Jilanna Wilson: “Distributed Design Operations Management” DesignOps Summit 2019 • October 23-24, 2019 • New York, NY, USA http://www.designopssummit.com

1. Your team is
remote.
Now what?
Jilanna Wilson
Director of Design & Research Operations
San Francisco, CA
DESIGNOPSSUMMIT2019

3. PRESENTATION TITLE
Straight outta Copenhagen

5. FOCUS ON RELATIONSHIPS
HUMBLIDENT
EMPATHY

6. San
Francisco
3,400+
10
San Francisco
Portland
Montreal
100+
Copenhagen
Dublin
Krakow
London
Montpellier
Singapore
Melbourne
DESIGN TEAM
HEADQUARTERS
EMPLOYEES
GLOBAL OFFICES AMER EMEA APAC

7. Happy and
healthy nomads
Best practices for distributed teams

8. 16% 52%
Fully
Distributed
1 day
per Week
Over the past ten years, the number of Americans working remotely has
increased by 115 %.
Owl Labs, State of Remote Work, May 2019
Today, 45% of US employees work outside of the office.
U.S.A.
GLOBAL

9. Disadvantages
for
remote
workers
Lack
of
motivation
Isolation
&
loneliness
Technological
challenges
Ideas
don’t
matter
Lack
of trust
Missed
opportunities

10. Co-located
teams and
distributed
teams
need the
same
things

11. COLLABORATION
COMMUNITY
COMMUNICATION
CONTINUAL ONBOARDING

12. 1.Communication

14. Communication
is critical and
needs to happen
often and clearly.
Teams need regular opportunities to
interact with leaders, co-workers and
stakeholders.
Establish communication etiquette so
that time zones are respected and
work/life balance is demonstrated for
all employees.
Prioritize your 1:1’s and do not ever
cancel them.
1

15. Communication
is critical and
needs to happen
often and clearly.
Teams need regular opportunities to
interact with leaders, co-workers and
stakeholders.
Establish communication etiquette so
that time zones are respected and
work/life balance is demonstrated for
all employees.
Prioritize your 1:1’s and do not ever
cancel them.
1

16. Communication
is critical and
needs to happen
often and clearly.
Teams need regular opportunities to
interact with leaders, co-workers and
stakeholders.
Establish communication etiquette so
that time zones are respected and
work/life balance is demonstrated for
all employees.
Prioritize your 1:1’s and do not ever
cancel them.
1

17. 2. Community

19. Demonstrate
that you care
about building
meaningful
connections.
Don’t let your rigid timelines and
meeting agenda get in the way. Look
for ways to break the ice and just
have some fun.
It’s not all about work. Make it a
normative practice to give virtual
kudos, high fives and shout outs.
FInd ways to remind people they are
not just working in a silo, but rather
they are a part of a larger dynamic
organization.

20. Demonstrate
that you care
about building
meaningful
connections.
Don’t let your rigid timelines and
meeting agenda get in the way. Look
for ways to break the ice and just
have some fun.
It’s not all about work. Make it a
normative practice to give virtual
kudos, high fives and shout outs.
FInd ways to remind people they are
not just working in a silo, but rather
they are a part of a larger dynamic
organization.

21. Demonstrate
that you care
about building
meaningful
connections.
Don’t let your rigid timelines and
meeting agenda get in the way. Look
for ways to break the ice and just
have some fun.
It’s not all about work. Make it a
normative practice to give virtual
kudos, high fives and shout outs.
FInd ways to remind people they are
not just working in a silo, but rather
they are a part of a larger dynamic
organization.

22. 3. Collaboration

23. Copenhagen
Melbourne

24. Collaborative
efforts are
highly
dependent on
well-developed
relationships.
Leverage asynchronous
communication and solid digital tools
to maintain seamless workflow.
Reduce technological constraints so
that collaboration can happen without
disruption.
Design systems help maintain our
standard of excellence.

25. Collaborative
efforts are
highly
dependent on
well-developed
relationships.
Leverage asynchronous
communication and solid digital tools
to maintain seamless workflow.
Reduce technological constraints so
that collaboration can happen without
disruption.
Design systems help maintain our
standard of excellence.

26. Collaborative
efforts are
highly
dependent on
well-developed
relationships.
Leverage asynchronous
communication and solid digital tools
to maintain seamless workflow.
Reduce technological constraints so
that collaboration can happen without
disruption.
Design systems help maintain our
standard of excellence.

27. 4. Continual onboarding

28. Week 1
Onboarding
experience
1:1’s,
critiques &
team
check-ins
1:1’s,
critiques &
team
check-ins
1:1’s,
critiques &
team
check-ins
3 months
All-hands
meetings
6 months
Focused sprints
& workshop
1 year
Global team
offsites

29. Onboarding is
continual, and
critical to an
employee’s
success
Remote workers don’t benefit from
context clues or water-cooler
conversations.
Create meaningful connections
through mentorship programs or
virtual meet-and-greets.
As time goes on and the company
grows, expectations change so we
have to assume that expectations of
employees need help clarifying.

30. Onboarding is
continual, and
critical to an
employee’s
success
Remote workers don’t benefit from
context clues or water-cooler
conversations.
Create meaningful connections
through mentorship programs or
virtual meet-and-greets.
As time goes on and the company
grows, expectations change so we
have to assume that expectations of
employees need help clarifying.

31. Onboarding is
continual, and
critical to an
employee’s
success
Remote workers don’t benefit from
context clues or water-cooler
conversations.
Create meaningful connections
through mentorship programs or
virtual meet-and-greets.
As time goes on and the company
grows, expectations change so we
have to assume that expectations of
employees need help clarifying.

32. Invest in proper tools
Community-strengthening moments
Regular 1:1’s
Rotate the pain
Robust onboarding
Check yourself

33. Focus
on
Relationships
Be
humblident
Practice
Empathy
Summary

34. Thank you