Quantified the Damage
I audited the Figma library against production and dug into usage data. The goal was to show exactly where inconsistencies were costing us time and identify the most valuable fixes.
Design system components
Original
Redesigned
We Were Shipping Slower, Not Faster
The design component library was supposed to speed us up. Instead, it had become a source of bugs, slow handoffs, and team frustration. Our customers noticed the inconsistencies consistently.
Engineering Was Blocked
Same UI bugs kept coming back. Handoffs took too long. Devs were losing trust in design specs.
Figma ≠ Code
The library and production had drifted apart. Missing a common source of truth.
User Impact
Inconsistent UI patterns and UI bugs were harming the reliability our users expected from us.
Preparing the Business Case: Strategy
To get buy-in from engineering and product leadership, we needed to frame this as a business problem, not a design exercise. Working with the Head of Design, I helped build the case: remove friction, ship faster, stay competitive.
Defined What Success Looked Like
We aligned on metrics with product and engineering leadership: keep customers happy during the migration while measurably improving delivery speed.
Prioritized Based on Impact
I worked with product and engineering to weigh technical effort against impact, as we couldn’t afford to rebuild the entire system at once.
Example: The responsive design trade-off
Usage data showed 90% of work happened on large monitors 1080px+. Less than 10% of sessions were on smaller screens. Rather than build responsive patterns we’d rarely use, I focused engineering capacity on forms and data tables where users actually spent time. Mobile stayed on the backlog.
Value-effort prioritization matrix of the project
De-Risked the Rollout
Platform changes are risky. We decided on feature flags to stage the rollout and recruited beta customers to catch issues before they hit everyone. This let us move fast without breaking things (much).
Before-After Comparison
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Before
After
Documentation
Business Impacts
System-wide upgrade completed without issues
100% adoption rate across 3 product teams
Positive feedback and reduced UI-related support tickets
Faster development speed and smoother collaboration
Organisational Changes
Distributed Ownership Model
Each squad owns their components → integrate DS into squad workflow → maintain 100% adoption rate
Strategic Enabler
Design system becomes a mean to enable company-wide changes, not just a design deliverable
Key Takeaways
- Design system work at this scale means balancing user needs, technical realities, and business goals.
- Success comes from framing problems clearly, getting teams aligned, and shipping in phases rather than trying to solve everything at once.
