Mehdi Belkacemfullstack dev · 2w ago
Three engineers, one designer, shipping a B2B dashboard. CTO wants a "proper design system." Designer wants "shadcn + tokens." I want to ship features. Who's right?
#design-system#frontend
Do I actually need a design system at 3 engineers?
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2 replies
- 9Yasmine Rahmanidesign lead@yasmine-r · 2w ago
Designer here. "Design system" at 3 engineers is the wrong frame. What you need: a tokens file, ~8 primitive components, and a one-page rule sheet for spacing/type. That's 2 days of work and pays back in week 3. Anything beyond that — Storybook, contribution guidelines, docs site — is debt you can't afford.
- 0ReplyTariq Ould-Alidata scientist@tariq-oa · 2w ago
What Yasmine said. Also: pick the boring choice that lets you delete it later. Tokens + shadcn is reversible; a custom-built system is a tattoo.