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People Before Process: Building Creative Ops at DoorDash - with Shannon Duncan
Shannon Duncan, Chief of Staff for Marketing at DoorDash, explains how to build creative operations that scale with hyper-growth without becoming bureaucratic. She shares why understanding your team members comes before implementing any tool or process, how to use incremental changes to build trust while introducing new systems, and why internal creative studios need to stop being treated as free resources and start operating with “creative currency” that protects their capacity and positions their work as expertise.
About the GuestShannon Duncan is Chief of Staff for Marketing at DoorDash, where she previously built the company's creative operations from the ground up. She joined DoorDash in 2021 when the internal creative studio was just beginning to take shape - a few creatives, freelance project managers, no established processes - and transformed it into a strategic partner serving one of the most dominant players in food delivery. Before DoorDash, Shannon spent years in creative ops and project management at independent agencies, where she learned that the most important variable in creative operations is people…not tools or dashboards. Her people-first philosophy has shaped how she approaches everything from process changes to stakeholder management to building a culture where “1% better every day” is the standard.
Key Topics Discussed- Why creative leaders need to earn team members’ and stakeholders’ trust before implementing new systems
- How to use the "1% better every day" philosophy to make incremental changes that stick without overwhelming teams
- Why in-house creative teams hit an "abuse state" when treated as free resources, and how to protect their capacity
- Why creative ops leaders need to understand business priorities beyond their own team to position their work strategically
- Take the free Creative Ops Assessment at www.infocusconsulting.net/creative-ops-assessment
- Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessekrinsky
- Have a creative ops challenge you're facing? Want to be a guest on the show? Reach out at [email protected]
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By In Focus ConsultingShannon Duncan, Chief of Staff for Marketing at DoorDash, explains how to build creative operations that scale with hyper-growth without becoming bureaucratic. She shares why understanding your team members comes before implementing any tool or process, how to use incremental changes to build trust while introducing new systems, and why internal creative studios need to stop being treated as free resources and start operating with “creative currency” that protects their capacity and positions their work as expertise.
About the GuestShannon Duncan is Chief of Staff for Marketing at DoorDash, where she previously built the company's creative operations from the ground up. She joined DoorDash in 2021 when the internal creative studio was just beginning to take shape - a few creatives, freelance project managers, no established processes - and transformed it into a strategic partner serving one of the most dominant players in food delivery. Before DoorDash, Shannon spent years in creative ops and project management at independent agencies, where she learned that the most important variable in creative operations is people…not tools or dashboards. Her people-first philosophy has shaped how she approaches everything from process changes to stakeholder management to building a culture where “1% better every day” is the standard.
Key Topics Discussed- Why creative leaders need to earn team members’ and stakeholders’ trust before implementing new systems
- How to use the "1% better every day" philosophy to make incremental changes that stick without overwhelming teams
- Why in-house creative teams hit an "abuse state" when treated as free resources, and how to protect their capacity
- Why creative ops leaders need to understand business priorities beyond their own team to position their work strategically
- Take the free Creative Ops Assessment at www.infocusconsulting.net/creative-ops-assessment
- Connect with Jesse on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessekrinsky
- Have a creative ops challenge you're facing? Want to be a guest on the show? Reach out at [email protected]