Figma to Code: Design Handoff Metrics That Matter
A fintech product team we work with shipped a single 400-line feature four times. The Figma file updated Tuesday. Dev started Wednesday. Design reopened the file Thursday morning to "refine spacing" and again Friday afternoon for "one more micro-interaction." The feature shipped on Monday. The engineer then spent two days fixing visual regressions caught by the PM post-ship. Total time: 7 engineering days. Total net-new code: 400 lines. The handoff killed more than the work.
The "Figma-to-code" conversation is usually about tools — Zeplin, Figma Dev Mode, Locofy, Visual Copilot. None of those fix the actual problem, which is that the design-to-code handoff is a measurement gap hiding in a process gap. We'll define the metrics that actually predict a good handoff, how to measure them without adding overhead, and where the tool choice matters (sometimes) vs doesn't (usually).