We've been using Connected Projects at Sanofi to work with external agencies, and honestly? The feature falls short for how agencies actually collaborate with companies.
The core issue: A single Connected Project is too limited when you're embedding an entire agency team into a client organization.
Here's what happens today:
- Agency designers get access to one Connected Project
- They can use company libraries and embedded documentation
- That's it
What's missing:
1. Team-level connection, not project-level
When we onboard an agency, we're not collaborating on a single project. We're integrating their entire team into our design workflow across multiple initiatives. We need Connected Teams, not just Connected Projects.
Think: Agency X works with us on 5 different products simultaneously. Right now, we'd need 5 separate Connected Projects, each requiring individual setup and maintenance.
2. Access shared files, not just libraries
We embed in libraries a lot of information (Usage documentation / Do's and don'ts / Implementation notes...) like a lot of other companies.
But we also have Product design guidelines and other informations in dedicated files to share to anyone working for us.
The real workflow we need:
- Connect an entire agency Figma team to our organization
- Give them full library visibility (components + embedded documentation)
- Give them visibility on specific files
- Let them access multiple projects without individual connections
Right now, we're forced to either:
- Continue to give agencies guest access (double billing + manual maintenance)
- Manually duplicate documentation outside our Figma organization (creates drift + lack of control)
- Accept that agencies work with incomplete information (quality risk)
None of these are great.
Has anyone found a workaround that doesn't involve compromising security or duplicating work?