Copilot Drafts
One Copilot drafting experience across mobile, tablet, Mac, and web. A framework for staying aligned even while shipping fast.
Across endpoints, the drafting experience didn't fully align. Early on we all moved fast and made our own calls. Going into Drafts v2, we needed alignment but had no clear way to make good decisions. In most cases whatever the larger system said won, which served web and Windows well but not mobile or Mac. No other team was focused on those endpoints then. Outlook was leading, so we had to shape how it got done.
I was the player-coach for the Outlook Mac and mobile endpoints: hands-on in Figma to help steer, while also setting direction and delegating to the team. I identified the alignment problem and worked it through with my manager peer on Copilot, with several ICs designing Drafts itself. Together we built a shared way of working: common components and patterns so one experience held across mobile, tablet, Mac, and web.
“The hard part wasn't consistency. It was consistency while moving fast, with a larger Microsoft design system steering part of the team.”
We shipped the aligned design in 2024. The way of working outlasted the specific screens.
2024