Summary
Right Thing? Designed Right? Built Right? How do you know it’s designed right? The answer: Effective design planning and management. Our session introduces a design planning and management tool and discusses how it can empower enterprise teams with clarity and data at every altitude, so you know you are designing the right thing right. Join us for a behind-the-scenes look at design information management and tooling that will help you execute UX at scale.
Key Insights
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Design inputs come from many disconnected systems and formats such as PDFs, Figma files, spreadsheets, Slack messages, and Confluence pages.
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Design teams operate at different altitudes, from pixel-level UI details to big-picture company strategy, each requiring different but connected information.
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Most organizations lack a centralized design planning and management system that connects disparate information hubs meaningfully.
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DP&M hubs allow teams to navigate complex design information by showing relationships between components, templates, content types, and requirements.
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Using Airtable as a flexible DP&M tool enables filtered views and dashboards tailored to different team roles and altitudes.
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A well-maintained DP&M hub reduces context switching, unnecessary meetings, and risk of conflicting or duplicated design work.
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DP&M tools help identify gaps in requirements and ensure traceability between design choices and business goals or user research.
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Maintaining the DP&M system is a shared responsibility among designers, with some help from design ops or leads.
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Integrations between tools like Jira, Figma, and Airtable enrich the design process but require manual upkeep and collaboration commitment.
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There is currently no end-to-end centralized design planning tool on the market, so custom solutions like this are vital for enterprise teams.
Notable Quotes
"Research and insights are only part of the information schema we’re talking about — there’s a vastness of design information we need at our fingertips."
"We don’t need a north star, we need a constellation that allows us to see the full picture."
"Inputs live in many places for good reasons, so the goal isn’t to unify everything in one system but to connect these hubs meaningfully."
"Design teams must operate and deliver across a range of altitudes — from pixel details to integrated global views."
"The design planning and management tool pulls together all necessary design reference material and design deliverables that need ongoing management."
"It’s our responsibility as designers to communicate upstream and downstream, keeping design information accessible and up to date."
"The DP&M system has everything designers wish they could see from tools like Jira and Figma but can’t because those tools aren’t designed for that level of connected design management."
"Dashboards allow design leads to visualize status, alignment, and potential gaps across screens, components, templates, and content types."
"The right tool must support relationships and databases — otherwise, you lose the real power of connections in design data."
"Planned right and managed right design leads to the right thing, designed right, and built right."
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