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Design operations · Dec 2025 – Sep 2026
I automated the checking, not the judgment.
When I joined Lula, design was an execution-only function. I built it into a department of its own: a four-person team across nine product surfaces. All work lives in one hub, the week prepares itself, nothing reaches engineering without passing a nine-point gate, and software proposes while people approve.
- Starting point
- Design as an execution-only function, with no department of its own
- Team
- Me as head of product design, a senior designer, two product designers
- Scope
- Nine surfaces across Core and Foresight
- Systems
- Linear for execution, Notion for the hub, Figma for UI, Slack for nothing
- Timeline
- Dec 2025 – Sep 2026
One week of Lula Design · times in US Central
Monday
7:30 · autoDS monitor refreshWhat moved in the migration
8:00 · autoDesign Sync prepNote created, Hub view embedded, team pinged
8:15 · autoQA alertsDesign work that reached QA
8:30Design SyncPriorities, risks, decisions
9:45 · autoCourse Check draftBuilt from the sync, sent to me
WeeklyCourse CheckProduct, design, engineering and AI leadership
2:00 · autoExec dashboard draftStaged, not published
AfterI publishOr edit, or skip
Tuesday
7:30 · autoDS monitor refreshEvery weekday
8:00 · auto1:1 prep, two designersPage created, designer asked to pre-fill
8:15 · autoQA alertsEvery weekday
After prep1:1sMe with each designer
Wednesday
7:30 · auto1:1 prep, third designerSame four prompts
8:15 · autoQA alertsEvery weekday
Every other weekProduct × Design Sync60 minutes, live in the Hub
After prep1:1Third designer
Thursday
7:30 · 8:15 · autoMonitor and QA alertsEvery weekday
All dayDesign and build timeSkills run when a designer asks
Friday
7:30 · 8:15 · autoMonitor and QA alertsEvery weekday
All dayDesign and build timeHandoffs, reviews, prototypes
MonthlyProtoJam demosPrompt set on Monday, shown Friday
Runs on a schedulePeople meetA person decides
One week of Lula Design, times in US Central. Green is a scheduled task, navy is a meeting, outlined is a person’s call.
Summary · 2 minutes
The short version.
154work items in the Design Work Hub, 78 shipped
10active scheduled tasks
18design skills, 9 in a versioned plugin
9criteria in the Design Freeze gate
The problem
In January I audited 30 days of the team’s time. About 110 of roughly 220 hours went to QA support and rework. Design was not part of planning, worked straight from PRDs with no handoff, and treated every request as equally urgent.
The approach
- 1A charter that says what “ready” meansWritten definitions for Ready for Design, Ready for Dev and Done, so status is a fact and not an opinion.
- 2Four doors, one backlogEvery request, whoever sends it, becomes a typed row in the Design Work Hub. Moving it forward is always a person’s call.
- 3Software proposes, people approveEvery skill runs as a dry run and writes nothing until a person says apply.
What we did
01One hub154 work items on Sep 29, 78 of them shipped.
02A week that prepares itselfSync notes, 1:1 pages and QA alerts are ready before each meeting.
03The Design Freeze gateNine criteria before anything is Ready for Dev.
04A skill chain18 skills that hand each other a fixed format.
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