2: Design Systems and Structural Integrity

Originally published 20 August 2021; lightly revised 9 June 2025.

In my previous post, I laid a foundation for thinking about the emerging standard shape of a product design organization. In the comments and on LinkedIn, a number of questions and comments came through, and by far the most addressed Design Systems and related platform matters.

From what I've seen, while the overall shape of a design org is settling into something like I've shown, where specifically Design Systems lives varies from org to org. Earlier this year, I supported an enterprise software team building HR tools. From what I gathered, our plan for design org structure is one that's emerging as a standard within enterprise software. I've altered some details for the sake of easier communication (tap/click to enlarge).