This article describes a team activity that a design system lead can use to help a small team start planning and prioritizing the development of a new design system. The activity involves two stages completed over about an hour:

In the first stage, each team member identifies and prioritizes the key “parts” or elements of a design system, like visual language, components, patterns, etc. They indicate which parts are most important to focus on first. 

In the second stage, the team analyzes their priorities and discusses which products they will build the system for first, and which key people from various roles need to be involved. They identify flagship vs. secondary products and core vs. peripheral team members.

The goal is to help the team reach a shared understanding of scope and priorities early on through a structured yet casual discussion. It provides useful input for a design system strategy while also surfacing differences in perspectives.