Main Responsibilities of a Design Program Manager at a Fortune 10 Technology Company
Marin's role as a Design Program Manager involves a multifaceted approach encompassing "program management," working directly with designers on projects; "business operations," managing budgets and resources; fostering "team culture" and engagement; and developing long-term "strategy and vision" for the design team. This experience, gained initially establishing design operations at Peloton and now focusing on projects at Google, highlights a career path centered on optimizing design team effectiveness within larger organizations.
Project Management, Business Operations, Team Culture, Strategic Vision, Design Operations
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Marin Dennis
Design Program Manager
Fortune 10 Technology Company
Santa Clara university 2012
California college of the arts MBA in design strategy
Communications
Technology
Creative
Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Design operations involves program management, working directly with designers on projects and ensuring timely completion.
2. Business operations are crucial, encompassing budget management, headcount planning, and resource allocation for the design team.
3. Cultivating a positive team culture is essential, fostering engagement, enthusiasm, and a balance between work and fun, aiming for long-term strategic vision for the team and organization.
Transcript
What are your main responsibilities within your current role? I know you just started at Google. If you want to talk about your role at Peloton, that's fine too.
Sure. I can speak about Peloton. It's pretty similar, but the main difference is that at Peloton, I was brought in to really start a design operations program for the design team.
At Google, it's very established, so I was coming in more focused on a project level. But at Peloton, my responsibilities were really to sort of oversee the day-to-day operations of the design team.
I like to look at design operations through a few different lenses. The first one being program management, which is really focused on the weeds on the ground, working with designers on their projects and making sure they're getting their stuff done.
The second is sort of business operations. This is more holistic: how does a design team sit within a corporation and keep the wheels moving? This includes having a budget, head count planning, and managing the team's resources.
These are things that maybe designers either don't have time for or it's not the best use of their skills. I think that's really part of the purpose of design operations.
So, program management, business operations. Team culture is another big category in design operations. This is about making sure the team is engaged and really enthusiastic about the work we're doing.
It's about figuring out ways to connect as humans at work and remembering that we're not doing brain surgery. So we can have some fun while we're at work too.
I would say the fourth pillar that I think about is strategy. This is about the long-term vision for both the team and the organization, but also for the projects and products we're planning.
This means thinking about a five-year, ten-year strategy and vision of a design team within an organization.
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