Table of contents
Belka’s Let’s Talk Handoff brought together 34 leaders in design, CX, product, and tech at Talent Garden Isola in Milan for roundtable discussions and a networking aperitivo.
Joining us at the table were Avanade, Moleskine, AKQA, Sky Italia, Frog, Edenred, Aryel, Wefox, and more, with Sara Gandini, Head of CX at Mooney, as our live case study.
Spoilers: We discovered that handoff isn’t broken because of missing files, it’s broken because of missing alignment.
Here are the key insights.

Don’t blame your tools
When no one owns the handoff between design and development, the whole system drifts. No one knows which specs are final, or if they’re aligned with production.
The specs aren’t the problem - you are.
Takeaway: Handoff is an accountability thing, not a tooling one.
Lost in translation
We’re speaking different languages.
Design talks about polished layouts. Devs say “it can’t be done.” No one explains why.
Nothing works without a culture of feedback and expectation-setting. A quick call at the start often beats a perfect handoff doc at the end.
Opportunity: Involve dev early to get the conversation started. Feedback is a language both design and dev should learn.
Internal teams thrive
In-house teams improvise better. They share Slack threads, hallway chats, and context.
Outsourced and distributed teams get a file and a deadline. Context is gone. Friction goes up.
Giulio's thoughts
“The real challenge isn’t skills. It’s coordination. When I look at our team, I don’t see a lack of talent. I see smart, capable people. Maybe we don’t really need to add more people. We just need to work better together.
So here’s the question we should be asking: How do we become a more coordinated team?
If we can align better, listen better, and collaborate as a true unit, we’ll unlock a level of performance that no new hire can bring.”
Maturity means shared ownership
In mature organizations, teams co-own delivery from day one.
In immature ones, devs are still treated like a factory. They build what they’re given even if it doesn’t make sense.
Best practice: Stop handoff. Start hand-in-hand.
Incentives work against you
Everyone knows what good looks like. But deadlines, staffing, and KPIs reward speed not collaboration.
Conclusion: Until teams are rewarded for collaboration, handoff will stay broken.

What’s really happening
This isn’t about Figma plugins or design tokens.
Misaligned roles, unclear ownership, and team structures that work against collaboration are the real culprits.
- You can’t template your way out of a trust gap.
- You can’t fix handoff with a better checklist.
- You can’t fix the process if no one is incentivized to care.
What we learned
This isn't about Figma plugins or design tokens. The real problem is misaligned teams working against each other.
You can't template your way out of a trust gap. You can't fix handoff with a better checklist. And you can't fix the process if no one is incentivized to care.
Great handoff isn't an artifact - it's a relationship that needs work.
Ready for the next conversation?
At Belka, we spend our time inside complex product orgs, smoothing the seams between design and delivery. Through co-design sessions, handoff playbooks, and training that teaches teams to speak the same language.
Get a (virtual) coffee with Fabrizio to freely complain about the design-to-dev handoff. He likes conversations.
