Rosenfeld Review Podcast

Navigating the AI-Driven Shift in DesignOps with Aletheia Delivre

Design operations is increasingly about navigating a moving target. AI-infused tooling is upending established models, and the pace of change is forcing teams to rethink everything from handoffs to team dynamics to what quality even means.
As systems fracture and new patterns emerge, Ops leaders are stepping into roles that feel more like architects than managers—shaping the blueprint for how design and engineering build together in real time.
One of those leaders is Aletheia DeLivre, Senior Program Manager of Design Engineering Collaboration & Strategy at Microsoft, and a featured speaker at the upcoming DesignOps Summit. In this conversation, she and Lou unpack how AI is disrupting workflows, accelerating timelines, and reshaping power dynamics between disciplines.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
Why traditional workflows are breaking—and what might take their place
How conversational UI and AI prototyping shift the meaning of "done"
Why design–dev collaboration could become more co-creative than ever
How to rethink “quality” in a world where speed often wins
Why ops professionals are moving from managers to architects and guides
The emotional burden ops leaders carry as they steer teams into the unknown
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:12 - Introduction of Aletheia and non-linear journey
4:27 - AI forces design ops to reimagine itself
6:50 - AI is rewiring design-dev collaboration
9:23 - AI delivers speed, humans deliver craft
13:51 - The ninth virtual Design Ops Summit - September 10-11
15:35 - Design Ops as system architecture and conduction
19:10 - Design Ops as ethical pathfinders
25:11 - Aletheia’s gift for listeners
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
The Design Conductors by Rachel Posman and John Calhoun https://www.thedesignconductors.com/ 
The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI by Fei-Fei Li https://www.amazon.com/Worlds-See-Curiosity-Exploration-Discovery-ebook/dp/B0BPQSLVL6 
Design Ops Summit - September 10-11, 2025 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-summit/ 
Quotes:
“There’s a quality-time ratio. I think this is where humans still have an edge – the refinement of the craft.” 
“AI is great to get us from idea to prototype, but we still see a lot of gaps.” 
“Once you refine it into production-level code, I think that’s where there’s still something missing in terms of  the level of craft, the adherence to your principles, your design system componentry, and pattern reusage.”
“We are both the conductors and the architects.” 
“ The power and potential of AI is so high that it behooves us as humanity to develop AI in a way that doesn't replace humans but enhances them.” 

Scaling Design Leadership, from Chaos to Clarity with Doug Powell

What does it take to transform a century-old tech giant into a design-led organization? Doug Powell—executive coach, former IBM design leader, and featured closing speaker at this year’s Design Ops Summit—joins Lou for a wide-ranging conversation on scaling design, building community, and leading through unpredictable change.
Doug shares hard-earned lessons from IBM’s ambitious and trailblazing design transformation from the mid-twenty-teens: how centralization jump-started progress, why decentralization required careful timing, and what metrics ultimately proved design’s business value. Along the way, he offers thoughtful advice for today’s design leaders and ops pros who are navigating evolving roles and growing complexity.
Whether you’re leading a design team or supporting one behind the scenes, Doug’s insights are a must-hear for anyone shaping the future of design operations.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
How IBM went from zero to thousands of designers, and why centralization was the critical first step
The risks of decentralizing too soon and how IBM managed the shift through a hybrid model
Why community and culture matter in onboarding, especially for early-career designers
The metrics that matter most in design ops, including alignment, velocity, risk mitigation, and ROI
How to assess organizational conditions before choosing metrics and why a one-size-fits-all approach doesn’t work
Framing questions for design leaders to ask themselves to better align investments in ops with the maturity of their teams
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:15 - Meet Doug Powell
5:23 - Reflections on IBM
7:40 - Lessons from scaling design at IBM
11:50 - Timing design org transitions
19:20 - Lessons from early chaos
22:10 - Design Ops Summit 2025
23:05 - Metrics that matter most
27:57 - Tailoring metrics to context
30:36 - Diagnose before you measure
33:08 - Doug’s gift for listeners
 
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
“DesignOps: Start with the Right Questions” by Doug Powell
https://dougpowelldesignleadership.substack.com/p/designops-start-with-the-right-questions 
A Different Kind of Power by Jacinda Ardem https://www.amazon.com/Different-Kind-Power-Memoir/dp/0593728696 
 
Quotes:
“ In order for this to thrive, the business needs to take ownership of and responsibility for the designers, their headcount, and also their output.”
“ I don't think I fully appreciated how important that bond, that connection, that cultural energy would be until we got into this program by a couple of years.”
“ They're really committed to this company and this culture that we've built at a level that I frankly didn't expect.”
“ There are a dozen or more different diagnostic questions that we should be asking to determine what are the right set of metrics that we should be applying.”

The Intersection of Game Development and User Experience with Cheryl Platz

What do video games and world-building have in common? Everything. Lou reconnects with Cheryl Platz—author, designer, and creative director—to explore the evolving world of video game development. Cheryl shares what drew her back to the gaming industry after years in enterprise UX and voice design, and how her new book, The Game Development Strategy Guide, distills insights across disciplines to help teams build modern games that truly thrive.
The conversation ranges from the power of cross-functional collaboration to the benefits UX skills bring to game development to the monetization models shaping today’s games. Cheryl reflects on the challenges facing the industry—massive layoffs, misaligned incentives, and a lack of shared understanding—and how a more human-centered, sustainable approach could be a game changer. Whether you're a UX professional, game developer, or just curious about what makes great video games tick, this episode offers a sharp, wide-angle view of where the field is headed.
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
Why traditional UX skills transfer powerfully to game development
The critical role of onboarding, perception, and player motivation in game design
How communication breakdowns across teams and publishers derail game success
Why so many modern games fail—not because of content, but because of friction in experience design
What it means for a video game to be “sustainable” in an era of microtransactions and live service models
How self-expression and community drive the economics of successful games
Why studios must embrace authenticity and player feedback—especially in an AI-driven future
What makes Cheryl’s favorite indie game, Blue Prince, a model of sustainable design
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:14 - Meet Cheryl
4:00 - The intersection of UX and game development
9:12 - Communicating design value to non-designers
13:17 - What sets top game studios apart: vision, community, and embracing ambiguity
17:01 - How UX helps games stand out in crowded genres
21:38 - 5 Reasons you need the Rosenverse
24:01 - What sustainability really means in live-service games
30:54 - Cheryl’s gift for the audience
 
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
The Game Development Strategy Guide by Cheryl Platz https://rosenfeldmedia.com/books/game-development-strategy-guide/ 
Blue Prince https://www.blueprincegame.com/ 
 
Quotes:
“This book is about us trying to define the industry we want to see because the industry we have is no longer working.”
“Capitalism isn’t engineered to like hard things.” 
“ Players want that authenticity. They want to know that they're supporting actual creators and not just something that was randomly generated by AI.” 
“I cannot overstate how important self-expression is in live service games.”

DesignOps is Design with Jose Coronado

Jose Coronado — DesignOps Is Design
Recording 
Passcode: n5VOS0+Q
 
Design operations isn’t just about process—it’s about shaping better products, teams, and organizations from the inside out. José Coronado joins Lou to unpack why DesignOps deserves to be treated as a true design discipline. Drawing on his experience leading global teams at JPMorgan Chase, Target, and beyond, José shares strategies for embedding operational roles into business units, measuring impact, and scaling design without sacrificing quality.
They explore how enterprise UX has evolved since the iPhone, why service design is the right lens for thinking about internal operations, and what it takes to foster effective cross-functional collaboration. The conversation offers a preview of José’s upcoming panel at the 2025 DesignOps Summit—and plenty of practical insights for DesignOps professionals at any stage of their journey.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
Why José believes DesignOps is design, not just a support role
How the consumerization of enterprise software changed the game for UX
What enterprise UX offers that consumer design doesn’t—and why it matters
How DesignOps leaders can show impact and justify investment
The role of service design thinking in shaping scalable internal operations
Key cross-functional challenges when integrating DesignOps, ResearchOps, ContentOps, and ProductOps
A practical framework for professional development across design teams
The two main barriers holding back DesignOps pros—and how to overcome them
Why aligning ops roles with business units (vs. management buckets) can make all the difference
Resources and thought leaders to follow for career growth in design
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:10 - Meet Jose 
1:51 - From physical design to digital discovery
3:29 - The complexity (and opportunity) of enterprise UX
7:44 - Why DesignOps IS design
9:16 - Why service design is a good lens for DesignOps
11:57 - The many paths into DesignOps—and who it’s really for
15:37 - Can DesignOps shed its cost center label?
18:04 - The ninth Design Ops Summit – September 10-11, 2025
19:15 - All the Ops: specialization vs. integration
23:49 - Elevating horizontal practices and professional development
28:42 - What holds DesignOps back?
31:18 - Jose’s gift for listeners
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Design Ops Summit - September 10-11, 2025 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designops-summit/
Tom Scott: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tomscottt/
Silke Bochat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bochat/
Lena Kull: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lena-kul/
Quotes:
“If you can be successful in a complex environment like financial services, a top 10 bank in the world, you can basically take your skills anywhere to any problem.” 
“Design operations is design, full stop.”
“Design operations enables the organization to increase the impact or the efficiency of the processes and the products and services that we put out in the marketplace.”

The Pissed-Off Optimist with George Aye

What happens when you combine righteous anger with unwavering hope? You get George Aye—and the “Angry Hour.”
In this lively episode, Lou Rosenfeld chats with George Aye, co-founder of Greater Good Studio, about his mission to create spaces for “pissed off optimists”—people who see the world’s injustices and refuse to give up on making things better. George shares the philosophy behind Angry Hour, a growing series of meetups uniting professionals from diverse fields around shared frustration and hope. He explains how these gatherings channel collective energy into meaningful connections, local nonprofit support, and even bigger plans like the upcoming Livid Conference—a national gathering for changemakers who are angry enough to care and optimistic enough to act.
If you’re searching for solidarity in uncertain times—or simply wondering how to turn anger into action—this conversation offers insight, inspiration, and a glimpse into a movement fueled by equal parts rage and resolve.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
What it means to be a “pissed off optimist”
How the Angry Hour meetups create safe, energizing spaces for people feeling both outrage and hope
The kinds of people and professions drawn to this emerging community—and why it transcends industry lines
The unique structure of Angry Hour events, including icebreakers and support for local nonprofits
George’s vision for the upcoming Livid Conference: a national gathering for change-driven optimists
Practical ways to connect, volunteer, or get involved in this growing movement
Book recommendation: Poverty, by America by Matthew Desmond—and why its message resonates with George’s mission
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:13 - Meet George. He explains why Chicago is the perfect spot for his agency, which only does work for nonprofits
2:46 - The origins of “pissed off optimist”
6:02 - Angry Hours and the universality of pissed off optimists
14:17 - The sustaining factors of the Pissed-Off Optimist movement
18:05 - Five reasons to use the Rosenverse
21:06 - What to expect from an Angry Hours
23:58 - The nonprofit organizations Angry Hours partners with and where George sees things going in the future 
30:15 - How to connect and contribute
31:57 - George’s gift for listeners
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Greater Good Studio in Chicago https://greatergoodstudio.com/ Sign up for their newsletter!
Connect with George on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeaye/
George and Greater Good Studios on Medium https://medium.com/greater-good-studio 
Poverty by America  by Matthew Desmond https://www.amazon.com/Poverty-America-Matthew-Desmond/dp/0593239911 
 
Quotes:
“ When we say the ‘pissed off optimist,’ we always are trying to see how we can balance the  hope and sense of healing or repair or just general faith in humanity that we can still do something about this.”
“ I think we need to recognize how broken things are and not lose faith.”
“ Yes, things are nuts right now, but we need each other if we're gonna get through it.”
“Being able to make sure that we continue to have places for hope and reality together, to me, is something I believe we can sustain.”

Pivoting from Tech to Climate UX with Francois Burra

What do you do when a successful tech career leaves you feeling like an empty shell? For Francois Burra, the answer was to look inward and transform his life—and help transform an industry.
Lou Rosenfeld talks with Francois, a UX designer turned digital decarbonization consultant, about how a personal crisis led him to channel his “infinite energy” into tackling the tech industry’s overlooked climate impact. Francois shares how he co-founded Climate Product Leaders and co-authored Sustainable by Design: A Playbook for Product Managers—a free, practical guide brimming with best practices and real-world case studies for weaving sustainability into everyday product and design work.
They explore how sustainability intersects with design, product management, and hot topics like AI, highlighting how even small steps can create meaningful change. Francois also offers candid reflections on career pivots, mental health, and finding purpose-driven work that feeds both your soul and the planet.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
How Francois pivoted from a successful tech career into climate action after burnout and depression—and why others might find similar purpose in sustainability work
Why the tech industry’s carbon emissions rival aviation’s—and why digital decarbonization matters
The purpose behind Sustainable by Design, and how it helps product managers, designers, and technologists embed climate considerations into daily work
The kinds of best practices and case studies featured in the playbook, including new guidance on sustainable AI practices
How awareness and interest in climate-conscious design and product practices have grown significantly over the past few years
Practical advice for navigating personal and professional change, including tapping into your “infinite energy” and finding courage to follow your gut toward meaningful work
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:00 - Meet Francois
1:21 - Francois’ climate change journey
5:19 - On depression and finding your “inner fire”
7:56 - “Infinite energy” – how to find it and where to put it?
9:34 - Climate Product Leaders – What it is and how 
13:05 - Why you need the Rosenverse
15:19 - What you’ll find in the Playbook
18:55 - Developments that happened in the two years between the first and second versions of the book
21:21 - Case studies
23:41 - Francois’ gift for listeners
 
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Sustainable by Design: A Playbook for Product Managers by Francois Burra. Get the free playbook at ClimateProductLeaders.org 
Green IO Podcast https://podcast.greenio.tech/ 
 
Quotes:
“I decided that my mission now would be to help my industry, the tech industry, become greener because it’s twice more emissions than the aviation industry.”
“First, take care of yourself. And second, try to understand where is your inner fire and what is this infinite energy that resides in you that you can leverage.”
“Don’t be afraid to be courageous and follow your gut.”

AI and Other Strange Design Materials with Matt Webb

Matt Webb doesn’t just talk about emerging technologies—he builds with them, lives with them, and prototypes the futures they might bring. In this episode, Lou Rosenfeld talks with Webb—designer, technologist, and featured speaker at the upcoming Designing with AI 2025 conference—about how GenAI represents a kind of temporal leap: a sudden arrival of capabilities that feel like they should've taken another decade to develop.
Matt shares how he explores "weak signals"—small, often personal experiments or observations that hint at larger shifts to come. From building an early website with GPT-3 to creating an app that tracks the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, Matt explains how play, laziness, and curiosity drive his invention process. He also touches on how GenAI changes our relationship to search, learning, and even design itself—pushing us into a world where conversations with information replace traditional retrieval methods. The discussion spans adaptive design, epistemic journeys, and the potential for everyone to become a maker of tools, apps, and meaning.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
What “weak signals” are and how to spot early design cues in new technology
Why GenAI feels like a 10-year leap in computing power—and how to design with that mindset
How personal curiosity projects can reveal deep insights about new tech before it goes mainstream
Why search is really an epistemic journey, and how conversational AI changes how we learn
How vibe coding and adaptive design are re-emerging as relevant frameworks in the GenAI era
What happens when anyone can build mini-apps instantly, and what that means for design, trust, and distribution
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:21 - Meet Matt
4:13 - When AI is ubiquitous 
5:39 - How Matt got ahead of the curve
9:22 - Faster and cheaper
11:40 - Conversing vs searching
17:31 - Why you need the Rosenverse
19:50 - What you can expect from Matt at the Designing with AI Conference – exploring weak signals
25:39 - Exploring the weak signal of mini-apps
28:27 - Matt’s gift for listeners
 
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
Designing with AI 2025 - June 10-11 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designing-with-ai/ 
Simonwillison.net  https://simonwillison.net/
The Complete Cosmicomics by Italo Calvino  https://www.amazon.com/Complete-Cosmicomics-Italo-Calvino/dp/0544577876
 
Quotes:
“ Find things that are happening with just a small number of people and go, ‘Oh, that's interesting. Let's do that in a bigger way.’”
“ All the properties are inherent here. We just need to kind of un-bottle our imaginations to see what's already in front of our faces.”
“ The epistemic journey piece trumps the accuracy piece.”

From Hype to Insight: Llewyn Paine on AI, UX, and Critical Thinking

What happens when a cognitive psychologist turned UX researcher brings a critical eye to AI? Dr. Llewyn Paine shares her unique perspective at the intersection of emerging technology and user research. With experience spanning neuromarketing, 3D television, and mixed reality, Llewyn has seen the hype cycles come and go—and learned to spot the gap between promise and practical value.
Llewyn and Lou explore the parallels between now-defunct technologies and today’s AI surge, noting how often new tools are overmarketed before their implications are truly understood. Llewyn urges researchers to engage with AI not as passive users but as experimenters: to test, retest, document, and analyze like scientists. Her recent workshop revealed how even identical prompts to the same model can yield wildly different results—an important reminder that AI is non-deterministic and context-sensitive.
Llewyn also shares a behind-the-scenes look at curating the Designing with AI 2025 conference, built around both the realities of today and the creative possibilities of tomorrow. She reminds us that critical thinking, experimentation, and thoughtful documentation are the UX research community’s superpowers in this unpredictable AI era.
 
What You'll Learn from this Episode:
Why Llewyn’s background in cognitive psychology shapes her skepticism toward overhyped tech
How past experiences with neuromarketing and 3D TV inform her approach to AI in UX
What it means to treat AI prompts and outputs as experimental variables—not deterministic tools
Why researchers should go straight to the models (not third-party tools) when exploring AI
How variability in AI output challenges assumptions about accuracy and reproducibility
What the Designing with AI 2025 conference reveals about balancing realism and creativity in tech adoption
 
Quick Reference Guide:
0:09 - Introduction of Llewyn and her journey as a UX researcher
5:25 - The limits and over-selling of neuro marketing
8:42 - A critique of AI as an analysis tool
11:55 - An experiment with AI
15:45 - A process to add consistency to working and researching with AI tools
17:21 - “Why Johnny Can’t Prompt”
19:09 - Why you should use the Rosenverse
21:24 - The upcoming Designing with AI conference
25:38 - The structure and panels of the conference
28:55 - Llewyn’s gift for listeners
Resources and Links from Today's Episode:
“Why Johnny Can’t Prompt” https://dl.acm.org/doi/full/10.1145/3544548.3581388
AI Snake Oil: What Artificial Intelligence Can Do, What It Can’t, and How to Tell the Difference by Arvind Narayanan and Sayash Kapoor https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691249131
Designing with AI 2025 https://rosenfeldmedia.com/designing-with-ai/ 
 
Quotes:
“ I've seen from a lot of my designer colleagues the same ambivalence where there are a lot of things that AI allows us to do really well. But it's also oversold.”
“ If you're creating a new method or running a new kind of analysis, you do it multiple times. You statistically test it. You vary your inputs and your outputs until you are consistently getting predictable results. And I think we should be doing the same thing with AI.”