Design Operations: The Architect of Successful Pitch Presentations

When bringing a new product to market, the journey from concept to pitch is a delicate dance that demands precision, creativity, and seamless collaboration. Design Operations (DesignOps) emerges as the unsung hero, setting the foundation for a successful new product pitch presentation. A well-orchestrated DesignOps strategy can elevate the pitch process, ensuring a harmonious blend of design, collaboration and innovation.

The movie “Air” was an inspiring depiction of this process and its successful outcome. 

If you’re unfamiliar with the premise of “Air”, it’s a movie about Nike signing Michael Jordan to their basketball shoe business. The bulk of the movie takes us through the entire product development process. We get to see how design teams can go from the spark of an idea to delivering an epic presentation with a product prototype in hand.

While not shown on screen, because it’s not as sexy, this pitch could not have been delivered without operational excellence. The project was high profile with pivoting timelines, expanding requirements and everyone in the process had to work differently. Here’s how I predict operations came in handy to deliver this presentation successfully.

1. Designing the thing you want to pitch

DesignOps plays a pivotal role in unifying a team to deliver creative output. There are specs to be determined, timelines to negotiate and approvals to manage. All of these activities are managed by operations to ensure teams are driving toward the same outcome. In the movie “Air” the team needed to design a shoe prototype in time to present to Michael Jordan and his family. This requires close collaboration between the business and the design team and DesignOps is the perfect facilitator.

2. Designing the presentation

Everyone plays a role in the pitch and it should be aligned on and practiced before the meeting. DesignOps can help the team do run-throughs of the meeting. Troubleshoot scenarios around adapting to an unexpected question. Decide who’s responsible for the specific speaking parts. Even go so far as to decide who sits where and why. Sometimes the CEO needs to be managed and everyone has to get on board with that, including the CEO. I thought this was a terrific part of the pitch preparation in the movie.

3. Facilitating Efficient Workflow

Efficiency is a cornerstone of successful pitch presentations. High profile work with condensed timelines requires teams to work differently. In the movie, teams worked late nights and weekends to prepare. This was in service of completing a fully designed shoe prototype to present in the pitch meeting. DesignOps will streamline this workflow, eliminate bottlenecks and enhance the speed at which design teams can iterate and perfect the presentation. 

Investing in a robust DesignOps strategy to deliver positive outcomes on your design team is a necessity. DesignOps doesn't merely facilitate the journey; it propels design teams toward success, ensuring that every creative outcome captivates, persuades, and leaves an indelible mark on the audience.