verizon
A design operations framework that eliminated tribal knowledge dependency and enabled 100+ designers to execute consistent workflows without human bottlenecks.
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problem
Verizon's Account & Billing design team (40 designers) couldn't find their own work. Files were randomly organized, naming was inconsistent, and inner-file structure was chaotic. Designers relied on tribal knowledge to locate files—if the original creator was OOO, work stalled. Product partners couldn't navigate design files without designer hand-holding. Designers kept multiple tabs open to avoid "losing" work, which hit Chrome's 2GB tab limit and caused crashes.Impact: Slow velocity, partners unable to identify latest designs, explorations getting buried, undue stress, and a system that couldn't onboard new designers effectively. Business goal: → Eliminate information bottlenecks and create a scalable file organization system that worked without human dependency. Success criteria: → Designers can find files without asking the original creator → Product partners can navigate files independently → New designers can onboard without extensive training → Framework scales to other teams across Verizon design org
solution
I led the design and implementation of a 3-tiered Figma organization framework that eliminated tribal knowledge dependency and enabled self-service file discovery. The framework mapped to how designers actually worked rather than forcing rigid compliance.Over 6 months, I interviewed all 40 designers, ran live working sessions to diagnose root causes, designed a flexible 3-tiered system (Team → Projects → Files) with standardized naming and organization, and rolled it out without disrupting active projects. The framework established clear file types (Working, Hand-off, Reference), states (Active, Archived), and inner-file organization standards while allowing designers to adapt it to their workflows.Objective: Transform chaotic file organization into a self-service system that scales across teams without requiring individual designers to become information bottlenecks.
This project existed to solve a simple problem: disorganization and a lack of standards were slowing projects and designers down. I was approached by the director of Verizon's account experience to help solve the yet-to-be-defined problem. What started as an effort to "standardize documentation" revealed a design ops workflow bottleneck.
Discovery:
I interviewed all 40 designers and ran live working sessions to understand how they actually used Figma. My initial approach—create one comprehensive template—failed immediately. Too rigid, too heavy.
The real problems emerged from the sessions: Chrome's 2GB tab limit caused crashes when partners opened large files in the browser. Designers created separate hand-off files because "working" files were too messy for partners. No shared organizational system—everyone had their own approach, creating tribal knowledge dependency.
The problem wasn't missing templates. It was the absence of a shared framework for organizing, naming, and structuring files across 40 people.
Framework:
I built a 3-tiered system that solved the "4:1 fit ratio" problem: our team had 4 conceptual levels (Account → Product Areas → Sub-areas → Scopes) but Figma only has 3 (Team → Projects → Files).
Solution: Use naming conventions to collapse hierarchy intelligently. Team: Account (no complexity). Projects: [Area] - [Sub-area] (e.g., "Authentication - Passkey", "Profile - Groups, Roles, Permissions"). Files: 3 types (Working, Hand-off, Reference) + 2 states (Active, Archived).
Naming convention: [state] - [type] - [initiative]
Inner-file organization: Standardized page sections (Project Overview, Latest Designs, Explorations, Design Releases, Archive) and canvas layouts so partners could navigate without designer guidance.
Key decision: Made it flexible. Designers could adapt the framework to their workflow rather than forcing rigid compliance. Some wanted ACT# in filenames—framework allowed it.
Rollout:
"Thoughtful consolidation": Whichever file had the most partner traffic became the "home base." Everything else migrated into it. This preserved partner bookmarks while consolidating scattered work.
Enablement without disruption: Created documentation and video tutorials, offered live implementation sessions, made it optional during active sprints—designers migrated during natural lulls.
Within 3 months, the team had indexed folders, standardized naming, and established inner-file organization that partners could navigate independently.
Impact:
Organizational transformation (Q4 2023 - Q1 2024): Random folders → Indexed by product area. Inconsistent naming → 3 file types, 2 states, clear conventions. Chaotic inner files → Standardized sections/pages/layouts. Tribal knowledge → Self-service discovery.
Adoption beyond core team: 3 additional teams (~60-80 designers) adopted framework. Became guiding principles across division. Influenced dev handoff and cross-team project coordination.
Strategic elevation: Division director brought me in to advise team leads. Became strategic advisor for Figma optimization and cross-functional workflows. Created org-wide guidance materials.
Designer feedback: Multiple designers said they'd seen this problem everywhere and never seen it solved. Several suggested I publish it publicly.
see also
