Coaching
I offer virtual coaching for design system leads or design system teams.
Currently, I have openings for Q1 of 2024. Please reach out if you have interest. I would be honored to support you and your organization in this way.
Structure
Because every individual and organization has unique needs, I’ve created a structure to follow that acknowledges the cultural challenges of design system work while also allowing room to dive into specific questions you may be facing.
My coaching comes in five-week blocks (one 60 minute conversation each week). We'll communicate prior to these meetings so we can both be prepared. These conversations will feel structured but fluid. I'll ask you a lot of questions and we'll decide together on some form of next steps.
I've also developed a group coaching approach for when your whole team would like to participate. This is also offered in five-week blocks, and the pricing is dependent on the number of participants.
Between these conversations, we’ll communicate via email and a shared Google Doc or FigJam board. As part of the coaching effort, we'll stay in touch throughout the week. I’m happy to have informal conversations between our formally scheduled calls to process current happenings.
My goal will be to challenge and broaden your perspective on the design system effort. Together, we'll make sure your organization’s approach to the system is healthy for the specific context you’re operating in. To do this, we may talk through concepts like:
- the history of systems at your company
- the reasons the organization has a design system
- the structure of the organization
- the already established patterns and practices of the organization
- the cultures and subcultures of the organization
- creating cultural change
- balancing collaboration with control
- a framework for healthy collaboration
- subscriber groupings
- a clear definition of design systems for your organization and needs
- conceptual vs tangible parts of the system
- evolving healthy system processes
- how the system is maturing
- areas of the system where there is risk
- ways to create stability in the system
- adoption health and roadmaps
- correlating system adoption to subscriber group success
- and more
Because one of my personal values is to “create impact,” I want to be able to offer this to individuals who are willing to do the work and who will see the greatest impact from our time together. In the event that I don’t feel I can help create impact with your organization, I’ll happily help you find a coach who might be a better fit.
My Perspective on Design Systems
The best design systems are simply a force multiplier for what’s already happening inside an organization. Those systems refactor the already established practices and patterns of the org so they can be used everywhere. If your organization has healthy practices and patterns, your design system can help scale those across teams/brands/channels/etc. If your organization has unhealthy practices, expecting a design system alone to fix those practices is misplaced optimism.
Design systems distill and magnify healthy practices and patterns while exposing and challenging unhealthy ones. The amount of resistance a healthy design system team experiences is directly related to the unhealthiness of the organization’s established ways of working. To address this, I've developed a series of mental models and frameworks based on eight years (and counting) of design system experience, five years of design system research, and hundreds of conversations with design system experts.
I can’t solve all your problems in a month or two. But together, we can discover what’s causing them and make a plan to unlock your system’s healthy maturity.
Give Back
I believe in the potential impact design systems can have inside an organization. I also recognize not every organization has a budget for training. Because of this, for each paying coaching client, I offer free coaching to one individual with the passion for the work but without the support of their org to fund coaching. This is my way of trying to create some balance in this world. It also means that your organization's investment in your growth is also an investment in an industry peer.
Please reach out to schedule a time to chat. I'd love to be of service to you and your organization!