Where's Dave?

"We need the visual assets for the client campaign."
"Can't do it."
"Why not?"
"The automation runs locally on Dave's laptop."
"So get Dave to run it."
"Dave was laid off two months ago."

You probably have a Dave story too.

The tool, the automation, the template generator - whatever it was - worked brilliantly. Everyone used it. Nobody documented it. Nobody owned it. And then Dave left.

This is the part often skipped when we talk about designers building internal tools. The building is the exciting part. A custom template generator, a brand guardrail bot, a research automation workflow - these can genuinely change how a team operates. Making sure it survives beyond the person who built it is the part that actually matters.

When it works correctly, the impact can be significant. An automated template system that previously required hours of designer time per request can turn a full day's work into twenty seconds. Volume scales without headcount. The team that used to wait days for deliverables starts getting them before lunch.

But only if someone owns it after it's built. Documents it. Maintains it when Figma updates break the plugin or the API changes. Decides who has access and how it gets updated. Otherwise you're one departure away from a very uncomfortable phone call with Dave.