Splunk
Building design operations, then research operations, from nothing
I was Splunk's first design program manager, supporting 60+ designers. As the company grew, I moved over to build research operations for the new UX research function, setting up everything it needed to run.
- Roles
- Design Program Manager, then User Research Operations Program Manager
- Team
- 60+ designers; later Design Systems (~12)
- Timeframe
- 2018 – 2020, 2020 – 2021
- Partners
- Legal, data science, marketing, workplace
- designers supported as the first DPM
- 60+
- designers supported as the first DPM
- saved moving to Figma and consolidating tools
- ~$1M
- saved moving to Figma and consolidating tools
- saved renegotiating UserTesting
- 50%
- saved renegotiating UserTesting
Overview
I joined as the first design program manager and design operations lead for a design org of 60+ people. As the org grew, my focus narrowed to the Design Systems team: about ten designers, a researcher and a design technologist.
In 2020 Splunk created a UX research function, and I moved over as its User Research Operations Program Manager.
The challenge
Design operations meant enabling the whole design org: tools, hardware, space and partnerships, none of it owned by anyone before me.
The new research team started with no baseline at all: no structured budget, ethics standards, research NDAs, privacy coverage, participant recruiting or lab.
What I built
What I built, in two phases.
Tooling and contracts
Negotiated the initial Figma contract and onboarding, renegotiated existing partnerships, and consolidated an older toolset.
Hardware and space
Onboarded 50+ people, procured design hardware and software, redesigned the team's floor layout with workplace operations, and designed a dedicated design studio for sprints, large meetings and all-hands showcases.
Design Systems program
As DPM for Design Systems, enabled a rapid app refresh and the build of Prisma, Splunk's first internal design system.
Research foundations
Organized the research budget, codified research ethics, co-developed NDAs with legal, and updated privacy policies for CCPA and GDPR.
Participant recruiting
Built an external portal for participant recruitment and NDA intake and tracking, plus all initial participant tracking.
Knowledge hub
Created a research knowledge hub so past insights were reused, and cut duplicate work with better documentation.
Lab and partnerships
Created and furnished Splunk's first UX research lab, with devices and security policies, and connected research with design, data science, legal and marketing.
- Prisma
- First internal design system
- Design studio
- First dedicated space for design sprints and showcases
- Research lab
- First UX research lab
- Participant portal
- First external recruiting and NDA intake
- Research ethics
- First codified standards
Impact
- About $1M saved by moving to Figma and consolidating older design tools.
- 50% saved by renegotiating UserTesting for research.
- A research function with its own budget, ethics standards, NDAs, privacy compliance, recruiting portal and lab, where none existed before.