Building design operations at Payfare
At Payfare, we build instant pay applications for gig economy workers, powering financial products such as the Uber Pro Card, Lyft Direct, and DasherDirect. These products allow drivers and delivery workers to access their earnings instantly and provide them with valuable financial tools.
When I joined Payfare as Head of Design, the design team was small and lacked formal leadership or operational structure. Designers were executing in a reactive, tactical way without visibility into the product roadmap. This limited the team’s ability to deliver consistent, strategic design work and it impacted efficiency across product and engineering as well.
I set out to build the foundations of design operations within Payfare: establishing process, scaling systems, and improving cross-functional collaboration.
Uber Pro Card, Lyft Direct, and Dasher Direct mobile apps
The Challenge
The design team faced several critical challenges:
- No design leader: A lead IC and a couple of designers, but no dedicated leadership.
- No defined design process: Work arrived as ad hoc requests from product with little structure.
- Tactical, reactive execution: The team was seen as order-takers, not strategic partners.
- Poor documentation: Product requests were vague and undocumented, causing churn and rework.
This environment led to misalignment, wasted time, and inconsistent product experiences.
My Approach
To address these challenges, I focused on three pillars: process, systems, and people.
1. Establishing Process & Collaboration
Centralized design backlog: Introduced weekly planning and bi-weekly prioritization sessions with product to streamline workflows.
Refined PRD documentation: Improved clarity in handoffs from product to design, reducing misunderstandings and rework.
PRD review process: Established regular reviews with product and engineering, ensuring requirements were aligned before design work began.
UX review process: Implemented walkthroughs with engineering prior to QA, verifying that final builds matched design intent.
2. Building Scalable Systems
Shared component library: Created a unified library with design tokens and themes that supported multiple brand identities, including Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash. This maintained visual consistency while increasing design and development velocity.
File versioning and handoff process: Standardized files into working, handoff, and client-facing versions, and introduced change logs to improve collaboration and reduce errors during handoffs.
3. Supporting People & Growth
Role guidelines: Defined clear structures for goal-setting and career progression for designers.
Improved onboarding: Developed reusable templates and structured processes to help new hires ramp up quickly.
Weekly design critiques: Established a forum for sharing work, receiving feedback, and aligning on design quality. This strengthened collaboration, mentorship, and team culture.
Outcomes
The impact of these initiatives was felt across the design team and the broader product organization:
- Team Growth & Culture: Role guidelines, onboarding, and design critiques created structure, clarity, and a culture of shared learning.
- Efficiency & Clarity: Stronger documentation and earlier collaboration reduced rework and churn.
- Visibility & Alignment: The centralized backlog gave the design team and product clear visibility into priorities.
- Consistency & Scale: The component library enabled consistent, brand-specific designs across partner applications.
Reflections
This experience reinforced that design operations is a strategic enabler, not just support. By introducing clear processes, scalable systems, and structured growth pathways, the design team shifted from reactive execution to a trusted, strategic partner within Payfare.
Some key takeaways:
Process matters, but keep it practical: Simple routines like a centralized backlog and PRD reviews reduced confusion and saved time.
Systems pay off over time: The component library and standardized files made collaboration smoother and designs more consistent.
Small rituals create big impact: Regular design critiques helped the team share knowledge, give feedback, and learn from each other.
Clarity empowers people: Clear roles and goals made it easier for designers to grow and take ownership.
Collaboration is everything: Working closely with product and engineering early avoided misalignment and made our work more effective.
Ultimately, investing in design operations enabled better experiences for users, partners, and the business while empowering the team to grow and succeed. The experience also underscored that good design isn’t just about pixels, it’s about people, process, and alignment.