Community powered by Design Ops

As it turns out, one of the secrets to building healthy, people-centered programming is to leverage the power of Design Ops. From hosting gatherings and lectures to publishing educational and personal perspectives, we prioritize efforts to contribute to the creative community in meaningful ways that help people connect, learn, and grow together. We believe that building a smart workplace requires the development of creative spaces where people feel like they belong.

Leading community initiatives is often seen as “+1” or “extracurricular” work that is layered on top of full-time job responsibilities. As a result, this mindset can easily cause the community work to lose priority when the job stuff gets busy. In the business of community building, people-centered programs require operational support to thrive. Impactful programming can’t be built without a plan, which is where the power of Design Ops comes in. We’ve seen how the positive and lasting effects of strong communities can help our team become more connected, creative, and inclusive. So, as the Design Ops team at Dropbox, we’re committed to driving strategies for shaping and scaling cultural initiatives that make work more human—for our team and the creative community at large.

Ladies first

Established by Anisha Jain in 2017, Ladies Who Create is a community for womxn and nonbinary creatives, built to foster deep relationships through connection and knowledge sharing. Anisha set her sights on building a program that would make everyone feel like they belong. With the help of two design program managers, Sarah Lin and Michelle Morrison, the community has since grown to become a global initiative that supports womxn in their careers at Dropbox and beyond. These efforts have been influential in reaching and maintaining equity within our design team, amplifying the voices of womxn, and providing support for career growth and professional-skills development.

While Ladies Who Create is a great way to connect with fellow designers, it’s also a rich resource for sharpening leadership skills. A group of multidisciplinary creatives at Dropbox joined forces to set up a leadership committee that is responsible for driving projects and initiatives aligned with our mission. Participating in this group allows community members to hone new skills and find opportunities for growth outside of their core responsibilities. Beyond helping to plan and execute events, the committee builds community in a few ways:

• People-driven insights: Sends out surveys regularly to help us learn what the needs of community members are, and how programming can be tailored to meet those needs.
• Goal setting: Sets annual OKRs for the group, and assigns owners who drive our plans forward. This is also a great way for committee members to work on stretch projects or develop specific skills in a leadership capacity.
• Operational practices: Meets each month to review upcoming events, budgets, and partnership opportunities. We also evaluate our performance with KPIs and report on progress to our design team.

The program

As part of our strategy, we develop a curriculum that helps our designers navigate their careers. This programming focuses on performance reviews, writing with confidence, personal growth plans, and long-term goals. We also host social gatherings like dinner parties, creative happy hours, and flower-arranging classes. While these social events may at first seem less impactful, they are actually an easy entry point for team members and new hires to connect (think: growth strategy!). Offering a full menu of activities allows everyone to engage in a way that makes sense to them.

Radical results

Through this community-oriented work, we have built a network and support system for womxn in design, and it has paid off. We’ve seen womxn get promoted to manager and principal-level roles, lead some of our more important product initiatives, and share their stories more openly than ever before.

Dropbox has maintained a design team that has more than 50% representation by womxn, including diversity at leadership levels. We’ve also gained momentum in attracting underrepresented minorities. Setting explicit goals to maintain equity both in hires and promotions, funding our community programming, and focusing on efforts that foster inclusion has helped us take our ambitious, complex goals and make them our reality.

Diversifying Design

Getting started

3D is a working group dedicated to the planning, execution, and enrichment of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives within Dropbox Design. Galvanized by a diversity offsite aimed at leads, UX writer Roxanna Aliaga and design researcher Teresa Hernandez started talking about ways to personally impact diversity on the design team. In a parallel effort, product designer Wes O’Haire was exploring personal outreach—his tweet offering a week of mentorship lunch discussions with Black designers got a huge response. Roxy, Tere, and Wes joined forces to launch 3D—Diverse Dropbox Design. As with anything that’s three-dimensional, this name signifies depth, well-roundedness, and a sense of being true to life.

The program

Design program manager Andrew Lee was inspired to get involved with 3D because its goal aligned with other efforts he was leading, including programs for high school and university students. With his help, this initiative has grown to involve a broader range of participants, invest in youth mentorship, and host diversity breakfasts.

Andrew plays an important role in keeping the 3D leadership committee on point. Beyond helping to plan diversity events and workshops, the 3D leadership committee focuses on:

• Staying synchronized: Biweekly meetings with leads and community members—including cross-functional partners in People Ops, Recruiting, and Design—who are excited to contribute to this work. Andrew helps lead these sessions and makes sure the right people have a seat at the table.
• Goal setting: As a team, 3D sets quarterly goals that allow us to grow our diversity-focused community, foster inclusive culture, and build a more diverse team. Like Ladies Who Create, we also assign owners for each initiative to ensure that the work gets done and we can have the intended impact.

Our playbook

3D supports all types of diversity, but its current focus is to empower our community so that more Black and Latinx people see themselves as designers. The program is built upon four strategies for engaging with creatives: communications, presence, events, and outreach. Goals are achieved at Dropbox by fostering inclusivity, sharing tips, hosting lunches, and providing support during onboarding, and through outreach efforts such as events, partnerships, recruiting, and publishing.

An effective tactic has been to host small, casual breakfasts in Tuck Shop and invite designers from the community to join us. These sessions usually involve pancakes, coffee, and a table of people nerding out on design stuff. This helps us create a safe space where designers of color can speak openly about their experiences. The overall effect is mutually reinforcing: Dropbox strengthens its internal culture of diversity by promoting diversity within the larger design community as well. Designers of color are also able to broaden their networks and engage in programming that can provide career opportunities.

Another way we promote inclusive thinking within Dropbox is through a tip of the month. At every Design All-Hands, we share one thing each of us can do during the month to boost diversity efforts. For example, instead of linking to your portfolio on social media accounts, share your spotlight by highlighting another site or organization that focuses on diversity. This will help people in your network discover ways they can get involved. It’s simple, low-effort, and impactful.