The project that made me question the UX process - LogRocket Blog

Design processes such as double diamond, design thinking, and agile UX aim to move from unclear problems to finished products. Common patterns include research, analysis, ideation, and testing. Early reliance on a structured sequence can feel reassuring, especially for designers who prefer order. As projects progress, strict adherence can become difficult and less useful, leading to continued use of fundamentals without treating them as a fixed order. Shared processes help teams align, avoid duplicated effort, and keep stakeholders informed. Problems arise when the process becomes the goal, shifting conversations toward phase status and deliverables rather than problem quality and solution fit.

"Most UX designers are familiar with some version of the design process. Whether it's the double diamond, design thinking, agile UX, or another framework, these models are meant to help designers move from an unclear problem to a finished product. On paper, they usually follow the same broad pattern: research, analysis, ideation, and testing."

"But the more projects I worked on, the harder it became to follow those steps exactly. What once felt like a helpful framework started to feel like a constraint. Over time, I stopped relying on the double diamond so heavily, and eventually, on rigid UX frameworks in general. That doesn't mean I abandoned research, analysis, ideation, or testing. I still use those fundamentals. I just stopped treating them as a fixed sequence that every project has to follow."

"Design processes exist for a reason. When you're working on a team, different people are responsible for different parts of the work. A shared process gives everyone a roadmap from the initial problem to final handoff. It helps teams avoid duplicated effort, stay aligned, take each phase seriously, and keep stakeholders informed along the way."

"The problem starts when the process becomes the focus of the work instead of a tool that supports it. When the process becomes the goal At some point, teams can become more concerned with where they are in the process than with whether they're solving the right problem. Conversations start to revolve around questions like: What phase are we in? Have we done enough discovery? Should we create more personas?"

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