As your design system grows, so does the complexity of keeping it consistent, useful, and trustworthy. What starts as a small shared library of components can quickly evolve into a sprawling set of tokens, patterns, templates, documentation, and tooling—used across multiple teams, projects, and platforms.
That’s where governance comes in.
Design system governance is not just about rules—it’s about structure, communication, and collaboration. It’s what keeps your system from becoming a mess of overlapping components, undocumented decisions, and conflicting styles. In this article, we’ll explore what governance means in a design system, the different models teams use, and the practices that help scale your system without losing its core.
What Is Governance in a Design System?
Governance refers to the frameworks, roles, and processes that help manage how your design system evolves. It defines:
- Who owns what
- How changes are made
- What standards to follow
- How contributions are reviewed
- How users engage with the system
It’s about ensuring the right people are making the right decisions at the right time—with transparency and accountability.
Why Governance Matters
Without governance, design systems can easily become:
- Inconsistent – Different teams build their own variations of the same button or card.
- Outdated – Nobody knows what’s current, what’s deprecated, or what’s safe to use.
- Siloed – Content authors, developers, and designers work in isolation, duplicating effort.
- Hard to trust – People avoid using the system because they don’t know if it’s reliable.
Governance solves these problems by providing clarity, structure, and a shared process for decision-making.
Governance Models: Centralised, Federated, and Hybrid
Different teams govern their systems in different ways depending on their size, maturity, and culture. Here are the most common models:
1. Centralised Governance
In this model, a dedicated design system team owns everything—from design decisions to code changes and documentation. They review all contributions and make the final call on what gets added.
Pros:
- Strong consistency and quality
- Clear accountability
- Easier onboarding for new users
Cons:
- Can become a bottleneck
- Limits broader team engagement
2. Federated Governance
Ownership is distributed across teams. Designers, devs, and PMs from various product teams contribute to and maintain parts of the system.
Pros:
- More scalable
- Promotes collaboration
- Encourages shared ownership
Cons:
- Risk of inconsistency
- Needs strong documentation and standards
- Decision-making can get political
3. Hybrid Governance
A mix of both: the core design system team sets direction, builds foundational components, and reviews major changes—while product teams contribute under clear guidelines.
This is the most common model in mature systems.
Key Governance Roles
Governance works best when responsibilities are clear. Common roles include:
| Role | Responsibilities |
|---|---|
| System Maintainers | Manage the system roadmap, review contributions, maintain code and docs |
| Contributors | Suggest or build new components, raise bugs or ideas |
| Adopters | Use the system in products, give feedback, raise issues |
| Advisors | Provide accessibility, branding, or technical guidance |
Each role should have clearly defined permissions and processes.
Governance in Practice: What You Need to Put in Place
Here’s what strong governance looks like in day-to-day operations:
✅ A Contribution Model
Document:
- Who can propose changes
- How to raise a request (e.g., GitHub issue template, design proposal)
- How decisions are made
- What review steps are required
Example: A new table component proposal might need input from accessibility advisors, review by the design lead, and sign-off from the code maintainer.
✅ Component Lifecycle
Define stages like:
- Draft → In Review → Beta → Released → Deprecated
Make it easy for users to see the current status of every component.
✅ Versioning Strategy
Use semantic versioning (semver) to track changes:
- MAJOR = Breaking changes
- MINOR = New features
- PATCH = Fixes
Let teams know what’s safe to upgrade—and when.
✅ Governance Documentation
Create a governance guide in your design system site that explains:
- How decisions are made
- How to contribute
- Who to contact
- Where to give feedback
Good governance is transparent.
Tools and Workflows That Support Governance
Technology can help enforce governance and automate parts of it:
- Design Tools (Figma, Sketch): Use libraries with locked styles, shared naming conventions, and version control
- Version Control (Git, GitHub): Use pull requests, code reviews, changelogs, and release notes
- Component Libraries (Storybook, Zeroheight): Document states, accessibility, usage guidelines
- Feedback Channels (Slack, Teams, Forms): Provide clear ways for users to request changes or report issues
- Dashboards: Visualise usage stats, adoption, feedback trends
Governance should feel like an enabler—not a blocker.
Real-World Scenarios: When Governance Saves the Day
Scenario 1: The Rogue Component
A team builds a custom date picker because “the system didn’t have one.” But it fails accessibility tests and looks different across platforms. With governance in place, this team would have:
- Checked the roadmap to see if it’s in progress
- Proposed the new component via the contribution model
- Collaborated with others to design and build it the right way
Scenario 2: The Breaking Change
A developer updates the button component’s spacing—but didn’t realise it was used on 50+ pages across 10 products. A strong governance process would require:
- Change request with impact assessment
- Review by system maintainers
- Clear versioning and release notes
- Communication plan to downstream teams
How to Start or Improve Governance in Your Design System
Whether you’re starting fresh or retrofitting an existing system, here’s how to build governance that works:
- Define Roles
Start with: Who owns what? Who decides? Who contributes? - Document the Process
Even a simple GitHub README explaining how to request a change is a start. - Start Small
Don’t try to govern everything at once. Start with high-impact components or decisions. - Make It Visible
Publish your governance model on your design system site or docs. - Be Open to Feedback
Governance should evolve as your system grows. Make it collaborative.
Good Governance Builds Trust
When governance is working, your design system becomes more than a set of components—it becomes a reliable platform for teams to build better, faster, and more consistently.
It helps people:
- Trust the system
- Contribute with confidence
- Understand decisions
- Focus on solving problems, not reinventing styles
At scale, governance is what keeps your system useful—not just usable.