Senior UX/UI Designers often face pressures to avoid wasting development time by overpreparing and creating surplus stories for sprint planning.
The fear of wasting future development effort leads to overgrown features, bloated roadmaps, and clinging to outdated code, despite agile methodologies promoting adaptability.
The article questions why there is a disproportionate value placed on protecting developer time over design and product discovery time in product development.
Teams often fall into decision paralysis and overthinking driven by fear of future sunk costs, leading to stagnation and delayed value.
The article advocates for valuing cognitive and emotional labor in product discovery and design, highlighting the hidden costs associated with discarding work at early stages.
Advancements in AI have made software development more efficient, emphasizing the importance of human-centered work such as empathy and creative thinking.
Relational labor, focusing on alignment, coherence, and care within teams, is seen as a crucial but often invisible aspect of product development.
The article calls for a more holistic view of value in product development that includes technical execution as well as human insight and emotional labor.
It suggests adapting agile methodologies not just to processes, but also to the well-being and capacity of individuals involved in product development.
Ultimately, the article urges a shift towards measuring and valuing emotional labor and relational work in product development, alongside technical efficiency.