Design systems fail less often because of bad components than because of bad relationships between the people who build and use them.
Start small
A system with ten trusted components beats one with a hundred that nobody believes in. North OS started with buttons, inputs, type and spacing, and grew only when two projects needed the same thing.
Make ownership visible
Teams adopt a system when they know who to ask and how changes happen.
- Name an owner for every component
- Publish changes in plain language
- Let product teams contribute