Our product has grown to 10 teams and the interface feels inconsistent. How would you fix this?
What the interviewer wants to hear
- Audit the current UI to find the biggest inconsistencies
- Build or improve a design system with tokens and coded components
- Set governance: owners, contribution model, reviews
- Roll out gradually, measure adoption, support teams
Model answer
I would start with an interface audit: screenshot key flows across all teams and group similar components to show how many versions of buttons, forms and modals exist. This makes the problem visible to leaders. Next I would work with engineering to build or improve a design system, starting with tokens and the most used components, built in code so teams can drop them in. Governance is as important as the components. I would set clear owners, a contribution model where teams can propose new patterns, design reviews for big changes, and good documentation. Rollout should be gradual, starting with new work and high-traffic screens. I would track adoption, such as the share of screens using system components, and regularly ask teams what blocks them. Consistency comes from making the right way the easy way.
Can you answer it under time pressure?
Take a timed hard round and get scored on every answer.
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