Vision, alignment and execution as the three faces of one form

Design Management

Product & Platform
Investment web app design system
Timeline
2020
Impact
Increased design team efficiency by 5× and delivered the next-generation design system MVP in 4 months

In late 2019, the UX team at SS&C Eze began building a new design system to support next-generation investment products. Despite strong intent, progress stalled for several months due to unclear ownership, fragmented workflows, and misaligned stakeholder expectations. This created uncertainty around scope, timelines, and long-term direction.

Recognizing these challenges, I assessed the situation, identified root causes, and proposed a structured, phased approach. Based on this plan, I got the opportunity to lead the design system initiative, aligning design, engineering, and leadership around a shared vision and clear execution model.

My Role

As the design lead, I was responsible for strategy, project management, and cross-functional alignment:

  • Defined the design system vision, roadmap, and delivery strategy

  • Established governance, ownership, and decision-making frameworks

  • Implemented Agile design workflows, including sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives

  • Translated ambiguous requirements into clear design stories and prioritized backlogs

  • Aligned and staffed work across design, engineering, technical writers, and leadership, while communicating progress and risks transparently

Challenges

  • High complexity & scale

    The design system included style guides, pattern libraries, design assets, code components, and usage documentation.

  • Cross-functional dependencies

    Designers, UI engineers, and technical writers worked in parallel with tightly coupled dependencies, where misalignment in one area could block progress.

  • Misaligned expectations

    Stakeholders had differing views on scope, level of polish, and timelines, making prioritization and decision-making difficult.

Solutions

1. Align Vision and Set Goals

I clarified the vision and goals and aligned stakeholders on a phased approach to manage size and complexity.

The design system vision and goals, agreed as a phased approach

2. Roadmap and Milestones

I created a clear roadmap with defined milestones, timelines, and scope for each phase to guide execution and set expectations.

The roadmap, with milestones, timelines and scope for each phase

3. Focus on MVP

The first phase prioritized an MVP, focusing on the most critical, high-impact foundations with clear hierarchy and dependencies.

The MVP scope: the highest-impact foundations, in dependency order

4. Define the Workflow

I introduced an Agile sprint-based workflow with regular sprint planning, design reviews, and scrum check-ins.

The two-week sprint cycle: planning, design reviews and scrum check-ins

5. Task Management

I ensured every task had clear goals, acceptance criteria, and a single owner, breaking large efforts into manageable units with supporting contributors.

A task broken into units, each with goals, acceptance criteria and an owner

6. Ownership and Responsibility

Each task was assigned a designated owner responsible for driving it to completion, with 1–2 contributors providing support as needed.

A sprint board: every item with an owner, a contributor, a due date and a status

Outcomes

  • 5–10 tasks per sprint

    Previously, only 4 tasks were completed over several months. With the new workflow, the team consistently delivered 5–10 meaningful tasks every two weeks.

  • On-time delivery

    Stage I (MVP) completed in 8 weeks; Stage II completed 16 weeks later, expanding coverage and depth.

  • Leadership & stakeholder confidence

    The clarity, speed, and quality of execution earned strong positive feedback across leadership and cross-functional teams.

  • Scalable & repeatable model

    The governance, workflows, and processes established became self-sustaining and were later applied to other complex initiatives.