
D
esign
W
orkflow
Tool
Program
M
anagem
ent
67%
71%
79%
88%
92%92%

Impact on Designers

“DesignOps impacts my every day. 
I would say for this release it has
gotten so much better with
oversight. Less things slipping
through the cracks.”
Designer

“I am able to get approvals 
straight from the design tool 
[thanks to Abstract, PB] and not
have to typically hunt down 
every individual party.” 
Designer

“For our Design System component work,
DesignOps ran the daily stand-ups,
created our visual task board for tracking
work, and took on a lot of the
administrative work so we could focus on
design.”
Designer who worked on the Design System team

“The MIRO tool is something we've
been wanting for a while - so happy 
to see it implemented and also
supported; in terms of a best-practices,
the walkthrough was really helpful.”
Designer

Impact on Designers
Thanks to DesignOps
• State of project is known
• Designs are being pre-viewed and re-viewed
• Process is defined
• Tools are standardised & supported
• Design system makes designers more efficient
• Insight in career opportunities
• Inspirational talks & events
• Access to research & test participants

Impact on Design Managers

“Gurbani [DesignOps Program
Manager] has been helping my
team establish a daily standup
cadence and keep our team 
up-to-date in our visual task board.”
Design Manager

“We use the Design Workflow Tool
daily in our work management as
well as all the tracking tools that
Nicole [DesignOps Program
Manager] has helped setup for us.”
Design Manager

“DesignOps is working to help me get an
official content review process into DERT. 
 
They also send out a weekly email so I
have visibility into how all the projects
are doing and who’s working on what.”
Content Design Manager

“Aumarie [DesignOps Program Manager]
has been helping us manage work tasks
and has recently been helping us define
a capacity model. 
She has also been instrumental in tool
transitions (Box to OneDrive), etc.”
Design Manager

Impact on Design Managers
Thanks to DesignOps
• State of multiple projects known
• Team management support
• Multi-team programs supported
• Support for advancing designers’ careers
• Design Manager training

Impact on EO Leadership

“The status emails that are sent out weekly
containing details about the various projects
and programs in place is a huge benefit to
visibility. Even though we aren't always
responding to it, I am absolutely reading it,
and appreciating the communication on that
front.”
Design Leader

Impact on EO Leadership
Thanks to DesignOps
• State of all design projects known
• Insight into adherence to DERT processes
• Department-wide programs are managed
• Improved quality of design work
• Design system makes all designers more efficient
• Support in managing headcount & hiring
• Insight in design team composition & skill gaps
• Brand recognition makes it easier to hire staff

Lessons learned
What should DesignOps do?
Do I need DesignOps?

What should DesignOps do?

Source: DesignOps survey, September 2019
Impact of DesignOps - usefulness of services (hi/med/low)
0
25
50
75
100
D
ERT
D
esign
W
orkflow
Tool
O
ffice
Hours
Slack
channels
Program
M
anagem
ent
N
ew
sletter
53
47
53
79
63
53
46
31
39
313131 31
38
46
0
31
46

High-impact services of DesignOps at ServiceNow
Process definition
• Design Project Life Cycle
• Design Review process (DERT)
• Product Content process
Design support
• Design Workflow Tool
• Design Manager checkins
• DERT calendar & sessions
• Tool selection 
(Abstract, Sketch, InVision, Miro)
Program Management
• Release Management
• Project Armstrong (move to new UI platform)
• Design System project management
Communication
• Weekly newsletter
• Office hours
• Slack channel
• Sharepoint articles

1. How we work  
together
Organize
• Role definition
Collaborate
• Meetings
• Environment
Humanize
• Career paths
3. How our work 
creates impact
Measure
• Metrics
Socialize
• Success stories
• Education
Enable
• Skills training
• Playbooks
• Workshops
work done
Standardize
• Design process
Harmonize
• Design systems
Prioritize
• Estimation
• Allocation
“the shape of DesignOps will and should look very different from one organization to the next”

1. How we work  
together
Organize
• Role definition
Collaborate
• Meetings
• Environment
Humanize
• Career paths
3. How our work 
creates impact
Measure
• Metrics
Socialize
• Success stories
• Education
Enable
• Skills training
• Playbooks
• Workshops
work done
Standardize
• Design process
Harmonize
• Design systems
Prioritize
• Estimation
• Allocation

Do I need DesignOps?

“You probably don't need this
dedicated role until your team is
about 150-200 people.”
Peter Merholz (author of Org Design for Design Orgs), 
Leading Design slack community, #orgdesign, August 15, 2019

0
75
150
225
300
300
200
50
20
10
0
you are going to need 
DesignOps!

“At this scale (12 designers), having a DesignOps person
responsible for creating career paths and supporting a
team’s development is management, not Ops. 
THAT SAID, career paths, etc., can very much be
supported by Ops, and as the organization scales,
having a dedicated Ops person to ensure a strong
employee experience is totally worthwhile. 
THAT SAID, you probably don't need this dedicated role
until your team is about ~150-200 people.”
Leading Design slack community, #orgdesign, August 15, 2019

“With 10 folks, you definitely want a
Design Program Manager to keep
things humming. Even more so
given a distributed nature..”
Leading Design slack community, #orgdesign, October 20, 2019

0
75
150
225
300
300
200
50
20
10
0
you are going to need 
DesignOps!
but what if your design 
team is smaller?

“Not every organization needs
DesignOps the Role.”

“Any team, however, can benefit from
DesignOps the Mindset, which simply means
recognizing the need for and implementing
an ecosystem, or a set of standardized
processes, methods, and tools that support
design and allow design to scale efficiently.”

“Any team, however, can benefit
from DesignOps the Mindset”

you can make work, 
work better for your people

peter.boersma@servicenow.com | @pboersma
Thank you

Peter’s “two truths and a lie”
In the early ‘90s 
I created my 
own Masters’ 
program, called 
“Information 
Ergonomics”.
I have presented 
at more than 40 
conferences but 
I have never 
presented further 
east than Berlin.
For 3 weeks, I 
designed website 
prototypes for 
the government 
of Jamaica, in 
Kingston, Jamaica.
LIE
Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Austin, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Chicago,
Cologne, Copenhagen, Dublin, Ede, Edinburgh, Hamburg, Las Vegas,
Lausanne, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Miami, Minneapolis, Montréal, Moscow,
Munich, Oslo, Paris, Pittsburgh, Prague, Riga, Rome, Rotterdam, Seattle,
Soesterberg, Sofia, Stockholm, The Hague, Utrecht, Vienna, Warsaw.

peter.boersma@servicenow.com | @pboersma
Questions?

Impact of DesignOps at ServiceNow (DesignX DesignOps Day)

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