Rebuilding a Design System from the inside out — as both Product Owner and designer.
The problem
37 components delivered. Almost no documentation. And 29 bugs reported in the first weeks of adoption by a single pilot squad.
When I joined the project, the Design System had just completed its first wave of delivery and was being adopted for the first time by a pilot squad. The expectation was to keep shipping — new components, new features, more coverage. But the signals told a different story.
Beyond the volume of bugs, access metrics from our documentation platform (ZeroHeight) revealed another layer of the problem: very few people were actually visiting the docs. Not because they didn't need guidance — but because when they did look, they couldn't find what they were looking for. The documentation wasn't working as a resource. It was working as a gap.
The decision
I made the call to freeze new component delivery until documentation was rebuilt from scratch. 100% coverage, no exceptions.
The process
I made the call to freeze new component delivery until documentation was rebuilt from scratch. 100% coverage, no exceptions.
1
Qualitative research
To understand what was really breaking, I ran in-depth interviews with the people closest to the problem: the designers and developers who used the Design System daily. The sessions covered four areas: onboarding experience, component usage, documentation navigation, and general pain points.
10 interviews
2
CSAT survey
In parallel, I ran a CSAT survey to capture a quantitative snapshot from a broader group of stakeholders. The goal wasn't to validate what the interviews told us. It was to stress-test it at scale and identify patterns we might have missed in one-on-one sessions.
20 responses
3.52 out of 5
3
Synthesis and backlog shaping
With both streams combined, I synthesized the findings into actionable insights: spanning documentation gaps, process friction, component improvements, and new feature opportunities. Everything fed directly into the product backlog, turning user pain into prioritized work.
features
fixes
bugs
4
Full redesign of 37 components
My team rebuilt all 37 components from the ground up, by expanding test coverage for those that lacked it, automating test scenarios, and rethinking each component for scalability and usability. No component shipped without complete documentation.
37 components rebuilt
Results and impacts
The impact showed up in three clear ways and each one traced back directly to the decision to pause, listen, and rebuild before scaling.
~2 bugs per sprint
Down from 29 bugs reported in the first weeks of adoption by a single pilot squad.
10+ squads adopted
Documentation
Documentation engagement increased significantly after the rebuild, showing teams were now finding — and returning to — what they needed.
66% of current bugs are caught internally by our QA pipeline before they ever reach a customer.
Adoption grew organically. Teams onboarded because the product had become reliable enough to trust.
Mockups
Takeways
My role in this project was dual by nature and intentional by choice. As Product Owner, I set the direction: defined priorities, made the call to freeze delivery, shaped the discovery process, and owned the backlog. As a designer, I sat inside Figma building the components myself, writing documentation, testing interactions, feeling the friction that our users felt.
That dual position wasn't always comfortable. The hardest part was knowing when to zoom out and think about the product — and when to zoom in and just build. There were moments when holding the strategic view meant stepping away from the work I found most energizing. And moments when getting hands-on with a component revealed something no stakeholder meeting ever would.
The most important thing I learned is that product vision without technical grounding is fragile. And technical execution without product vision is just output. This project lived in the space between the two. And so did I.
What this experience reinforced is that Design Systems are not design deliverables. They are products — with users, with adoption curves, with trust to be earned and maintained. Treating ours that way changed everything about how we worked.
As a Product Owner
Defined strategy, prioritization, and the decision to pause delivery. Conducted and synthesized user research. Shaped and maintained the product backlog. Aligned stakeholders across design, engineering, and business.
As a Designer
Built and rebuilt components directly in Figma. Authored documentation. Validated interactions and usability. Maintained hands-on proximity to the product throughout its evolution.