How to sync small design changes in the design team?

Question

We are a team of 4-5 product designers with 5 product managers. We have a proper design system & central design repository to keep everything in sync.

But the problem comes when sometimes some small changes done by the PM/designer goes live which I don't know & it's not updated in the design folder.

How to solve this type of problem in the organization?

Answer 1

We have a proper design system & central design repository to keep everything in sync.

Your design library is great and is proper practice but doesn't indicate changes made, you need a system for this (which ill explain further on in this post). A common google folder is great but needs to be managed in terms of files and versions.

But the problem comes when sometimes some small changes done by the PM/designer

Out of curiosity, how is this working? PMs shouldnt really be involved in the design changes, they only provide the requirements of what is needed. It is for the design team to decide on the best solution, test, and put live.

goes live which I don't know & it's not updated in the design folder.

There are a few things to help fix this this that I do with my design team:

1. Look at version control software for design. Abstract is basically the git hub for designers. You have 1 centralised file and create branches, only when the branch is signed off and put live can it be merged, the merge/main file is an accurate representation of what is live. It also works on things like commit messages and notes so you can see what has been done and who has worked on it and it starts to build a history. I'd recommend doing one of their webinars to see how to use it to its maximum potential. (worth noting im not plugging it, its what we use and I find it highly effective).
2. Morning team stand ups help you and your team aware of who is working on what, what potential changes are going to occur and gives everyone (especially you) an overview of whats going on in the team and what stage its at.
3. JIRA dashboards of your team. Allows you to see team breakdowns of tasks and what youre working on in a dashboard so you can take a look at each team members tasks as and when you want to.
4. Zeplin (f you dont use it already). Is a way of sharing and collaborating on work with developers, designers and stakeholders. Have the team always invite each other to the projects they are working on so you can look at them and collaborate with them, even if youre not on that project.
5. Goes without saying, good communication, talk to each other, hold weekly meetings that let the team openly discuss any issues, whats going on, anything interesting they want to show. This helps build up openness and communication in the team.

It is vital that you all have an overview of what everyone is working on. If one designer is off/leaves/ or needs to take a surprise long leave of absence another of the team can easily pick up what they are working on as easily as possible.

All this will open up the transparency in the team and give a better overview and communication of what everyone is working/worked on as well as keeping your files consistent. And hopefully make you all aware of whats going on in the team.