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In our last post on design systems, we discussed how they can help your organization minimize design debt. But simply creating a design system doesn’t guarantee that you will see a return on investment or that people will even use it. That’s because a design system involves more than reusable components, documentation, and governance. It’s also a cultural shift in how your organization will operate.

For a design system to be successful, it needs to be seen as useful by the people who will use it and to achieve that, you need their buy-in. And to do that, you need to take a strategic approach to how you plan for and build out your design system. 

In this post, the second in our ongoing series about design systems, we’ll look at how careful planning can help ensure the adoption and success of a design system in your organization.

What Happens If You Don’t Plan

A design system is a set of guidelines, components, and standards that ensures consistency of digital products across a business, but those things don’t exist in a vacuum. It’s part of the broader culture of the organization. If you don’t take into consideration the people who will use it from the very beginning, you won’t reap the benefits. Let’s look at an example of what could happen if you try to build a design system without proper up-front planning.  

Imagine that you head the design team at your company and have been wanting a design system for a long time. You decide it has to be done so you and your team do it all yourselves. After all, who knows design better than the designers? By keeping it within the team you’re able to move quickly and can create a complete collection of components, with thorough documentation and clear governance. This is what you’ve wanted all along, so mission accomplished, right? But when it comes time to implement the system, you start running into trouble. Here’s how:

1. First, the other departments who will be using it–-primarily marketing teams and developers–feel like the system is being pushed on them. They didn’t ask for it, and they don’t feel like they have any agency in the process, so rather than gratitude you get resentment.

2. Also, because you didn’t go through a thorough discovery process, the design system isn’t comprehensive enough to meet the needs of everyone who will use it.

3. Not only that but there’s a disconnect between the goals you have for the design system and the technology that your company uses. You’re not able to fully implement the system across all of your company’s digital properties because there’s a lack of tech compatibility.

You’ve spent your time and resources on something that isn’t particularly liked or well used, and in the end, people go back to legacy behaviors that get the same old results.

Ensuring Adoption

The example above highlights the importance of investing in up-front planning when you’re building a design system, but the first mistake they made was to assume that it was better to keep the project siloed within the design team. If you want people to use something, then it’s better if they have a say in how it's made. And if you want to get something as complex as a design system created—and have leadership approve the cost–-you’ll have to think about adoption strategies. 

An adoption strategy is a plan designed to encourage the acceptance, integration, and sustained use of a new product, technology, process, or idea within an organization. The foundation of any adoption strategy has to be communication, and that’s where you’ll want to start. First, you need to communicate the “why” of a design system to the different stakeholders involved, being sure to address their needs as well as how it will benefit the company as a whole. We’ll have additional posts in the coming weeks addressing the concerns of different stakeholders, but here’s a summary:

• Executives/C-suite: This persona group is most interested in the bottom line. They want to know how a design system will make the company more competitive, reduce duplicative efforts, increase speed to market, and allow the company to be more productive.

• Marketing Teams: As one of the end-users of a design system, marketing departments will want to make sure whatever is built allows them to move quickly while still remaining flexible.

• Developers: Developers want to make sure that things work, and will want to ensure that the organization’s technology is up to the task of letting people actually use the design system. They’ll also be interested in reducing duplicative efforts on their end, something a design system can help with.

• Designers: As the ones most familiar with design systems, designers will generally be aware of the benefits and will typically be the earliest advocates.

Not only do you need to get buy-in from these groups and understand their perspective, you need to set up ongoing communication channels so you can continue to get feedback and refine the design system over time.

Planning Strategically

Stakeholder buy-in is an important first step and will help you to find champions within each department who can help move the project forward. From there you need to gather more information through a formal discovery process and start working towards a roadmap that prioritizes the most impactful components first. A roadmap is important because it helps you focus on the outcomes you want to achieve, reducing the temptation to get distracted along the way. 

A proper planning process should look something like this:

• Get buy-in from all the departments involved. Look for champions to help advocate for a design system, and set up clear lines of communication

• Conduct a formal discovery process. Talk to anyone who will use or support the design system to better understand the broader context.

• Report out on discovery. This step is often forgotten, but it’s important to share your findings so you can break up silos and ensure everyone is on the same page.

• Gather requirements. At this point, you need to get into the specifics with every department to make sure everyone’s needs will be met and to determine the tech requirements.

• Develop a roadmap. This first draft of the roadmap should highlight priorities and provide a timeline for getting them done. It’s important to share the roadmap with stakeholders and continue to gather feedback.

Successful Design Systems Never Stop Evolving

Following the steps above will help you to be strategic about your goals for a design system and how it will be implemented. It’s important, however, to note that when it comes to design systems, they’re never finished. As your organization grows and changes over time, the design system will need to grow and change with it. 

That makes this initial planning all the more important, as the processes you put into place for gathering feedback and communicating goals across departments at the start will continue to serve you as the design system matures.

Are you struggling with adoption of your design system? Let’s talk about how we can help.