“Design is often the bottleneck”
Friday, June 27, 2025
“Design is often the bottleneck”
Friday, June 27, 2025
“Design is often the bottleneck”
Friday, June 27, 2025
That’s what a Lead Engineer told me — and I took that personally. I’ve worked with all kinds of engineers: frontend, backend, full-stack, iOS, Android, all in the same team. And I’ve always made sure no one on my team is stuck waiting on design.
That’s what a Lead Engineer told me — and I took that personally. I’ve worked with all kinds of engineers: frontend, backend, full-stack, iOS, Android, all in the same team. And I’ve always made sure no one on my team is stuck waiting on design.
So when I heard this, I had to ask: why?
Turns out, the designer was buried in meetings, research, interview, legal calls, alignment sessions, more meetings… everything except actual design.
I’ve always made it a habit to stay ahead of dev — but for that project, I committed to being at least one quarter ahead.
So when I heard this, I had to ask: why?
Turns out, the designer was buried in meetings, research, interview, legal calls, alignment sessions, more meetings… everything except actual design.
I’ve always made it a habit to stay ahead of dev — but for that project, I committed to being at least one quarter ahead.
And yes — it took effort. But with a solid design system, flexible local components, and focus, it was totally doable.
I still did discovery, stakeholder work, peer reviews, and even the occasional side quest — but only after the team had clear, actionable designs to build from.
Design shouldn’t slow teams down.
It should set the pace.
And yes — it took effort. But with a solid design system, flexible local components, and focus, it was totally doable.
I still did discovery, stakeholder work, peer reviews, and even the occasional side quest — but only after the team had clear, actionable designs to build from.
Design shouldn’t slow teams down.
It should set the pace.