Design Manager

Review playbook

This checklist is what the in-app review uses (see Review brief). You can also use it when reviewing someone else's work.

What a strong reviewer pushes on

  1. 1

    Problem / outcome

    Does the flow solve the stated job? What would you measure to know it worked?

  2. 2

    User mental model

    Will people know where they are, what happens next, and how to recover?

  3. 3

    Information hierarchy

    What is primary vs secondary? Is anything fighting for attention?

  4. 4

    States and edge cases

    Empty, partial, permission denied, slow/offline, validation, irreversible actions.

  5. 5

    Consistency

    Patterns vs one-offs; naming and components vs the rest of the product.

  6. 6

    Accessibility and inclusion

    Contrast, touch targets, motion, copy clarity, localization where relevant.

  7. 7

    Feasibility and scope

    Where engineering or policy might push back; MVP vs phase two.

  8. 8

    Stakeholder narrative

    One tight storyline: tradeoffs, recommendation, and what you need from the room.

What you should get back

  • Top risks — what could make the design fail in review or in the wild
  • Questions your manager may ask — plus what data would answer them
  • Critique tied to screens and flows, not generic tips
  • Optional short manager summary you can reuse