Siloed to seamless

At HPE, scaling design wasn’t about growing the team. It started with merging two large design organisations, bringing together more than 60 people across UX, research, systems, and accessibility into one unified practice.

Design work was fragmented. Tools varied from team to team. And without a common framework, impact was hard to measure and even harder to communicate.

As Head of Design Operations, I built a design-first Jira ecosystem that brought visibility to over 1,000 tracked items in a single quarter.

I introduced outcome-based UX metrics tied to enterprise OKRs, and launched shared frameworks that aligned teams, clarified delivery, and supported long-term maturity.

The result was more than operational consistency. It was a cultural shift that helped design move faster, show its impact, and act as a true partner in building great products.

Role

Head of Design Operations
Led DesignOps for a global team
of over 60 across UX, research, accessibility, and design systems.

Scaled workflows, aligned UX metrics to enterprise OKRs, and improved visibility, delivery, and team health.

Problems

Disconnected tools and no visibility
into work or progress

No shared approach to prioritisation, tracking, or delivery

Low morale and unclear growth paths for ICs and design leaders

Design challenge

Unify design delivery across HPE’s Hybrid Cloud organisation by building the systems, structures, and shared practices needed for consistent, strategic execution at scale.

Outcomes

Launched a Jira system tracking 1,000+ issues per quarter with full engagement

Piloted new UX metrics tied to OKRs and product goals

Boosted Voice of the Workforce scores from low 60s to mid 80s

Developed dual-track career paths for ICs and design leaders

Established a new UX vision, mission, values, and principles

Used the REACH framework to assess and grow team maturity

Turned strategy into a practical design playbook for scale