In 2022 and 2023, IBM acquired at least 16 new products specializing in data management, artificial intelligence, and hybrid cloud computing. Integrating these products into the IBM portfolio required adopting the Carbon Design System to ensure a cohesive brand and user experience. Using Carbon guarantees that products meet IBM's high accessibility standards—exceeding WCAG guidelines—which is essential for securing U.S. federal contracts. Furthermore, by reducing redundant design and development work, Carbon significantly cuts costs. One study found that using Carbon made the creation of a simple form page 47% faster to develop versus coding it from scratch.

Due to my experience as a product designer on the Carbon team as well as a strong track record of developing educational content at IBM, I was tasked with designing a 'Carbon migration playbook' and aiding product teams Databand, Polar, Envizi, Instana, and Randori with their migrations, to varying degrees of involvement. I developed a migration playbook and personally implemented it with Databand before scaling it to other teams.

I began my project by interviewing several teams transitioning to Carbon, gathering insights to identify best practices and challenges. My interviews revealed that teams needed clarity on why Carbon is necessary and how it benefits their product. Many teams struggle to audit their existing UI components to determine which have direct Carbon equivalents and which require modification. In fact, several product teams I worked with did not have a design system at all. Additionally, teams must balance Carbon migration with ongoing feature development, ensuring accessibility compliance while also dealing with technical debt and potential re-architecture challenges. Practices that led teams towards migrating to Carbon included:
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- Clear communication early in the acquisition process that Carbon migration is a priority, with a focus on its importance from both user and business perspectives.
- Strong collaboration between project managers, designers, and developers to create a migration plan.
- A designer skilled in quickly mapping Carbon assets to the existing product in Figma, enabling early feasibility discussions with developers.
- A strategy to prioritize migrating smaller components—such as typography, colors, icons, toggles, buttons, text inputs, dropdowns, and page headers—before tackling larger components like the data table in later phases.

I created a website called “Migrate to Carbon”, which guides teams through activities to develop a phased roadmap. The three key activities I designed are: an asset audit, accessibility audit, and migration sizing. The asset audit maps current UI components to Carbon components, while the accessibility audit evaluates compliance and highlights areas for improvement. Migration sizing is used to estimate development effort and plan a phased rollout. Breaking migration into manageable phases helps teams integrate Carbon incrementally while keeping product development on track. Phase 1 focuses on aligning branding elements like fonts, colors, icons, and form elements. Phase 2 emphasizes implementing core and custom components while ensuring accessibility compliance. Finally, Phase 3 refines user experience, implements data visualization, and achieves full accessibility compliance. This structured framework enables teams to adopt Carbon methodically, while customizing their approach according to team capabilities and complexity of the product.

Right after the launch of the migration playbook, IBM acquired Databand, a data observability platform based in Tel Aviv. I introduced myself to the team and presented the value of Carbon, and gained initial buy-in from designers. This introduction also allowed me to learn about the unique features of their product and the release deadlines they were managing.

Databand product did not have a design system in Figma, so I offered to do the component audit. I systematically documented their product's elements, including type tokens, color tokens, icons, and statuses, as well as the majority of their components, and mapped them to Carbon equivalents using the audit templates I had created in the playbook. Along the way, I conducted an accessibility assessment that highlighted both minor and major issues that needed attention. For instance, their product frequently used popovers with interactive elements. A more appropriate solution was to replace these with toggle tips, allowing for improved keyboard navigation and screen reader access. The third activity, migration sizing, required developers from both Databand and Carbon to come together in a workshop, and the result was a clear timeline based on their team size and capabilities. These efforts put the team on track to complete phases 1 of their migration. They are completing phase 2, which involves more complex user flows and addressing components that don't have a Carbon equivalent.

After my collaboration with Databand, I moved on to other projects, and teams had to independently use the migration activities. However, teams were moving at a slower pace than anticipated, and it became evident that having a Carbon expert to guide them through the process would improve time to migration. To further accelerate Carbon adoption, IBM is investing in a dedicated 12-person team in Dublin, Ireland, to perform the tasks I mentioned above. 

Through this work, I developed scalable educational materials for Carbon migration, helped multiple acquisition teams streamline their integration process, improved my expertise in Carbon and product migration strategy, and influenced IBM's decision to expand migration support with a dedicated team.