Summary
?Design systems are becoming more prevalent in how digital teams design sustainably at scale. Join Design System University founder Dan Mall in this “Ask Me Anything” session about design systems and learn more about his soon-to-be-released book, Design That Scales: Creating a Sustainable Design System Practice.
Key Insights
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Design systems often fail to scale because they are treated as projects, not ongoing organizational practices.
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Mature design systems resemble Agile processes; they become ingrained in how teams consistently work.
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Design system education is critical; systems thrive when grown in-house rather than transplanted.
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Connecting people and processes across teams is often more important than just connecting components.
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Incorporating content design and language management into design systems signals maturity.
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The 80/20 rule (80% system components, 20% custom design) balances efficiency and creativity.
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Tracking how early design system teams are invited into conversations is a better success metric than adoption alone.
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Transparency about roadmap and planned changes reduces resistance to design system updates.
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Design systems should capture the reality of current organizational workflows, not an idealized version.
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Design ops should govern design systems, integrating them as part of a broader design ecosystem with an ideal ratio of 1 design ops person to 5 design system team members.
Notable Quotes
"A lot of people think about design systems as a project, but they really need to be an ingrained way of doing work."
"Design system practices thrive when born in-house; transplanting them is like transplanting plants—there's a risk they won’t take."
"The closest parallel to a mature design system is Agile—it’s not something you do sometimes; it’s how you consistently work."
"Design systems should document and capture how your organization works now, not just an aspirational ideal."
"You want to give your teams better prompts: don’t just build an interface, build five and explore options."
"Tracking how early a design system person is invited into conversations is a key success metric."
"Change isn’t feared because people dislike change; it’s feared because it’s often a surprise."
"Set expectations transparently about what the design system will and won’t work on to reduce frustration."
"Design systems should be embedded under design ops, which governs design tools, processes, and systems together."
"A good design system team looks like a normal product team so it doesn’t get cut as a special snowflake effort."
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