Increasing design system quality and adoption by proper stakeholder management

Varya Stepanova @ Smartly DevTalks 2021

Me

Varya Stepanova

Design Systems Architect
engineering manager, frontend architect, independent consultant

Contacts

linkedin.com/in/varyastepanova
varya.me
@varya_en

Design Systems are for people

Also available in a text version

Why? What? How? For whom?

Making design systems successful is just as much about creating a people system as it is about creating a technical or operational one.

Magera Moon, The people part of design systems

To build a design system, don’t start by writing code and choosing tools; start by talking to the people who will use the system. Learn about their needs and constraints, and help them solve problems.

Ryan DeBeasi, Design Systems Are About Relationships

To boost
a design system

focus on people

But... how?

What does design system team do?

What does design system team REALLY
do?

Design system work

User-centered design system resources
Lyft Design Systems Team @ Schema 2021
https://youtu.be/Pqm8LkB44gU

Design system work

1. The product part

2. Everything else

The product

UI kit
React Library
Web Components Library
Design tokens package

In and out

Bug reports
Feedback & suggestions
Questions and help requests

Releases
Incident warnings
Announces

Channels of Communication

Design system website
Slack/Flowdock/Teams
GitHub
Design & development forums

Clear picture of the system

What is available?

What component is available what is not?

What components are soon coming?

What is current status of a component?

Expectations

Expectation management is one of the most powerful weapons in psychological warfare.

Raphael Malveau and Thomas J. Mowbray, Ph.D.

Component status map

Idea from "Design System Features, Step-by-Step" by Nathan Curtis

See in action at Polaris design system

Status on the component page

Where in the flow is it? research/design/development/testing

What platforms is it available for? (e.g Card @ Orbit)

Is it deprectaed? (e.g. Theme Swicth @ Wanda)

What is coming? (e.g. Avatar @ Lightning)

Communication about the process

Open backlog policy

What do we get?

Open process and clear message about resources
Ready contribution requests
Knowledge of who is interested in a component

Linking to the people

Where components are used?

Example link: http://bit.ly/ds-matrix-example

Who is using components?

Tools for stakeholder management

Excel / Google Sheets
Google DataStuido
Own solutions

Address to certain people personally

Library has critical updates in particular components
Ask for feedback about upcoming changes
Someone is not using the component. Why?
Design system team is searching for contributors
Team search for other teams using the same component

How to meet new people?

Onboarding sessions

e.g. every 1st Wednesday of the month

for designers
for developers
for project owners

How to go with innovations?

Proof of Concept / MVP

Feedback

How to get feedback

Explain why it is needed

Use all the possible public forums

Ask people personally and tell the how they would benefit

Organize try-on session

Design system is product

Look around

What do other design systems do?

Branding
Shared ownership: contribution guidelines, mentioning contributors, links to editing
Positions in DS team
Flows and trees