Fryderyk PryjmaDesign management for teams that ship continuously
I set up how design is run, staffed and plugged into delivery, so research and design land inside the sprint instead of beside it.
I am Fryderyk Pryjma, founder of CortexMine, private AI for regulated organizations. I take on a small number of selective advisory engagements like this one.
Design management is how design gets planned, staffed and connected to continuous delivery. It sits one layer above design ops: who decides what, on what evidence, and how that turns into shipped product.
Design management vs design ops
Design ops is the machinery: rituals, tooling, files, research repositories, handovers. Design management is the layer above it — roles, RACI, decision rights and staffing that make the machinery pay off. I work across both; this engagement is framed around leadership decisions, not a tooling audit.
Related: User research and conversion optimization · Design Ops resources.
Outcomes
- Clearer design roles and ownership across product and engineering.
- Design and research plugged into the delivery cycle, not running beside it.
- Product decisions backed by user evidence instead of the loudest opinion.
- A design function you can scale without an immediate senior hire.
What you get
Design leadership review
A structured read of how design is set up today: roles, decision rights, workflow, delivery interface.
Roles and RACI
A shared map of who owns what across product, design and engineering, with the gaps named.
Design-to-delivery workflow
A workflow you can actually run, from discovery through spec handover and QA.
Fractional design leadership
Founder-led selective engagements as a hybrid of advisory and execution, so decisions do not wait and delivery does not stall.
Who it is for
- Product companies with designers but weak process around them.
- Founders building the first real design structure.
- CTOs and CPOs who want design to contribute to decisions, not just deliver screens.
Engagements usually start with a leadership review and either a fractional retainer or a workflow buildout.
View pricingFrequently asked questions
Design management is the practice of running design as a function: how design gets planned, resourced and connected to product and engineering. It answers who decides what, on what evidence, using which process, so design output turns into shipped product.
Design ops covers the machinery around design: rituals, tools, files, research repositories, handovers. Design management works one layer up: roles, RACI, decision rights, staffing, and how design plugs into leadership. In real projects I touch both, framed by whichever is currently the bottleneck.
Research is the input that makes design management worth doing. Decision rights only matter if the decisions rest on something real, so I usually set the research cadence at the same time as the roles.
These are founder-led engagements delivered as a hybrid of advisory and execution. Where useful I cover leadership tasks such as 1:1s, hiring input, quality reviews and stakeholder alignment, while we build the structure that lets you hire the right person later.
Productized packages, transparent starting prices
DesignOps Audit
A clear picture of where your design process breaks — and what to fix first.
- Workflow mapping
- Roles & ownership
- Design–engineering collaboration
- Improvement roadmap
Format: 2–4 weeks
from €1,000
DesignOps Foundations
Put a working design operating model in place, not just recommendations.
- Audit + rollout of workflows
- Governance & ownership
- Handoff practices
- PRD-based documentation
Format: 4–8 weeks
from €X
Fractional DesignOps / Design Lead
Senior design-ops leadership on retainer — without a full-time hire.
- Ongoing structure & rituals
- Mentoring
- Hiring support
- Quality governance
Format: Monthly retainer
from €X / month
Process Shaping Workshop
One or two focused days to map friction and agree a better operating model.
- Friction map
- Roles & handoff
- Agreed next steps
Format: 1–2 days
from €X
Transparent pricing. No long-term contract. Every engagement starts with a free consultation.
When this is NOT for you
- You need a full-time hire, not fractional support.
- You have no design or product function yet to organize.
- You want pure execution/production rather than process and operating-model work.
- You aren't ready to change how the team works.
Ready to get started?
30 minutes, no strings. You will leave with two to three concrete improvements.
DesignOps Maturity Self-Assessment
Get the DesignOps Maturity Self-Assessment + occasional notes on Design Ops & Research Ops.