Shaun Bent
@shaunbent.co.uk
👋 Engineering Leader working with Design Systems & Accessibility ⏮️ ex-Spotify & ex-BBC 🐝 Living in Manchester 🐶 I own a pug, he's old
Scrum is nonsense that belongs in the bin. 🗑️
Frontend Dogma@frontenddogma.com · last wk.Scrum Isn’t for Stormtroopers, by (not on Mastodon or Bluesky): https://www.scrum.org/resources/blog/scrum-isnt-stormtroopers?ref=frontenddogma.com #scrum #agile #engineeringmanagement #productmanagement #concepts
In Katie's words: Please share if you think Greens should be doing better 💚 @bhgreens.bsky.social @greenparty.org.uk @zackpolanski.bsky.social
Katie Fenn@katiefenn.bsky.social · 2mo agoThe House of Commons yesterday debated the laying of the EHRC code of practice. Functionally, it didn’t do very much, there was no opportunity to dis-apply it, but it was an important opportunity to get oppositional voices into the media and build awareness. No Green MPs turned up.
Hi BlueSky pals 📣 Having just completed a fun project with the folks at Clearleft, I’m on the lookout for my next project. I’m open to part-time or full-time contracts outside IR35 and I can help you with: - design systems consultancy & management - content design - design systems documentation
Testimonials
Content design and design systems consultant
amyhupe.co.uk
A friend coming to visit me in Manchester today has just gotten off her train two stops early and is walking because she felt uncomfortable on the train with a racist guy shouting about immigrants being invaders and getting arrested for attacking travellers. Grim. 🤢
Introduce yourself with ten bands you’ve seen live City & Colour Foo Fighters Oasis Fall Out Boy Hot Milk Kids in Glass Houses Enter Shikari A Day to Remember Lady Gaga Elton John
Guy Segal@guysegal.com · 3mo agoIntroduce yourself with ten bands you’ve seen live Sonic Youth Viagra Boys The Breeders They Might Be Giants Butthole Surfers Sigur Ros Neutral Milk Hotel Pom Poko Guided by Voices The Bug Club
Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, DC, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Spielberg, Cameron, Wachowskis, or Ghibli.
a man with long hair says put the bunny in front of a danger sign
Alt: a man with long hair says put the bunny in front of a danger sign
media.tenor.com
Guy Segal@guysegal.com · 3mo agoFilm you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, DC, Marvel, Disney, Pixar, Spielberg, Cameron, Wachowskis, or Ghibli.
Design handoff belongs in the bin. Not improved, made irrelevant. 🗑️ It's a waterfall relic we've normalised as best practice. I wrote about what the alternative looks like and how to get there. 🔗 bit.ly/4e4Blae
Design handoff belongs in the bin
Improving the handoff process is a worthy goal, but it's the wrong one. The goal should be to make handoff irrelevant entirely, and here's how you get there.
bit.ly
Just an hour left to get your answers in for The Question Episode 072: bit.ly/answerTheQue... We're talking about Extreme #designsystem Support!
The Question is a weekly conversation for anyone seriously interested in Design Systems.
Each Monday, you’ll receive an email from me with a design system related question. You’ll have 48 hours to answer. If you choose to do so, you’ll receive an invite to the deep dive on Thursday (or Fr...
bit.ly
Seriously. Every message in a channel is not a personal message to you that requires a response. 🤦♂️
Shaun Bent@shaunbent.co.uk · 6mo agoEvery company has that one person who it seems like all they do is sit on Slack all day, instantly responding to everything and seems to be in every channel and conversation. 🙈
It’s that time again - I’m on the hunt for new clients from the beginning of April. I’m open to full or part-time contracts outside IR35. I can help you with: - design system consultancy, coaching, management or documentation - content design - UX writing - technical writing 1/2
Hello.
Content design and design systems consultant
amyhupe.co.uk
Design systems are platform problems, not feature problems. Operating within a feature organisation can push design system teams from macro thinking to micro thinking. That misalignment compounds until the system stops functioning as a platform. www.shaunbent.co.uk/blog/design-...
Design systems are platform problems, not feature problems
Where you put your design system team with your organisation determines how they think, what they build, and whether the system stays a platform or the teams become a UI feature factory.
shaunbent.co.uk
This is going to be a great episode of “24 hours in Police custody”!
The Guardian@theguardian.com · 6mo agoAndrew Mountbatten-Windsor arrested at Sandringham home
Every company has that one person who it seems like all they do is sit on Slack all day, instantly responding to everything and seems to be in every channel and conversation. 🙈
Sometimes decisions are made for you. Everyone knows they're wrong, but you can't change them, and as a leader, you have to guide your team through it. I wrote a story of layoffs, reorgs, and bad decisions. How I led my team through it, and what I learnt. www.shaunbent.co.uk/blog/when-th...
When the Decision Is Made, and You Can't Change It
Sometimes decisions are made for you. They're clearly wrong, and you can't change them. This is about how you lead anyway.
shaunbent.co.uk
"...an engineer at Spotify on their morning commute...can tell Claude to fix a bug...all before they even arrive at the office." This isn't the win you think it is. 🤦♂️ It's normalising work on personal time, eroding boundaries, and celebrating always-on culture as innovation.
TechCrunch@techcrunch.com · 6mo agoSpotify credits Claude Code and its internal AI system Honk with speeding up development.
I shared some thoughts on handling breaking changes in design systems for @zeroheight.com. A bunch of lessons learnt from my time leading design systems at Spotify.
Oliver Lindberg@oliverlindberg.com · 6mo agoHow do you approach breaking changes in a design system without causing chaos? 🤔 In this post, @shaunbent.co.uk covers 7 elements he found most valuable when building a strategy around breaking changes, sharing lessons from leading #designsystems at Spotify. Read it on the @zeroheight.com blog:
Just @lucympowell.bsky.social talking about Labour and the Gorton and Denton by-election but disabling comments and quote reposts. It’s almost like Labour wants to avoid a debate and discussion. 👎 The complete opposite approach to the engagement you get from @zackpolanski.bsky.social 💚
My book, Accessibility For Everyone, is now free and online as a website. accessibilityforeveryone.site The book was first published by A Book Apart in 2017 but it holds up! It covers web accessibility for designers, developers, content folks, and really everyone who works in tech.
Accessibility For Everyone by Laura Kalbag
Read the book online for free.
accessibilityforeveryone.site
Would you like to work with me? 👋🏻 I’m currently helping to strengthen the existing design systems team at Kesko and we’re looking for a nice & talented designer/developer to join us. arielsalminen.com/2026/hiring-...
Hiring a Design Engineer for Kesko Design System
Hi 👋🏻, I’m Arielle, a Design Systems Architect working with Kesko. I’m currently helping to strengthen the existing design systems team in the organization and we’re looking for an experienced Design ...
arielsalminen.com
Why are we hiring so many designers? I analysed 256 design system roles. The ratio of designers to engineers was telling. In my last team, we deliberately ran the inverse. If the biggest value comes from code, are we building design systems or just designing them?
Is There Too Much Design in Design Systems?
Why are we hiring so many designers? Most design system roles are design-focused, but the biggest value comes from code. Are we building design systems, or just designing them?
shaunbent.co.uk
If you're still on X: why? I had 270,000 followers when I closed my account. But all I lost was 200,000 bots and trolls. The real people — the funny, the decent, the smart, the interesting — are already here. They'll find you. Leave X. Just do it. It's personal, political and societal poison.
Otto English@ottoenglish.bsky.social · 7mo agoLeave X to the bigots and the perverts and the trolls. www.bbc.com/news/article...
In design systems, change is the only constant. And thinking ahead to life after the release of our first components can positively impact how we start. Check out @hereinthehive.bsky.social's article for the @zeroheight.com blog: zeroheight.com/blog/design-...
Design system change management: Change is the only constant - zeroheight
Dan Donald provides practical guidance for managing change in design systems — triage, naming, workflows, and communication.
zeroheight.com
A few years back, I nearly wrote "The Fallacy of Federated Design Systems." Then @nathanacurtis.bsky.social beat me to it. But what happens when you try it anyway? At Spotify, I watched federated fail twice, resulting in a huge number of barely reused components and damaged trust in design systems.
Why Federated Design Systems Keep Failing
Why do federated design systems keep failing? I watched it happen twice at Spotify. Here's what actually happened, where they broke down, and why centralised models usually work better.
shaunbent.co.uk
A director once showed a prototype they’d made in Figma Make and then with all seriousness told me: “I think we can reduce our engineering team by 50%” 🤡 (I laughed out loud in response)
Jason Gorman@jasongorman.bsky.social · last yr.AI won't replace you. An executive who doesn't understand AI or your job will.
Super toxic leadership stuff. 🗑️ My last place was very much leaning into this monitoring AI usage. 🤢
Syntax@syntax.fm · 9mo ago"CJ I'm getting a little concerned, I noticed that your AI usage is hovering around 5%" - @tolin.ski
The problem with going to an airport lounge in the UK is that it’s full of Tories. 🗑️
