How to transition your design work to someone else
This guide aims to boost the ground running of your successor and allow you to continue the product design process on the project without bumps.
Generally speaking, the transition is all about empathy and training. Therefore, you should understand what information you need to pass to keep things running and check if the successor understands it right.
Before transition
It’s time to clean things up and make hands dirty to run the process smoothly. Please consider that it can take more time than expected if you have kept the source document in a state of personal chaos until this moment.
Source file
- All artboards should have a name that describes the state of the mockup. i. e., have descriptive design naming convention
- All colors and fonts should have styles applied. Style organizer may help
- Delete hidden layers, unused concepts, and variations. Remove or decrease the size of heavy images and moodboards
- Clean deprecated components and styles
- Digitize the design principles that guided you during the process
Other documentation
- Collect and catalog all research documents that aren’t obsolete
- Use Design Thinking steps as a base to IA (Research, Model, Ideate, Prototype, Test)
- Keep the number of documents just enough. You don’t want to scare your successor and leave the documents unopened
Stakeholders
- Prepare stakeholder map of the project
- Prepare a document with a list of stakeholders and quick tips on the way to work with them.
During transition
Setup several 1.5-hour introduction calls. It’s hard to keep concentrated longer and to recall the information the next day.
Product
- Tell your successor about the product, what stage it is on, what jobs-to-be-done it covers
- Describe the target and current audience
- Sign the successor up into the product if possible and show the typical user flows
- Introduce the current models (personas, customer journeys, value proposition, etc.)
- Dive a bit into the history of product development and why the product is what it is
- Present the product roadmap if possible and the things your team has planned to start developing next
- Present the research docs structure and let the successor dive into them by himself
- Mention what you find in this project inspiring and challenging.
Source file
- Start with the main flows going from page to page
- If you can, dive into the history of decision making and tell why you have made the decision and what constraints lead to it
- Show principles, rules, and approaches applied to UI design. Talk about common interaction patterns
- Present naming conventions
- Review the cases of using each symbol
Stakeholders
- Help to arrange the meeting with all stakeholders. Talk about their formal roles
- Present the stakeholder map with the list
- Talk about communication styles that worked with different stakeholders and how to present design solutions to decision-makers
- Show how the ways the design is transferred to developers
- If you know, introduce tricks and techniques to persuade the stakeholders.
Training
Make a copy of the working file and pass it to the successor. Next, assign him a small task that you have a plan to design, and current conditions are clear to start doing it now. The task should test:
- Knowledge of components Understanding the style and naming conventions
- Ability to understand design principles and style to create some new elements
- Check the result and repeat several times if you can.
After the transition
The time has come your design is ready for the new adventure hand-to-hand with your successor. Your role right now is to give feedback and help the ground running.
- Keep the connection with the successor at least the first month after the transition
- Setup design review sessions twice per week
- Stay connected on a mutually comfortable communication tool.
I hope you’ve found this guide useful. If you have something to add, feel free to add your suggestions in the comments.
Oleksandr Valius — I’m a father, teacher, designer, birder and book worm who wants to bring the order to the world
