Changying (Z) Zheng brings calm thinking to DesignOps — showing how clarity, storytelling, and ruthless prioritisation help design teams thrive .
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Episode Chapters:
00:00 – Why Design Needs to Prove Its Value
00:30 – Welcome and Introduction
02:30 – From Graphic Design to Design Ops Leadership
05:40 – Running a Dairy-Free Dessert Business and Learning Calm Leadership
10:00 – Leading Without Drama and Seeing Multiple Perspectives
13:00 – Design Ops as Service Design for Design Teams
16:00 – Storytelling, Outcomes, and Speaking the Language of Business
18:45 – Earning and Keeping a Seat at the Table
21:00 – Moving from Ticket Taking to Strategic Design Work
26:00 – Saying No Kindly and Introducing Office Hours
32:00 – People, Process, and Platform as Core Pillars
36:00 – Becoming the Connective Tissue Across Orgs
42:00 – Growing Into Product Ops at Cloudflare
55:00 – Communication as the Connective Tissue of Ops
1:10:00 – A Two-by-Two Framework for Career Development
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Who is Changying (Z) Zheng?
Changying (Z) Zheng is a Director of Product Operations at Cloudflare, where she’s scaled the operational backbone of one of the internet’s most recognisable infrastructure companies .
She has:
Started as a team of one and built thriving design and research operations
Worked in agencies, higher education, and at companies like Akamai, VMware, and Nasdaq
Founded and ran her own retail business
Delivered talks at The DevOps Conference and DesignOps Summit, shaping how people understand DesignOps in technical environments
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Find Changying (Z) Zheng here:
LinkedIn → https://www.linkedin.com/in/changyingz/
Website → https://www.changyingart.com/
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Hosted by Brendan Jarvis:
Brendan Jarvis on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brendanjarvis/
The Space InBetween Website: https://thespaceinbetween.co.nz/
