Revitalizing UX at Simpson Strong-Tie: The STUDS Design System

Task

My role was to strategically relaunch and stabilize the STUDS Design System, close skill gaps across the teams, and implement operational processes to elevate the UX practice. Additionally, I aimed to foster a culture of continuous learning, collaboration, and strategic alignment to support the company's ambitious 2030 business goals.

Action

• Stakeholder Engagement & Strategy Alignment: Conducted comprehensive listening tours with product teams and stakeholders to understand goals, constraints, and success metrics. I developed a design system strategy for STUDS that aligned with Simpson Strong-Tie's digital transformation and modernization initiatives.
• Operational Excellence & DesignOps: Took operational leadership of STUDS' day-to-day design, development, Agile ceremonies introducing clear communication practices (weekly Loom videos and sprint reviews) to improve team consistency and quality. Contributed to the broader UX organization by creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), collaborated on restructuring weekly design reviews to improve transparency and cross-team alignment.
• Operational Excellence & DesignOps: Took operational leadership of STUDS' day-to-day design, development, and Agile ceremonies, introducing clear communication practices such as weekly Loom videos and sprint reviews to enhance team consistency and output quality. Additionally, contributed to the broader UX organization by creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and collaborating on restructuring weekly design reviews to boost transparency and collaboration, and cross-team alignment.
• Technical Leadership & Execution: Led key technical initiatives, including parallel development of React and Blazor component libraries to ensure cross-platform consistency. Contributed to shaping the Simpson Strong-Tie UX Organization's 2030 strategic vision. Transitioned the design system to a more digital-friendly typeface (Helvetica Now) to address usability issues, and implemented a robust design token strategy for improved efficiency in design-to-development workflows.
• Team Mentorship & Growth: Mentored the design team in systems thinking, accessibility compliance, and visual design excellence, empowering them to independently produce high-quality, user-centered designs. Initiated ongoing UX education initiatives, such as team-wide UX book clubs and training sessions.

Result

• Successful Relaunch and Adoption: Relaunched and stabilized the STUDS Design System, achieving widespread internal adoption across multiple product teams.
• Increased Efficiency & Collaboration: Reduced design-development handoff friction significantly, enhancing overall productivity and accelerating product delivery timelines.
• Strategic Impact & Team Influence: Elevated the UX team's strategic visibility within Simpson Strong-Tie, directly contributing to the 2030 digital solutions strategy aimed at increasing Annual Recurring Revenue by hundreds of millions.
• Team Development & Maturity: Improved the team's overall design capability and strategic thinking, demonstrated by enhanced quality and independence in their project outcomes.

This approach not only addressed immediate UX challenges but laid a solid foundation for sustained innovation and strategic growth aligned with Simpson Strong-Tie's long-term business vision.