Craft Across: First 90 days in Design Systems

Oct 2, 4:00 – 5:00 PM (UTC)

DesignOps

Login to RSVP

About this event

Join us for a LIVE Craft Across session as we explore the first 30/60/90 days of joining a design system team, from the lens of design, engineering, product, and leadership + ops.

Whether you're stepping into a system role for the first time or onboarding new teammates, this session offers a multi-perspective deep dive into what matters most during the early phases.

About the Event

This session focuses on what it really means to join or lead a design system team—and how to make your first 30, 60, and 90 days count.

We’ll explore what success looks like across four core perspectives:
🎨 Design – How to audit, contribute, and align with vision
🔧 Engineering – Where to start with infra, repo, tooling, and code contributions
📦 Product – How to connect adoption, roadmap, and stakeholder alignment
🧭 Leadership – What to prioritize across visibility, strategy, and team culture

What We'll Explore

  1. Milestones That Matter
    What does “good” look like at 30/60/90 days for each role—and what’s realistic?

  2. Systems Onboarding Frameworks
    Practical templates and guidance to support onboarding journeys in growing systems teams.

  3. Role-Specific Priorities
    How designers, engineers, PMs, and system leads can create traction and reduce friction.

  4. Common Pitfalls & Recovery Tactics
    Lessons learned from real onboarding experiences—what slows people down, and how to reset.

  5. Building Relationships & Influence
    How to establish trust with consuming teams, clarify ownership, and navigate org dynamics early on.

Who Should Join

  • New Team Members joining design systems for the first time

  • Leads & Managers onboarding others into systems teams

  • Ops & Program Managers building onboarding workflows and capability playbooks

  • Cross-Functional Peers (PMs, Eng, QA) collaborating with system teams

Format

  • Live Panel Across Four Perspectives (Design, Eng, Product, Leadership)

  • Role-Based Breakout Discussions

  • Shared FigJam for Milestone Mapping

  • Interactive Q&A + Community Templates Drop

Speakers

  • Wadim van Akkeren

    Product designer • Design systems

  • Michael J. Preston

    CTRL-D Global

    Design Leader | Founder

  • Nuno Simões

    Malwarebytes

    Senior Design System Designer

Organizer

  • Farid Sabitov

    EPAM

    Figma Community Advocate

Contact Us