Strengthening Design operations at Novo Nordisk
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The ambition
Novo Nordisk’s design function had grown rapidly, with over 150 designers spread across different teams. While this expansion brought new opportunities, it also led to fragmented collaboration, duplicated efforts, and a lack of shared operational assets.
To address this, I worked with design leadership to map the design landscape, identify collaboration opportunities, and establish a foundation for Design Operations.
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Approach
Innovation by Design Award at Fast Company
- Conducted research to understand team structures, workflows, and operational assets.
- Created an interactive Figma map to visualize the ecosystem.
- Led a collaborative workshop where design leaders defined priority areas for cross-team collaboration.
- Used the Nielsen Norman DesignOps framework to categorize initiatives by scope (team, cluster, cross-org).
- Audited existing design tools, frameworks, and processes to reduce duplication.
- Developed a Miro-based Kanban board to track and share these assets.
Outcomes
✅ Clarity on the “as-is” design community in Novo Nordisk.
✅ Improved collaboration across all design teams.
✅ Better utilization of shared work across teams.
This initiative set the foundation for better collaboration, operational efficiency, and long-term DesignOps success, enabling Novo Nordisk’s designers to create greater impact across the organization.
