3 lessons I borrowed from Social Justice work to lead a Design System
Specialization Case Study
In my day-to-day work outside of Chaime as a Product Manager, I’ve had the pleasure of helping two companies with ambitious missions for social good kick off design systems initiatives. Benevity is a platform that lets corporations scale their giving & volunteering platforms to encourage their employees to give back to their local community. Eventbrite has recognized the power their online ticketing platform to reduce the loneliness we’re experiencing as an increasingly disconnected, digital culture.
But both of these companies had reached a critical stage in their growth where the way they built products was no longer scaling, and they were in danger of not meeting their ambitious goals without a drastic change: no one - even long-term designers and developers knew how to make a button
For people who haven’t been on the inside of software development in a company of a certain size, this might sound surprising. “That’s just a box with some text that goes somewhere when you click it… It’s just a link with a bit of style and padding… right? What could be so complicated?!”
But you see, it’s not really the “coat of paint” that makes up a button that’s the problem here, and the Button is just the cliche example of what it’s definitely not that easy!
The challenges these orgs were facing were:
None of the dozens of micro design decisions that went into that button were documented anywhere, so every new designer had to modify and misuse the button however they saw fit to match their needs
There was no intentional connection between the designers assets and the developers code, so translating from one to the other was tedious and painful for both parties, even for the simplest things
There were no tools or processes in place to manage changes over time without individually redesigning each and every button on each and every page
It wasn’t the button that was the problem, but the button was a symptom of a larger problem… one only a few people in the company had the experience or line of sight to fully grasp.
I was lucky though… I had felt the the shape of this problem before:
Giant problem,
High stakes,
Lots of interconnected stakeholders and parts,
Low leadership buy in,
Required convincing people to re-think their entire world to be successful…
This felt just like the social justice work I had been doing for nearly a decade before I transitioned into tech. I knew exactly how to tackle this.
Lesson 1 - Get buy in for the vision
Just like a social movement, a Design System can’t really gain traction if no one rallies behind it. But no one is going to rally behind you until you know where you’re going.
In social justice work, I learned the art of applying principles to decision making that has served me well in staying strong on the vision for my product. I took the time to gather from leadership and ICs the unique shape of the problem the organization was facing, and then repeat it back to them - in the form of what the system could offer as an antidote to their woes.
At Benevity, we were struggling to just plain deliver at scale. So, the team didn’t build a Design System, we thought about building Skyline as if it was a subway - something to help us all get from point A to point B faster than if we all went our own way.
At Eventbrite, we needed a flexible system that teams could flex for different levels of brand expression. We started thinking of our work as shipping Blue Apron style recipe packs, with the ingredients and instructions to make the most common meals that Eventbrite liked to serve up, but allow teams to have the tools and permission to modify those as needed.
These metaphors helped take a complex and abstract design system and package it up into something easy to say “OMG yes I feel that deep within my soul!” and convert someone to support your mission. You have to help people see and feel the change that could be in the world if only we all - each and every one of us - stopped for a second and bought in to a different way of doing things.
So, if you’re struggling, try doing your best Ted Lasso impression and get out there and help everyone to “Believe in Believe”.
Lesson 2 - Lock in for the long-term
And then comes the hard part: keeping that belief alive, even though you know deep down that - realistically - you probably will never fully achieve what can be found found in your beautiful, perfect vision of the future.
This muscle had been well honed for me in the social justice world. Just because the change is long and slow doesn’t mean we don’t stop pushing towards better!
Gender equity? We’re 175 years into feminist activism and still seeking change.
Inclusion for people with disabilities? The last institution in Canada only closed in the 90s, we’ve got a long way to go.
Anti-racism? The work certainly didn’t stop just because slavery was abolished.
Things will be always be changing around you, your strategy might not stay the same and your team will grow and change over time, but not losing the faith on where or why you’re going, and not losing touch with all those people you will impact when you get there is key - both the people using your end product, and the teams leveraging the system to build that product.
Focus on what you can do so that this month to be better than last month and this year better than last year. Support your team to celebrate the individual wins for an individual user as much as the big ones or they will lose heart because they can see how far away from perfect everything is always.
Remember: you’re not looking for perfection, you’re looking for ways to recognize and celebrate that you’re heading in the right direction.
Lesson 3 - Foster your allies, and take the time to understand your detractors
Challenging social systems is usually a largely grassroots effort, and in many ways Design Systems is that work as well. It is the Developers and Designers that are on the front lines, refactoring code and changing their processes to adopt the system that will make the long-term change happen. But without allies, especially allies with power, Design Systems and social justice work are both often blocked or passed over for easier, short-term wins.
In social justice work, I learned the art of slow, patient ally building. It often required gritting your teeth, showing up to that meeting with the person who you know doesn’t get it yet and will probably say something that will break your spirit. Each meeting you’d try a different angle to solicit their buy in and support, and hope this one stuck.
I also learned that recruiting new allies or converting detractors isn’t something you have to do alone. You can get your other allies, above around and beneath them to help you understand better: what am I missing that’s making it hard for this person to buy in and support this? Sometimes, it’s not even that they don’t care - it’s a function of org structure, or it’s the person above them, or just that in the stack rank of problems on their desk yours sounds like it might solve itself if they just ignore it long enough.
beautiful presentation, but by continually planting seeds and demonstrating your progress.
So really what I’m saying is…
Social Justice, Design Systems and Product Management are all hard but exceedingly fulfilling paths I’ve been lucky enough to explore in my career. They’re all about looking at the world around you and being brave enough to say…
“I think I can see a way we could change this system that would be WAY better for some humans, and I’m going to do my best to make that happen.”