Establish CMS DesignOps

[EWashb]

Background

As we look to scale the CMS as a platform, we need firm guidelines on how to interact with the CMS Lead Designer and use the CMS design system. We have some basic design guidelines regarding the CMS Design System, however, we want to align ourselves as much with the Platform team as possible. We need to think through how to properly document our designs and guidelines, how to offer support, and what the experimental design process looks like for the CMS. This may also include stricter guidelines on UX writing in the CMS, such as with help text.

Some examples of the Platform Design Team:

VA.gov Design System documentation

Platform Design System Team Github Templates

User Story or Problem Statement

As a CMS Lead Designer, I need firm guidelines for how product teams use and interact with the CMS Design System so I can ensure continuity of the editorial experience for a consistent Veteran-centered outcome.

As a product team building on the CMS, I need straightforward and well-documented steps for how to design new editorial interfaces that meet proper guidelines.

How might we streamline the process and document guidance appropriately so that the CMS editorial experience is consistent and accessible across all products?

Affected users and stakeholders

• CMS editors of all products
• Developers of CMS, Facilities, and Public Websites teams

Helpful Links

CMS design system
CMS Collaboration Cycle

Hypothesis

We believe that establishing a streamlined CMS DesignOps process will achieve lessen the time it takes to build and improve editorial interfaces and provides editors with a cohesive experience to create the best Veteran-facing content that they can. We'll know that to be true when product teams require less hands-on support within sprints from the CMS Design Lead.

Assumptions

• Product teams need more operational support from the CMS Team when designing Drupal products.

Acceptance Criteria

• Documentation is updated and socialized with the product teams.
• Feedback loop is established for product teams to the CMS Team.

Change management triage

Design principles

Veteran-centered

• Single source of truth: Increase reliability and consistency of content on VA.gov by providing a single source of truth.
• Accessible, plain language: Provide guardrails and guidelines to ensure content quality.
• Purposely structured content: Ensure Content API can deliver content whose meaning matches its structure.
• Content lifecycle governance: Produce tools, processes and policies to maintain content quality throughout its lifecycle.

Editor-centered

• Purpose-driven: Create an opportunity to involve the editor community in VA?s mission and content strategy goals.
• Efficient: Remove distractions and create clear, straightforward paths to get the job done.
• Approachable: Offer friendly guidance over authoritative instruction.
• Consistent: Reduce user?s mental load by allowing them to fall back on pattern recognition to complete tasks.
• Empowering: Provide clear information to help editors make decisions about their work.

Runbook

Labels

(You can delete this section once it's complete)

• Issue type (red) (defaults to "Epic")
• CMS subsystem (green)
• CMS practice area (blue)
• CMS workstream (orange)
• CMS-supported product (black)

Team

Please check the team(s) that will do this work.

• CMS Team
• Public Websites
• Facilities
• User support

[MDomngz]

The CMS Design System is currently undergoing a design and accessibility audit to understand the active state and to determine the next steps. Progress on that front can be tracked via ticket #17435

cc:@gracekretschmer-metrostar @EWashb

[MDomngz]

This post-mortem document was shared/discovered that outlines the status of the CMSDS as of Q2 of 2023.

The report's findings are accurately described and confirmed. The next steps are to work with @gracekretschmer-metrostar on how best to proceed from a team-level.