The challenge

So why did I want to create a design system, the scenario I like to refer to is a website being pulled in different directions by different teams, it's understandable, they have there own visions, Jira boards and Designers.

Debt

Despite having a styleguide in place, teams would go into sprint mode and still create unique experiences based on their requirements. We were basically generating more design debt and subsequently more technical debt. So there was clearly a problem. The team were also starting to function really inefficiently the the analogy that comes to mind is the hamster wheel, yes you are doing something, but what kind of value are you adding as a whole to the product, so doing is one thing and value is another.

Pret

Where all the best ideas derive, after Nandos of course. Having talked through the my proposal and concerns to our Chief Tech Officer, he put some weight behind it and asked me to make it happen. With a sense of excitement I went back to the office and looked at how I could make this happen. First thing I did was do a stop start continue activity with the team, with no agenda, I wanted to capture key points around the above structure. Once I captured the post it notes, I got various individuals to help me put them into themes and some key points resonated, consistency, process, structure and culture. My strategy reflected these key themes and one of the deliverables was going to be a Design System. I needed horsepower, which included UX-ers, UI-ers and FE-ers. Always tricky getting additional resource that isn’t going to initially add new features and continue our velocity. So my next step was to put a strategy together that would articulate, what the system was going to do, why we needed the system and try and roughly etch out how.

Expectations of the system

Looking into this further, not only was the System going to deliver greater consistency, but provide so many other benefits:

> Allow us to deliver must faster

> Create a more aligned experience for our users

> Make the site lighter

> Enhance the SEO proposition

> Allow teams to focus on more challenging items

> Test faster and more effectively

> Teams to become more innovative and creative

> The list continues…

New structure

Other considerations were horsepower, to really make the system work was to centralise the Design team, why, to have a more holistic view, work closely together, build the components from the ground up as a group rather than been told by a few from the ivory tower, it’s important to have a collective view and input.

It wasn’t just the Design team

It’s key to have a well rounded solution and this new tech needed buy-in from across the business, so not just the Devs, but PO’s and the Agile team to name a few. Devs in particular were integral, we were going to re-write the FE code and there were architectural considers too, as this system was going to be plugged directly to the Test and Production environments (CICD), so it was crucial we worked across the board.