Our goal was to manage communication tools, shareable libraries, and cross-functional design systems, establishing them as the standard for a portfolio of over 20 products. We also aimed to identify opportunities for feature consolidation and enhancement across new properties.
Creating partnerships across the organization
At this stage, one common issue across all our solutions was the inconsistent implementation of common components. Collaborating with the HRIS group helped us identify the problem and develop a targeted strategy.
My relationships with the HRIS and Unified Employee Self-Service teams enabled direct collaboration with their engineering teams to develop subsystems. These partnerships allowed us to evolve the original design systems strategy into a broader platform systems strategy, taking calculated risks and testing hypotheses in real-world environments.
Below are examples of initial documentation created to kick off subsystem work across these teams.
Cross-functional collaboration
When the Technology team shifted focus toward modernizing our code stack, the design systems initiative was relaunched with full-time assignments and a clear directive to align with a third-party open-source system. This required refactoring previous efforts, but it also aligned the project with Technology’s goal of simplifying their stacks, making future adoption easier.
Prioritizing the design system with full-time focus
Securing full-time assignments was a significant milestone for the design systems initiative. Previously, the team consisted of just myself and another front-end specialist, both working at around 50% capacity. This adjustment allowed us to formalize roles and expand the team by adding two additional front-end engineers, with official backing from product leadership.
A cultural shift toward documentation
Documentation is essential for identifying use cases across components. This included interactive prototypes and examples illustrating when and how to use them. By quickly sharing this information across the organization, we reduced implementation time, ensured correct usage, and provided valuable resources to all teams across the portfolio.
The North Star
Showcasing use cases across design, engineering, and product management, The North Star platform design system will result in a website as an indispensable resource, used at all product stages.
Service-based opportunities
By auditing the newly acquired Public Safety Suite, I identified valuable features that created opportunities for interoperability and cross-product collaboration across the organization. These insights laid the groundwork for what would eventually become our service-based platform strategy.
Establishing our priorities
By prioritizing data, formalizing core teams, and identifying opportunities across the portfolio, we established a strong foundation for the platform’s future phases.
Infrastructure insights through research
Regular audits and research into new product offerings gave us valuable insights into our platform’s infrastructure, exposing gaps in administrative features and highlighting the need to optimize common interactions. We realized that as customers moved to these unified experiences, these gaps would become more pronounced. Streamlining administrative processes and eliminating inconsistencies across user interfaces would be crucial for success as the platform grew in complexity.
Exposing Flaws Leads to Success
Decentralized data obstructed the development of cross-product experiences, making it essential to address this barrier. Identifying these issues was a significant achievement, revealing that sometimes it’s necessary to let flaws surface to guide the organization in the right direction.
Continue to Phase 3: Delivering the platform strategy across the portfolio