Case Study · Cross-Functional Initiative

The IPD Playbook

Turning a documentation gap that was hindering revenue into a maintained, cross-functional design framework — led end to end, from agency relationship to implementation.

RoleInitiative Lead — end to end
Timeline2024–ongoing
PartnersEngineering · Product · Lifecycle · Agency

The problem

In-product discovery (IPD) surfaces are some of the highest-leverage real estate a product has: the moments where the product itself speaks to the customer. At Mailchimp, these patterns were integral to driving revenue. But the knowledge of how to design for them lived in fragments — in people's heads, in agency relationships, in one-off threads.

There was no shared playbook. And the absence of one wasn't just an inconvenience. It was a documentation gap actively hindering revenue, because teams couldn't consistently and confidently design for the surfaces that converted.

BEFORE AFTER ENGINEERING DESIGN PRODUCT IPD PLAYBOOK OUTDATED · INACCURATE MARKETING LIFECYCLE REVENUE hindered ENGINEERING DESIGN PRODUCT propose align execute maintain IPD PLAYBOOK MARKETING LIFECYCLE REVENUE aligned
The problem and the fix: an outdated playbook fed misalignment downstream to revenue teams. The rebuilt playbook runs on a maintenance loop.

My role: end to end

  1. The relationship. I established and managed the external agency partnership that gave us the development capacity to make the playbook real.
  2. The proposal. I authored the cross-functional partnership proposal between Lifecycle Creative and C1 Communications, formalizing objectives, scope, and shared ownership.
  3. The framework. I ran the working sessions — FigJam group discussions, the IPD Matrix exercises — that turned scattered institutional knowledge into a structured pattern library.
  4. The execution. From proof of concept through QA to publication, I drove the IPD Pattern Library into the Mailchimp Design System.
  5. The implementation. Playbook launched, teams onboarded. I continue to author and maintain it today as part of my Design Enablement role.
handoff specs requirements campaign briefs workflows partnership DESIGN ENGINEERING PRODUCT LIFECYCLE MARKETING MARKETING OPERATIONS EXTERNAL AGENCY IPD PLAYBOOK SINGLE SOURCE OF TRUTH
Six functions, one source of truth: what flows through the playbook.

The approach

The proposal set four objectives, and they doubled as my definition of success:

  • Launch a foundational IPD playbook — a framework integral to revenue generation, built so multiple teams could grasp its functionality and apply it effectively
  • Foster cross-functional communication — streamlined, transparent channels between creative, engineering, and product
  • Ensure project roadmap alignment — synchronized dependencies, timelines, and priorities
  • Maximize resource efficiency — shared assets and talent, deployed without duplication

The scope was deliberately phased: content development first, then ongoing design sprints, then a maintenance model — because a playbook that isn't maintained is just a PDF.

The outcome

The playbook closed the documentation gap, restored alignment across engineering, product, and lifecycle teams, and gave revenue-driving IPD surfaces a consistent design language. It now lives in the design system as a maintained, evolving resource — not a one-time deliverable.

The hardest design problems are rarely visual. This one was relational and organizational: getting three functions and an agency to share one source of truth. Design enablement, at its core, is building the thing that lets everyone else build.
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