Overcoming challenges of design system adoption for better product outcomes

Product design and development are high-stakes processes for companies of all sizes and descriptions today. It's only natural that stakeholders have turned to powerful standardized tools to streamline their workflows and get better results.

Design systems are among these important innovations. These are comprehensive sets of guidelines, standards and principles, paired with tool kits of UI patterns, code snippets and components to scalably guide digital product creation. With a design system in place, designers and developers can keep their work consistent over time and maintain a high level of quality.

In recent years, design system use has become an industry standard. Organizations dealing with numerous complex product development projects can lean on these frameworks to achieve impressive results — but not every organization is equally skilled at using design systems.

With an infusion of best practices, a company can ensure it's getting the most out of its design system usage, rather than just checking boxes. The wisdom of this approach will show in the quality of the products the organization releases.

‍Why focus on optimal design system usage?

In its ideal form, a design system is a framework that ensures a product — and every component within that product — is kept to high standards of consistency and quality. Rather than relying on guesswork, designers and developers can look to the frequently updated library and ensure their work matches what has come before.

When teams throughout the company are all following the same set of plans and standards, they're able to create products that live up to their potential.

Having a design system to work from encourages communication, collaboration and alignment between personnel groups that might otherwise feel trapped within departmental silos.

Just as important as the positive effects of successful design system usage is the relative lack of impact when these tools aren't implemented well. In organizations that haven't optimized their adoption strategies, designers may not be able to understand the guidelines, or they could feel they don't have to update them regularly.

Design systems that are incomplete or aren't kept up to date, or employees not knowing how to follow them correctly, can neutralize the potential benefits or leave teams more confused than they were before. Acknowledging that design system success isn't automatic is the first step to getting it right.

Who is responsible for implementing and using design systems?

To deliver an optimized design system experience, it's important to determine who will use them. In one capacity or another, numerous stakeholders, teams and functional groups all touch design systems.

Some users will simply consult design systems to keep their own work on track. Others will play a more direct role in implementing them into the design and development workflows, or they'll make updates to ensure up-to-date accuracy.

Parties involved in design system use include:

• Designers at several levels: Designers work with design systems in several capacities. Design managers help with implementation, contributors develop the strategy and collaborators update the libraries and discuss unique situations and corner cases.

• Implementation developers: In addition to designers, developers also spend hands-on time with design systems, using listed  components and guidelines and contributing feedback about the feasibility of each element.

• Product managers: Product managers are the keepers of the roadmaps to each product. They can ensure the design system aligns with overall goals and supports the company's needs.

• Team leaders: Managers and other leaders throughout the corporate structure can lead lectures, workshops and different types of sessions. This allows them to educate employees on design system best practices and keep everyone aligned.

• Quality assurance and testing personnel: QA personnel and testers are beneficiaries of design systems' value. Because it enforces quality and consistency, testers will face fewer repetitive bugs or misaligned components.

Ideally, design systems will keep all these employee groups on the same page. Every contributor who works on a product can consult the design system regularly, with managers pitching in to make sure everyone has the knowledge they need to use the system effectively.

These employees have very different day-to-day responsibilities and play diverse roles in the process of creating a high-quality product. A design system, as a single source of truth, brings them all together.

What are the common challenges with design systems?

The road to effective design system implementation isn't always smooth. A few common repeated themes tend to come up across organizations and industries — when they do, they prevent businesses from seeing optimal value.

These problems and issues include:

• ‍Lack of awareness around design system benefits: When users don't know the advantages of using design systems, they naturally won't make much effort to integrate them into their workflows.

• A need to allocate time and budget to adoption: Especially at smaller companies, leaders may feel unable to set aside the time, resources and effort to ramp up design system use to acceptable levels of consistency and quality.

• Skill and expertise deficits: In some cases, designers try to work with design systems without knowing the rules for their proper maintenance and upkeep. Without proper training, they can inadvertently weaken their own processes.

• Resistance to change: Teams with set workflows and day-to-day processes may not be excited about switching their regular rhythms and best practices. Unwillingness to change can slow the pace of adoption.

• Lack of clarity around system ownership: Whose responsibility is updating the design system? Who is tasked with keeping it clean and clear and in line with best practices? Answering these questions is important from a future-proofing perspective.

• Insufficiently effective processes around updates: When there's no clear, streamlined way to update a design system, this may fall by the wayside. A lack of changes defeats its purpose as a living, up-to-date set of standards.

Some of the most frequent issues mainly strike smaller organizations that don't have the time or other resources to smoothly change their workflows. Others are more tied to management styles or a lack of employee education.

For businesses of any kind, making the necessary changes to address those challenges and adopt design systems is essential, allowing design and development teams to take a truly modern and collaborative approach to product creation. As a result, dedicating the resources in the short term can come with powerful long-term advantages.

What goes into overcoming design system challenges?

Truly making design systems part of an organization's product development workflows is a process that plays out over time. While there are some initial steps companies can and should take immediately, others will reveal themselves in the months and years to come.

The first priority is to add best practices to the mix. Then, it's time to ensure the value stays strong over time. A good foundation is essential, but employees at all levels must ensure the system they design is future-proof.

Early steps

These are immediate actions and priorities to make sure a design system implementation provides value:

• Identify key personnel: Who needs to learn about the importance of design systems? Who will need training? Who could become a workplace leader or spearhead the adoption of the guidelines? These are important questions at the beginning of implementation.

• Educate employees: Through a process of seminars and training sessions, the relevant employees should receive a strong grounding in design system best practices.

• Define goals: A purpose, with well-defined goals and objectives, helps any new project thrive. Employees should know exactly what they're hoping to accomplish with their use of design systems.

• Launch pilot projects: Rather than start full-scale design system improvement from a full stop, a company can and should gradually launch and expand pilot projects that encourage communication and collaboration.

• Communicate and keep training: Management must be hands-on during the launch of new and improved design system best practices. Education and clear lines of communication are musts.

Ongoing efforts

These are the practices organizations must embrace over time to keep design system programs strong.

• Keep people aligned: Employees may know how to work with design systems at the beginning of an implementation, but will they stay on message over time? Leaders should check in often to make sure they do so.‍

• Document process improvements: Clear evidence of process improvements helps prove the value of effective design system use, providing motivation to keep the program strong.

• Share appreciation: Designers, developers and other key design system users should always know their efforts are worthwhile. Management should show support as employees make progress.

• Celebrate milestones while staying realistic: A company won't achieve all its long-term goals overnight. There is room to be realistic about what still needs to happen while celebrating the progress made.

With a steady approach, better design system usage is within reach for companies, no matter where they are on the maturity curve.

How can a consulting engagement lead to better design system use?

When designers and developers work with experts on their product workflows, this is a perfect chance to absorb best practices — including the effective use of design systems. The competencies can last for the long term, even if the engagement is limited in scope.

Collaboration between the third-party experts and internal teams is essential to success in these cases. The consultants will engage in fact-finding to discover the state of the company's current design system usage, then suggest improvements to help the business chase its unique objectives.

If you're ready to discover more about this process and see how it could help your organization, read a recent Transcenda case study featuring design system improvements, or contact us directly.