Transforming Design Process in Healthcare Company to improve Team Collaboration.
Problem at hand
Design process slowing down project execution. How can we improve it?
My role
Design Lead
My team
2 Designers
Timeline
3 months, 2024
Tools used
Figma, Jira, Confluence
Overview
Great design work isn't just about creativity—it's about process. But different teams have different expectations. My team and I struggled with inconsistent task handovers, missing audit log of changes, unclear feedback loops, and inefficient time management.
We realized that to do our best, we needed a clearly defined workflow. A structured process brings clarity, promotes collaboration, and helps teams stay focused while delivering high-quality results. This case study walks through how we shaped our workflow, all the way from concept to execution.
Identifying the pain points
Without clear task prioritization, structured collaboration, and streamlined handoffs, the team struggles to align efforts, meet deadlines, and maintain quality.
Design updates didn’t stay synced across different sources.
Missed deadlines due to unclear objectives and poorly managed timelines.
Communication gaps among designers, developers, and stakeholders lead to misaligned expectations.
Ineffective handoffs create confusion when transitioning from design to development, causing delays in project execution.
What stood in our way
Bringing people together to work in the same way.
Creating a standardized process to reduce stress and improve teamwork.
Expected results for our mission in action
Streamlining planning and prioritization to keep projects on track.
Ensuring flexibility for seamless task distribution and shifting priorities.
Enabling projects to pause and resume without losing momentum.
Setting clear quality standards for transparency and excellence.
Optimizing workflows to improve efficiency.
From insights to action
Learning from the key players on the team
To understand the real challenges, I needed input from those directly involved. I started by analyzing four groups: Designers, Engineers, Project Managers, and the Design System team. Through workshops, I gathered crucial insights that revealed gaps and opportunities for improvement.
👩🎨 Designers
The first phase focused on the designers' needs. The workshops created an open platform for sharing ideas, challenges, and aspirations. These discussions enabled the team to voice their concerns about the existing workflow and provide input on improvements. This collaborative approach laid the groundwork for fostering a more efficient and harmonious process tailored to the team's creative needs.
👩💼 Project Managers
The next step was working with project managers to set priorities and organize tasks. We split big tasks into smaller parts and looked at where our work overlapped. By staying clear on roles and plans, we created a smooth way to work that kept the planning and balancing of different task loads.
🧑💻 Engineers
For the engineering team, the focus was on improving collaboration during handoffs and ensuring the implementation of the designs. The workshops revealed key pain points, such as miscommunication during transitions and unclear deliverables. By establishing clear documentation and creating a shared understanding of the design process, we ensured that engineers had the resources and context needed to build effectively. This alignment bridged the gap between design and development, promoting smoother collaboration and reducing friction.
🧩 Design System
Finally, we looked at how the design system fits into the workflow. We made sure the new process supported it and encouraged proper use. By clearly placing it in the workflow, we built a system that keeps work consistent, high-quality, and efficient while helping the team use it well.
Everyday work struggles
Before designs take shape in Figma, we set up tasks, PRDs, and documentation in Jira and Confluence. However, gaps in this process often led to miscommunication and frustration across teams.
Here are some examples of where things broke down:
Name prefix
Engineering and design tasks were prefixed with tags indicating whether they were related to Design, Front-End, or Back-End [Design/FE/BE]. However, this tagging system failed to provide an efficient overview of tasks.
Status
The main challenge was handling task states effectively. Designers often work within engineering projects and use status labels meant for engineers. But these labels don’t always fit design tasks, causing confusion, inefficiencies, and miscommunication about progress and needs.
Change log
Logging changes and efficiently sharing information was essential. While some projects move smoothly from start to finish, others face roadblocks and stall at specific phases. Maintaining clear and thorough documentation ensures continuity and keeps teams aligned, even when priorities or focus shift.
Initiative, Epic, Story, Task …
From the start, designers' tasks were added to Jira and Confluence. However, after numerous changes, new tasks, files, releases, and teams, tracking became chaotic. Developers often asked me, "Where are the files? or the design isn’t here!" They referred to the PRD or their task, but the links were outdated and intended only for initial discussions. The final designs were linked and available in the design task or Epik.
How we solved the problem
As a result we defined a process comprising six steps.
Exploration
Ideation
Dev Handoffs
Monitoring development
UAT & Deployment
Follow up
From the designers' side
To assist designers in recalling and verifying the steps, I create detailed checklists that outline each one. These checklists also include additional notes on the requirements for completing each step.
I added the checklists to Figma as smart components so steps could be checked off or notes could be added.
From the side of the project manager and engineers
To ensure the process works for everyone, we have developed a few things to improve it for project managers and engineers.
Task creation
We corrected the process by breaking it into three distinct tasks, ensuring better tracking and smoother team collaboration.
Task 1: Created by the project manager at the start to define the scope and goals. This stage includes Exploration, Ideation, and Handoffs.
Task 2: Created by the designer working on the task to track changes. It's important to document the reason for each update to maintain clarity. This stage includes Monitoring, UAT, and Deployment.
Task 3: Created before release to review progress, document completed work, and plan the next steps. This stage focuses on Follow-up .
Task naming
To make tracking easier and division design and engineers task. We added icons 🐣 аt the beginning of the task name. This simple change helped teams quickly understand where a task was in the process and reduced confusion about ownership and next steps.
Change log
We introduced template notes attached to tasks to create a structured record of key updates, feedback, and decisions. This made it easier to track progress, ensured important details weren’t lost, and improved handovers between team members.
A milestone in design & collaboration
I’m thrilled to see others embracing the process I created. Initially, I was concerned it might go overlooked, but those worries proved baseless. My colleagues quickly embraced the process.
In addition to the enthusiasm I inspired among the designers, the project manager also showed interest in implementing a similar approach for their team, further validating its impact and value.
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