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A great design system workshop isn’t about slides. It’s about shared understanding.
The mistake most teams make
They treat workshops like mini conferences:
Decks. Demos. Maybe a Q&A at the end.
But the best workshops are working sessions. Where people learn by doing, not just watching.
My workshop recipe
Start with goals. What pain are people feeling? What decisions need to be made?
Build something together. Review and rebuild a real component with input from both design and dev.
Surface disagreement. Find where people don’t align. Name it.
End with actions. What’s decided? What needs a follow-up? Who owns what?
Bonus: Capture the friction
Workshops are gold mines for uncovering real blockers:
“Why can’t I override this prop?”
“We always fork the tooltip because of X.”
Document those. They shape your backlog better than any survey.
Workshops don’t have to be perfect. But they do have to feel productive.
Less presenting. More collaborating. And bring cake for celebrating.
