DesignOps and strategy

A fragmented design function with no system, no process, and no credibility it was costing the business time, money and quality. I was Senior UX/UI strategy lead. Working across three squads with limited design resource, no existing infrastructure, and stakeholders who hadn't yet bought into design value. No design system. Designers working in silos with inconsistent files, no handover standards, and no shared process. Accessibility was an afterthought. Engineering rework was high and design often bypassed. Design had little visibility at senior level. Early attempts to introduce shared components were ignored without governance. Pushing process change without stakeholder buy-in created resistance. Learned that systems need adoption frameworks, not just good components and a lot of proving the business case and changing culture. Built the operating model first. Governance, rituals, file standards, team structure all before scaling the system. Slower to start, but created the conditions for lasting adoption rather than a system nobody used. Founded a design system built on a foundations layer of tokens, typography and colour, feeding into application and marketing component libraries. Introduced squad and chapter structure. Introduced Figma file standards, handover protocols, Accessibility embedded at component level from day one. I made comprehensive collection of UX templates supporting our entire design process. Competitor Analysis, User Mapping, and Persona Templates, Design Brief Canvas, and Slides Templates for stakeholder communication. Design system adopted across three product squads. Measurable reduction in engineering rework. Design maturity increased from limited to emergent. Progress the design system to Level 3 maturity connecting design and code formally. Introduce automated accessibility testing. Expand the component library to cover marketing surfaces and scale toward a multi-product system.