Design positioned downstream
In multiple organizations I’ve worked in, design was positioned primarily as a downstream service. Work arrived as tickets with predefined solutions, tight timelines, and limited context.
Designers were expected to execute quickly and move on. While this approach optimized for short-term speed, it consistently led to fragmented experiences, duplicated effort, and long-term inconsistency across platforms.
Individually, projects shipped. Collectively, the product felt disjointed.
Speed without alignment creates invisible debt
Product managers and engineers were acting with good intent, often under real pressure to deliver. But without a shared design strategy, similar problems were being solved multiple times in different ways.
Designers felt reactive and disconnected from outcomes. Product partners felt design was either slowing things down or adding “opinion” late in the process. Trust was thin, and design’s value was measured mostly by responsiveness.
Over time, this created what I think of as invisible product debt — not always obvious in a single release, but painfully clear when viewed holistically.
When similar problems quietly diverge
At one organization, multiple product teams were working on related features that touched the same core user workflows. Each team had different KPIs, different timelines, and different stakeholders.
From the product side, these were separate initiatives. From a user’s perspective, they were parts of the same experience.
Because design was brought in late, each team solved the problem independently. On paper, everything shipped successfully. In reality, users encountered inconsistent patterns, duplicated concepts, and unnecessary cognitive load.
No single decision was “wrong” — but the lack of early alignment compounded.
Change behavior before changing process
Rather than introducing a heavy process or redesigning documentation, I focused first on how people interacted day to day.
Introduced regular design show-and-tell sessions so designers could share what they were working on and spot overlaps early.
Encouraged designers working on adjacent problems to collaborate before designs solidified.
Built relationships with product leadership to discuss intent before committing to solutions.
Reframed early design involvement as a way to reduce risk, not add friction.
The goal wasn’t to slow teams down — it was to help them move faster later by aligning earlier.
From “just do the ticket” to shared ownership
In one case, a product manager approached design with a fully formed solution and a tight deadline. Instead of rejecting the request outright, I asked a simple question: “What problem are we actually trying to solve here?”
That conversation revealed overlapping goals with another initiative already in progress. By bringing the designers and product partners together early, we were able to unify the approach rather than ship two competing solutions.
The outcome wasn’t just a better design — it was a shift in behavior. That same product partner began involving design earlier in future roadmap discussions, seeing design as a collaborator rather than a downstream executor.
Stronger partnerships, better outcomes
Over time, design became more consistently involved earlier in product discussions. Teams reduced duplicated effort and made clearer decisions with shared context.
Designers felt more ownership over outcomes, not just outputs. Product partners gained confidence that early design involvement led to fewer surprises later.
The product experience became more cohesive — not because of a single redesign, but because of sustained alignment.
Leadership over enforcement
Transforming design into a strategic partner isn’t about authority or mandates. It’s about trust, communication, and consistently demonstrating value.
The most effective changes didn’t come from a single framework or process document. They came from repeated, small moments of alignment that added up over time.
At scale, design leadership is less about control — and more about stewardship.