What Makes a Design System Win

Will Klein's talk focuses on testing and the importance of using design systems in enterprise applications to provide a cohesive user experience.

Will Klein visited the community event in person because he heard from Tejas that the community had a warm and amazing vibe, and he wanted to experience it himself.

Will Klein faced the challenge of not leveraging the design system in building a crucial piece of UI and UX for the application, which could lead to inconsistency if the design system evolved.

Will Klein addressed the issue by reaching out to the design system manager and proposing to work on improving awareness and adoption of the design system as an internal developer advocate.

Will Klein improved adoption by being helpful and engaging with the community, offering workshops, hosting office hours, and providing clear communication about the release schedule and changes.

The workshops helped developers learn React design patterns and how to use the design system's components, leading to increased adoption and advocacy within the company.

Will Klein's team managed breaking changes by developing code mods to automatically rewrite code to new API versions, making the upgrade process easier for developers.

The Slack channel grew from 200 to over 600 members, becoming the largest UI community at the company, indicating increased engagement and interest in the design system.

Will Klein ensured relevance by hosting regular office hours, engaging in community conversations, and continuously improving documentation and support based on developer feedback.

The team built credibility and trust by being kind, helpful, and welcoming, answering questions in a respectful manner, and creating an open and supportive community environment.