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Founding cohort — first session July 1, 2026

You're doing the work.
There's nowhere to take
the hard questions.

Most DesignOps practitioners do this work without a real peer set. Synoptro Forum gives you a place to bring hard questions, get sharper with people who understand the role, and pressure-test decisions before they become bigger problems.

6 of 8 founding seats remaining

First session July 1, 2026. Founding cohort pricing locks in permanently. Limited spots per group.

If you're doing DesignOps, you're often the only person around who really understands the work.

There's nobody down the hall to pressure-test your intake system, tell you whether your critique format is fixable, or help you think through the tradeoffs before a shaky process becomes a bigger problem. Most DesignOps communities are mostly Slack-channel noise. The people doing the real work are usually doing it privately, inside their own companies, with very little opportunity to compare notes.

Synoptro Forum is built around the thing most practitioners are missing: a small group of peers who understand the work, show up consistently, and can help think through actual problems while they're still solvable. It's facilitated by someone who has done this work inside Comcast, GSK, Universal Ads, and other complex organizations.

You can't get useful feedback from people who don't understand the work.

Inside your company, the people around you either don't know DesignOps well enough to pressure-test your decisions, or they're too close to the outcome to give you a clean read. The forum gives you neither of those problems.

The problem with most professional communities is the signal-to-noise ratio.

This one is a structured small-group format with live sessions on a fixed cadence. The size stays small on purpose. The format stays structured on purpose. Both of those things are load-bearing.

Doing the work is different from talking about the work.

I'm a practitioner, not a coach. I've built DesignOps functions from the ground up inside real organizations, so the feedback stays connected to the work itself: the tradeoffs, the politics, the sequencing, and the decisions that actually make or break adoption.

What it looks like in practice

Small by design, structured enough to be useful, and built around the real questions practitioners are working through right now.

  • Small groups

    6–8 practitioners per group. Small enough for real trust, big enough for multiple perspectives on your problem.

  • Live sessions

    Biweekly 90-minute meetings, structured around the questions people are actively working through.

  • Between sessions

    Bring drafts, rollouts, and decisions to the group async. Pressure-test before it matters.

  • Direct access

    Ask the facilitator between sessions. Practitioner perspective, not abstract advice.

  • Member-only offer

    One-time discount on the Complete Library bundle. Pair peer support with practical tools.

  • No commitment

    Month-to-month. Cancel anytime. The point is to be worth staying for, not sticky.

A specific kind of person

This might be for you if you're...

  • A DesignOps practitioner without a real peer in your company
  • A design lead carrying ops work alongside your actual job
  • A newly promoted manager trying to build a first operating model
  • A senior designer doing operational work without the title
  • A fractional DesignOps consultant who wants a sharper peer set

Probably not for you if...

  • You want scale over depth: a big community, constant chatter, and daily Slack activity
  • What you need most is coaching on leadership presence or executive communication
  • You’re still building foundational DesignOps knowledge and need the kits before you need the forum

What a session looks like

Each group is 6–8 practitioners meeting every two weeks for 90 minutes. Sessions are built around the real problems people are actively working through, with space to share context, think through the tradeoffs, and get useful perspective from the group. I facilitate and bring perspective from doing this work across multiple organizations. The goal is always something actionable by the end of the session, not a longer list of things to think about.

What people typically bring:

  • A process that was supposed to stick but hasn’t
  • A stakeholder situation that keeps escalating
  • A system they built that leadership won’t fund or follow
  • A team structure they inherited and aren’t sure how to fix
  • A decision with no obvious right answer and real consequences

What the Forum isn't built for:

  • General career coaching or job search support
  • Venting without a problem to solve (though context always matters)
  • People who want to observe more than participate
  • Foundational DesignOps learning: the kits cover that ground better

Founding cohort pricing is open now

The peer group most practitioners wish they had and few have time to build alone.

Standard

$249 USD/month

or $2,490 USD/year (two months free)

  • Biweekly 90-minute group sessions
  • Direct access between sessions
  • One-time member discount on the Complete Library
  • Month-to-month, cancel anytime

Available after founding cohort fills.

No commitment.
Just a conversation.

No automated sequences. Just a direct message from me when the timing and fit are right. The forum stays small by design, and this is how I keep the groups thoughtful from the start.