Design system governance brief
Define how design-system work is requested, decided, funded, released, supported, and retired.
Design systems · 45 min · Advanced · 42 questions
Decision rights
Who can propose a system change?
Who owns research for a proposed change?
Who owns its design?
Who owns its implementation?
Who gives final approval to a system change?
Who can retire a system feature?
Intake
What evidence must a system request include?
Which use cases must a request document?
Which consumers must support the request?
Who owns the request?
Why is the request urgent?
Prioritization
How will user impact affect priority?
How will product reach affect priority?
How will risk affect priority?
How will maintenance cost affect priority?
How will delivery effort affect priority?
How will contributor capacity affect priority?
Review
Which design evidence is required for approval?
Which content review is required?
Which accessibility evidence is required?
Which API review is required?
Which performance evidence is required?
Which security review is required?
Releases
How often should system releases be published?
How will releases be versioned?
What must each changelog explain?
Who must hear about a release?
When should consumers receive a preview?
Who can publish an emergency patch?
Deprecation and exceptions
When may a system feature be retired?
Which replacement must exist first?
How long should compatibility support last?
What migration support does governance require before retirement?
What usage threshold allows removal?
How will design-system exceptions be managed?
When should a governance exception expire?
Sustainability
Which roles must the system team include?
Who funds ongoing system work?
Which response times can the team promise?
Where can consumers get support?
Which signals show that the system is healthy?
Where should unresolved conflicts be escalated?
How to use this brief
Use this brief as a bank of questions for the conversation. Choose what is relevant, mark covered questions as you go, and skip anything that has already been answered.
Use this brief when...
Use when you need to define how design-system work is requested, decided, funded, released, supported, and retired.
Best used as: Live call · Async intake
- Category
- Design systems
- Discussion time
- 45 minutes
- Depth
- Advanced
- Last updated
- Jul 21, 2026
- Scope
- Design briefs
- Best used as
- Live callAsync intake
- Design roles
- Design systems designerDesign lead
- Audience
- Design leadsProduct designersUX and UI designers
- Platforms
- Design toolsWebiOSAndroid
- Company type
- B2BB2CEnterprise
- Product stage
- GrowthMature product
- Tags
- design-systemsdesign-system-governancedelivery-and-operationsoperating-modelsystem-governance