We don't have a design team and an engineering team. We have pods, and the designer sits inside the pod.
Why this is hard
Most agencies fail at this because designers and engineers communicate in different artifacts. The handoff is the bug. We removed the handoff.
- Designers branch and PR like engineers, in Figma.
- Engineers read Figma like they read code.
- Every Figma frame has a target component name in the design system.
What changes
Designers get faster, because their decisions are visible in code within a sprint. Engineers get slower, briefly, while they learn to read Figma like a spec. Net: we ship two to three weeks faster on every six-week engagement.