Design System FAQ: Ownership
Do not outsource your design system to externals, its existence is embedded in your DNA
Budgeting a project to last the whole lifetime of a business is not possible. Consequently, hiring external contractors to build your design system (DS) doesn’t make much sense in the long-term. Furthermore, tasking an external team to investigate and document as much design knowledge as possible, feels very dangerous since once their contract is over, they will carry those learnings away with them.
On the other hand, a company could hire an external to help structuring the DS foundation, or to challenge and inspire how to scale it bigger. The point stays the same, the project must be owned internally.
If a company can’t commit long-term to a DS, especially governance, it is pointless to go ahead: the process shows results only on the long run, and can’t be executed as a single shot. Save the money, ask to define few clear PDF guidelines, ensure they cover the basics, and cross your fingers that will do it for a while.
Who should own a design system?
Small companies/startups often have a digital designer in charge, and the DS is never more complicated than a component library. If you are instead a member of a mid-large corporation, interested in promoting the creation of a DS, these are usually your main stakeholders:
- The board of directors
- The IT department
- The marketing department
- The product teams
This article it’s about who’s the better fit for ownership. Someone has to pay for this expensive journey, and it’s a tough sale. Where to start?
1
Why the board of directors is the right owner to pay/commission a Design System
They can grant you permission and mandate to enforce your DS across the whole company. They can allocate budgets, advocate for legitimacy. It is only when Larry Page returned as CEO of Google, he gave the company a very broad mandate. To “make Google beautiful.” With that mandate, Google Design went out to reimagine how to company presented its products, and material design was born. Read here
Why the board of directors will not pay/commission a Design System
There are still too few DS designers who can explain why there is value in investing in a DS. There is a lot of confusion about what a DS is. The most popular mistake is to frame it as a one time investment. There’s also a tendency to focus the conversation on visual and technical aspects, whereas when it comes to board members, it’s wiser to talk about how it saves time and money. DS is a new thing for them, it is likely to be a topic very low in their agenda — you can read a very clear explanation of how to deal with non-design-systems-savvy folk in this chapter of Atomic Design by Brad Frost.
2
Why IT is the right department to own a Design System
The nature of a DS is to establish and share a single repository for all design knowledge of a company. Its DNA is rooted in development practices, where code is re-used to build and ship digital artefacts at speed. The more we re-use elements, the faster we release solutions. Having the IT department to simplify and align their codebase to a single reference would allow them to gain velocity in shipping; it would also establish a single vocabulary to communicate across teams and departments.
Why IT will not pay/commission a Design System
Differently from all the other departments, IT normally understands the value of a DS, and share the same admiration for the ultimate outcome. The problem is, they are often very skeptical towards anything that is not specifically fitting to their setup. The best shot to convince them, is to present an effective implementation plan which takes into account their workflow. In short, they would go for it, but only if the amount of hassle from their side is very low. Not encouraging.
3
Why Marketing is the right department to own a Design System
Imagine if all products, services and communication a company produces, delivers a 100% brand consistent CX; you are probably looking at a great company. Marketing dig that. If you manage to explain them that a DS is a strong enabler for such a vision, you are game.
Why Marketing will not pay/commission a Design System
Marketing has never money to invest in anything that is not their usual activities. The whole re-usability aspect mentioned above for IT? They don’t really get that. Marketing is blinded by the golden vision of a coherent CX, they will link you with every team in their company, but for some reasons, the money is always prioritised towards other projects — when I’ll know what’s more important than delivering strong customer experiences I will let you know why they do that.
4
Why product teams are the right ones to own a Design System
They are the ones using it! As such, the system should be 100% tailored to their needs. From which software, to naming convention and workflows. Product teams are the beating heart of a DS: informing what components the libraries need, and how to use them.
Why product teams not pay/commission a Design System
Budget. Product owners have full interest, sadly, their budget is too little to slice it part of it for documentation. Especially when they hear that the DS they are financing will be used by other teams across the organisation. At that point will come the question: “if the others will use it, we don’t want to be the only ones paying for it”. Fair. Yet, project stalled.
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Conclusion
I pitched design systems to all departments. The best start I recommend is management, but it rarely happens. As for now, most companies (in Denmark at least) are not aware of its importance, therefore they don’t budget for it annually. It’ll change, but right now it makes it really hard for whomever wants to promote a Design Systems to get anything done, no money no fuel.
What do I think about it? Start where it make sense, with small, incremental result, build momentum and keep pushing to find allies across other departments. One thing is for sure, do not outsource it to external vendors. Once their hours are over, they’ll leave, and with them all the unwritten knowledge you paid them to uncover for you.
