(01) Problem
A 12-surface B2B platform where every team shipped their own patterns. The inconsistency was slowing delivery and training times were creeping past 14 days.
(02) Constraints
- HIPAA, SOC 2, lots of red tape.
- Five product teams, forty engineers.
- No big-bang rewrites — migration had to be gradual.
(03) Approach
Shipped a design system as a migration vehicle, not a deliverable. Every new feature used the system; old features migrated opportunistically when touched.
(04) Process
- 01
System before screens
Published tokens + 40 primitives in week one. Shipped docs + Figma libraries in parallel.
- 02
Governance light
A weekly open hour instead of a design council. Lowered the cost of participation to almost zero.
(05) Outcomes
9 products
Now on the system
−38%
New-hire ramp time
+22%
Design-to-ship velocity
(06) Learnings
“The best design systems feel boring to use and exciting to contribute to. If you invert that, you're building a museum.”
