Docs First, AI-Ready Design Systems with Afyia Smith

Afyia Smith talks about her separation from Epic Games and choosing optimism by exploring the city and visiting new coffee shops, even amid anxiety and uncertainty. Afyia explains her work as a design systems documentation specialist, arguing that documentation is becoming foundational, especially with AI and agentic workflows, because it captures rationale, behaviors, edge cases, and shared truth across teams.

Topics:

• (00:00) - Meet Afyia Smith

(00:55) - Coffee Shop Reset (01:56) - Epic Departure Fallout (03:39) - Choosing Optimism Daily (07:27) - Docs Finally Matter (22:21) - Docs as Team Alignment (28:41) - Facilitating with Neutrality (33:24) - From Solo to Collaborative (36:02) - Docs First Humanity (46:58) - Career Reinvention Mindset (54:18) - Music Picks and Memories (01:00:55) - Where to Connect with Afyia Smith

Links:
◉ Michael Jackson — Off the Wall

◉ Michael Jackson — Bad

◉ Michael Jackson — Thriller

◉ Xscape — Who Can I Run To

◉ Lauryn Hill — The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

◉ Michael Jackson biopic (Michael)

◉ afyiasmith.co

◉ LinkedIn — Afyia Smith

◉ ChatGPT

◉ Figma

◉ Storybook

◉ Jira

◉ Google Docs

◉ Epic Games

◉ Tower Records

◉ AI and Design Systems course