Design Thinking has gotten a bad rap in recent years. It was supposed to change everything in the corporate world but ended up changing very little. While Design Thinking may not be the darling anymore, designers still need time to think, which is, for the sake of argument, time away from Figma and pushing pixels.

Chris Becker argues in UX Collective:

However, the canary in the coalmine is that Designers are not being used for their “thinking” but rather their “repetition”. Much of the consternation we feel in the UX industry is catapulted on us from this point of friction.

He says that agile software development and time for designers to think aren’t incompatible:

But allowing Designers to implement their thinking into the process is about trust. When good software teams collaborate effectively, there are high levels of trust and autonomy (a key requirement of agile teams). Designers must earn that trust, of course, and when we demonstrate that we have “done the thinking,” it builds confidence and garners more thinking time. Thinking begets thinking. So, Designers, let’s continue to work to maximise our “thinking” faculties.