Design Ops
A shared knowledge base for empowering teams to work with clarity, speed, and consistency.
Designers
Stakeholers
Base components and variants
The challenge
I took on the challenge of leading the creation of a design system to support digital transformation. To make it happen, I asked colleagues from different projects to form a dedicated system team using a % of their time allocated to design system.
With thousands of designers embedded across product teams worldwide, each with varying levels of expertise, it was clear that a shared knowledge base was essential. My vision was to align teams and ensure consistent design quality across all products.
More than just a component library, a DesignOps strategy provides structure and clarity. It helps teams understand where they are in the process, how to move forward, and which tools to use. It becomes a practical, accessible toolbox of design knowledge that empowers everyone involved.
Design Thinking sprints
Research sprint
4 Sprints
Empathize
Design of presentation of the idea
Stakeholder aligment core global PMs, Architects, Designers, brand managers, and Devs
4 Sprints
Define
Tech aligment
Prioritization workshops
Roadmap of integration 70% of portfolio
SOW
Sprints per components batch
Week 1
Ideate
Brainstorming the component shape and behavior
Prototype
Design the component in Figma
Test in design and mockups
Create the component documentation
Week 2
Development
Develop the component in code
Create dev documentation
Test
Handoff to front-end and Q&A
Deploy in NPM and documentation
Core Insight
The tokenized design system enabled teams to move faster while efficiently supporting multiple brands.
Outcome
The design system adoption was the 70% of product portfolio, I trained multiple Product Managers across the organization on the DesignOps framework including the design thinking process in a program called train the trainers, and contributed to the creation of the Product Design chapter in the official PM Playbook adapted to be used with SAFe Agile. I also integrated the design system documentation into the company-wide knowledge base.
On the delivery side, I built a comprehensive design system in Figma and translated it into production-ready code using MUI, leveraging both AI tools and my deep CSS expertise. The system was developed to align with the company’s standardized tech stack, built on React and Next.js.
