YOUR DESIGN SYSTEM NEEDS AN ENFORCER

Summary from the TLDR Design newsletter

Design systems require an enforcer—someone who ensures teams actually use the system, integrates new patterns back into it, and mediates conflicting needs across teams. Without enforcement, small deviations compound quickly as teams optimize for their local goals, creating inconsistent experiences that confuse users and burden engineers with unmaintainable variations. Effective enforcement balances saying yes to changes that benefit multiple teams while rejecting one-off exceptions, requiring executive support, strategic review timing, and responsiveness to real needs over system purity.