Increasing Design System Adoption: Part 4 - How to Sustain Adoption Over TIme?

“Hey, have you noticed that even though everyone loved the design system at first, it seems like people are starting to forget about it?” asked Sarah, the designer, as she scrolled through the latest project updates.

“Yeah, I’ve seen that too,” replied Raj, the developer, leaning back in his chair. “We proved its impact with those metrics, but if we don’t keep it evolving, I worry it’ll just become another tool that gets ignored.”

“Exactly! We need to figure out how to sustain adoption over time,” Sarah said, her brow furrowing in thought. “What if we set up a design system governance framework to ensure it stays relevant?”

Raj nodded, “That could work. We should establish a design system governance process that includes regular check-ins and updates. If we can keep it aligned with the needs of our product teams, we might just keep everyone engaged.”

“Right! And we need to think about how to structure our design system team to support this. Maybe we can implement some best practices for design system governance that will help us scale effectively,” Sarah suggested, her enthusiasm growing.

“Let’s dive into this,” Raj said, pulling up a document. “We need to ensure that our design system not only meets current needs but also adapts as we grow. After all, if teams feel the system isn’t keeping up, they’ll abandon it.”

With that, they began brainstorming strategies to ensure their design system remained a vital part of their workflow, setting the stage for a discussion on how to sustain adoption over time.

In the last part of our series, we explored how to measure and prove the impact of your design system, focusing on tracking component usage and establishing design system KPIs.

Now, as we dive into Part 4, we’ll tackle the essential question: How do we sustain adoption over time? We’ll explore best practices for design system governance, team structures, and strategies for increasing adoption of the design system at scale.

If you’re just starting out with design systems, be sure to check out the first part of our series, where we discuss the foundational problems faced during the adoption of an effective design system.

How to Keep the Design System Relevant as Teams and Products Evolve?

1. Tailored Guidance for Every Workflow

Providing tailored guidance that aligns with the specific workflows of different teams is essential. This involves creating resources that cater to the unique needs of designers, developers, and product managers, ensuring the design system is seamlessly integrated into their daily tasks.

For Designers :

• Component Flexibility : Define clear guidelines on how much a component can be altered before it’s pushed to production. This helps maintain consistency while allowing for necessary customization.

• Audit and Linting Workflows : Establish workflows for regular audits and linting, assigning relevant owners to ensure components meet design standards.

• Storybook and Figma Checklists : Develop checklists for tools like Storybook and Figma to ensure components are correctly documented and visually consistent.

  
  

  

For Developers :

• Media Compression Standards : Set up standards and limits for media compression to optimize app performance, ensuring that all media assets adhere to these guidelines.

• Support Ticket Protocols : Create a clear process for raising support tickets if a component in the design system seems off, ensuring quick resolution and updates.

• Motivation and Engagement : Foster a culture of motivation and engagement, recognizing that maintaining a design system is a collaborative effort that relies on people’s enthusiasm and commitment.

• Internal Linting Packages : Develop internal packages to automate linting and ensure development practices remain consistent across projects.

2. Effective Communication:

• Regular Updates and Feedback Loops : Establish regular communication channels to update teams on changes to the design system and gather feedback. This can be done through newsletters, meetings, or dedicated channels in communication tools like Slack.

• Cross-Functional Workshops : Organize workshops that bring together designers, developers, and product managers to discuss the design system’s evolution and gather insights on how it can better serve their needs.

  
  

  

  
  

3. Keep Everyone in the Loop:

• Next up is the importance of keeping everyone in the loop. Regularly communicating updates and changes to the design system is crucial for ensuring that all team members are informed and engaged. Think about using newsletters, team meetings, or dedicated channels on collaboration platforms to share the latest and greatest. Highlighting new components, best practices, and improvements will help teams understand the ongoing evolution of the system and encourage them to utilize the latest features. This proactive communication fosters a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, making everyone feel like they’re part of the journey.

4. Celebrate small wins!

• Finally, let’s talk about visibility. Why not create events around updates to the design system? This is a fantastic way to generate excitement and engagement! Host workshops, webinars, or lunch-and-learn sessions where team members can explore new features, share their experiences, and provide feedback. Making the design system visible and celebrated as a living resource encourages teams to actively participate in its evolution and reinforces its importance in their daily workflows. Plus, who doesn’t love a good event?

This approach not only enhances scalable system design but also supports the long-term success of your design initiatives. So, let’s keep the momentum going and make our design system a vibrant part of our creative process!

How Do We Balance Governance with Flexibility to Keep Adoption High?

When thinking about balancing consistency and flexibility in a design system, determining a set of common traits between products is important.

1. Understanding Design System Governance :

• Design system governance refers to the framework that outlines how the design system is managed, maintained, and utilized across teams. It ensures consistency, quality, and alignment with business goals, making it essential for long-term success.

2. The Challenge of Rigidity :

• While governance is important, too much rigidity can stifle creativity and innovation, leading to frustration among designers and developers. The challenge is to maintain a structured approach while allowing for the flexibility needed to adapt to changing needs.

• Encourage innovation by organizing internal hackathons focused on the design system. These events can serve as a platform for teams to experiment with new ideas, explore creative solutions, and contribute to the evolution of the design system.

• Introduce new tech challenges that push teams to explore emerging technologies and methodologies. This not only promotes design system adoption but also helps level up the skills and capabilities of all team members, ensuring they remain at the forefront of industry trends.

3. Finding Common Traits :

• When thinking about balancing consistency and flexibility in a design system, it’s crucial to identify a set of common traits among products. For example, think of a well-designed kitchen: while each appliance serves a different function like a refrigerator, oven, or dishwasher they all share a cohesive style and color scheme that ties the space together.

4. Applying the Analogy :

• Just as a kitchen maintains a harmonious look while allowing for different functionalities, a well-governed design system should establish core principles and components that ensure consistency across products while providing teams the flexibility to innovate and adapt.

5. Fostering Balance for High Adoption :

• By fostering this balance between governance and flexibility, organizations can keep adoption high and ensure that the design system remains a valuable asset in their development process.

  
  

  

  
  

• Adoption isn’t about forcing a design system onto teams it’s about removing barriers and making it the obvious choice.

Conclusion

Reflecting on this journey, there are a few key takeaways that stand out. First and foremost, fixing resistance is crucial; understanding why teams hesitate and addressing those concerns directly can pave the way for smoother adoption. Next, it’s essential to make adoption effortless by integrating the design system so deeply into workflows that using it feels automatic.

Don’t forget the importance of measuring everything, tracking adoption metrics and demonstrating the business impact can help secure ongoing support from stakeholders. Finally, always strive to keep the system relevant ; continuously evolving the design system ensures that teams remain engaged and don’t abandon it.

If I had understood these principles from the start, adoption would have been a natural process, not a constant struggle. This series isn’t just about how to build a design system it’s about how to make it stick. By applying these insights, you can create a design system that not only enhances your projects but also becomes an integral part of your organization’s culture. Here’s to making design systems work for us, not against us!