AI Skill Report Card
Governing Design Systems
Design System Governance
Quick Start15 / 15
ROI Calculation for 5-person team:
Component Reuse Rate: 60% (12/20 common components)
Avg Dev Time Saved: 2 hours per component per sprint
Team Hourly Rate: $75/hour
Sprint Frequency: 2 weeks
Annual Value = 0.60 × 2 hrs × $75 × 26 sprints = $2,340 per component
Total Portfolio Value = $2,340 × 20 components = $46,800/year
Recommendation▾
Add one concrete input/output example for the contribution workflow process to show the RFC template in action
Workflow15 / 15
DS-GOVERNANCE Framework Implementation:
Progress:
- Calculate baseline ROI metrics
- Set up contribution workflow
- Establish adoption tracking
- Create stakeholder templates
- Deploy health dashboard
1. ROI Calculation
ROI = (Component Reuse Rate × Avg Dev Time Saved × Hourly Rate × Sprint Frequency)
Small team multipliers:
- Design consistency value: +25%
- Reduced technical debt: +15%
- Faster onboarding: +10%
2. Contribution Workflow
Proposal → Review → Build → Document → Release → Deprecate
- Proposal: RFC template with use cases, effort estimate
- Review: Design + dev approval (async, 48hr max)
- Build: Paired implementation (designer + developer)
- Document: Usage guidelines, code examples, Figma specs
- Release: Version bump + changelog
- Deprecate: 30-day notice + migration guide
3. Adoption Metrics Dashboard
Primary KPIs:
- Component Coverage Rate: Used components / Total components
- Design-Code Sync Score: Figma variants = Code variants
- Time-to-Ship Velocity: Feature completion time (before/after DS)
Secondary KPIs:
- Contribution Rate: New components per quarter
- Support Ticket Volume: DS-related issues
- Developer Satisfaction: Quarterly NPS survey
Recommendation▾
Consider condensing the Best Practices section by combining related points to improve conciseness
Examples18 / 20
Example 1: Business Case Template Input: "Need executive buy-in for design system investment" Output:
Subject: Design System ROI - $47K Annual Value for 5-Person Team
Executive Summary:
- Investment: 1 designer-month setup + 20% ongoing maintenance
- Return: $46,800/year in development efficiency
- Payback: 3.2 months
- Additional benefits: 40% faster feature delivery, reduced bugs
Request: Approve dedicated design system ownership rotation
Example 2: Adoption Tracking Input: "Track button component usage" Output:
Button Component Health:
Coverage Rate: 85% (17/20 features using DS button)
Sync Score: 100% (all variants match)
Time Savings: 1.5 hrs/sprint average
Issues: 2 accessibility gaps identified
Action: Update color contrast in next release
Recommendation▾
Include a specific template or framework for the quarterly strategy alignment meetings mentioned in governance structure
Best Practices
For Small Teams:
- Start with 5-10 most-used components
- Rotate DS ownership monthly (prevent bottlenecks)
- Automate sync checks between Figma and code
- Use existing tools (Storybook, Figma) vs custom solutions
Stakeholder Communication:
- Lead with time savings, not design theory
- Show before/after development velocity
- Quantify bug reduction from consistency
- Tie metrics to business OKRs
Governance Structure:
- Weekly 15-min health checks
- Monthly contribution reviews
- Quarterly strategy alignment
- Annual ROI assessment
Common Pitfalls
- Over-engineering for team size: Don't build enterprise-grade governance for 5 people
- Perfectionism blocking adoption: Release 80% solutions, iterate based on usage
- Measuring vanity metrics: Focus on time-to-ship over component count
- Ignoring maintenance debt: Budget 20% time for updates and deprecations
- Top-down mandates: Drive adoption through value demonstration, not policy
Red Flags:
- Coverage dropping below 70%
- Sync score below 90%
- Increasing support tickets
- Developers building custom components instead of using DS