Feature Team Reviews

Design reviews are a crucial and more formal part of the design process to share design solutions with the rest of the team responsible for implementation. Reviews are used to ensure the necessary stakeholders are in the loop and feedback is continuous. It’s the responsibility of the designer to make sure that reviews happen on all features. The format and cadence of the reviews depends on the feature and the team.

Involve relevant stakeholders

Typically, the stakeholders involved in new feature design are a subset of people from the immediate feature team that owns the area your new feature belongs to. In some cases, for smaller projects, a Product Manager (PM), Engineering Lead from the feature team will be enough. In the case of larger feature proposals, you may need to involve the entire feature team to get all necessary feedback.

Synchronous reviews

Typically, the first review of a feature is best done in a synchronous format over Zoom or a Mattermost Call. It is usually beneficial to walk the team through the proposed solution—ideally in a clickable prototype.

• Walkthrough the solution and hold questions until the end

• Go around the room with various stakeholders and capture feedback as comments in Figma on the relevant screens

• Ensure all voices have an opportunity to ask questions or share their feedback

• Summarize feedback after the call and share a link to the Figma file to capture further feedback asynchronously.

Asynchronous reviews

In the case of a small feature improvement or in the case of a subsequent follow-up review for a larger feature, async reviews are sufficient. This can be done through a post in the team channel, through a Loom walkthrough or in the Spec Reviews channel (see Spec Reviews page for more).