Designing the source of truth in code

As Product Leaders operating at enterprise scale, we are fundamentally concerned with consistency, speed, and cost. For the last few years, the design tool, primarily Figma, has been the undisputed king of our design workflow. It has organised our teams, accelerated our prototyping, and given us a shared canvas.

Yet, a stubborn problem persists: the hand-off gap.

The cost of this gap is often invisible in the design budget, but it is a silent killer of engineering velocity and product quality. The hours spent by developers translating pixel specifications, questioning component states, or fixing brand misalignment in production dwarf the cost of any design tool subscription. The design file is only a *representation* of the truth; the code is the *product*. This distinction is why our focus must now shift: the design system must be **coded first**.

The strategic imperative: P&L and quality

My role requires me to look beyond the immediate sprint and analyse the long-term cost of operating our products. When we talk about Design Operations, the most significant lever for P&L impact is reducing the friction between design and engineering.

A successful design system is not a library of assets; it is a repository of production-ready, accessible, and tested code components. When the code components are the single source of truth (SSOT), the cost of the “last mile” of design integration is virtually eliminated. This change offers immediate, quantifiable returns:

* **Engineering Efficiency:** Developers no longer build from a static or semi-interactive design spec; they import certified components. This accelerates feature delivery and reduces the quality assurance burden on the front-end team.
* **Brand Integrity:** Every component used is inherently brand-compliant. We eliminate the judgement calls developers have to make during implementation; the system enforces our high standards for user experience and visual integrity.

This is not just about moving from one tool to another; it is a strategic decision to minimise waste and organise our teams around a higher fidelity contract.

The constraint of code: from file to contract

I have always found that **constraint breeds clarity**. In my own creative life, self-imposed rules have often been the catalyst for my most productive periods; the same applies to our product architecture.

By moving the SSOT from the design file to the coded components, we are applying a powerful constraint. The design team can no longer simply sketch an ideal state that is challenging to implement; they are designing *with* the system’s reality. The conversation shifts from, “Can we build this?” to “How do we best compose this with the components we already certify?”.

This forces a disciplined, systematic approach to design. The coded system becomes the final contract, governed by rigorous testing and version control:

1. The design team contributes tokens and design specs.
2. The engineering team builds and tests the components, exposing them via tools like Storybook.
3. The design team then consumes these live, production-ready components back into their Figma files for context and composition, a process often termed “design tooling.”

In this model, the Figma file merely becomes the canvas for assembling certified blocks. The true value and the authoritative reference reside in the code repository.

Decentralising design ownership

This shift also allows us to decentralise design ownership in a safe, scalable way, which is vital in a large-scale enterprise environment.

When the system is robust and coded, product teams across the organisation can confidently build features without constant, slow approval from a central design team. The quality is baked into the component itself. This enables velocity; teams are empowered to move faster, knowing they are structurally and aesthetically compliant.

The DesignOps team’s role evolves from policing compliance to enabling creation; they focus on the stability and evolution of the code base, supporting internal teams with documentation, tooling, and governance.

For Product Leaders, this is the only logical next step. While Figma is a wonderful tool, it is not a production environment. Our strategic imperative must be to bridge the hand-off chasm and reduce the latent cost in our engineering pipeline. By embracing the constraint of code as our SSOT, we are not just organising our design efforts better; we are fundamentally improving our product quality and profitability. The coded design system is the business strategy for the next generation of digital products.