Lenny Rachitsky breaks down how design now splits into two roles: execution-focused designers who ship fast with engineers, and vision-focused designers who prototype 3-6 month directions. Both matter, but they work on different timelines and deliverables.
Chapters
The way I sort of see it now is there are basically two types of design work, and design work is kind of like becoming really stratified in this new world. The first one, which is really just supporting the implementation and execution. This is the one where engineers are using their seven clods to create all these features. They will just make a scrappy version of it. You as a designer actually do not have the time to make these beautiful mocks anymore or to like kind of lead. In this way. The second kind of work that feels also really important, creating the sort of vision or direction for things. The shape of it's very much changing, cuz I think we used to go off and make this 2-year, 5-year, 10-year vision even. But the way that the technology is changing now, we actually don't know. And it usually becomes a vision that's like 3 to 6 months out and isn't necessarily something that is creating this like beautiful deck that's beautifully story told. It's sometimes just creating a prototype that points people in the right direction.