Design Thinking 101 · 2025-05-20 · 46 min
Jon said that when he first discovered the design operations community at the 2019 Design Ops Summit in Brooklyn, it felt like coming home. Here was this entire tribe of people who cared about the same things he'd been passionate about for years - creating systems that help designers do their best work. In this episode, I'm talking with Jon Fukuda, co-founder of Limina.co, about how design operations has evolved from an unnamed set of practices into a vital discipline that drives organizational excellence. As organizations continue to face economic pressures, the conversation around design operations has become more critical than ever. How do we demonstrate the strategic value of design teams? How can operational excellence serve not just designers but business outcomes? Jon shares insights from his 20+ year journey - from early days defining UX practice models to his current role as a design ops leader and community builder. This conversation reveals how the best design operations leaders think beyond tooling and process to focus on team health, cross-functional partnerships, and systems that elevate both human-centered practices and business innovation.
Leadership & Strategy + Fighter Pilots + Design Education with Jason "TOGA" Trew - DT101 E14571 / 100Building Sustainable Design Research Systems with Sam Zucker - DT101 E143Architecture + Decision Design + Learning Spaces + Strategy with Adam Griff - DT101 E142Joy, Transformation, and Design as Creative Liberation with Sahibzada Mayed - DT101 E141Healthcare Design: Evidence-based, Business Fluent, and Change Prepared with Matt Van Der Tuyn - DT101 E140