Designers, stop flirting and commit to your product team

In my time as a product designer in a SaaS company, I’ve seen two clear sides in the pursuit for better design. There’s the argument that designers and researchers should act almost like an agency — collaborating with other teams but essentially returning to a design hub to work. In this model, designers potentially sacrifice speed of deployment for thorough processes and beautiful execution.

Then there’s the idea that designers should be embedded within product pods, focused on pushing product out the door but potentially sacrificing the creative energy and big ideas that emerge when designers are surrounded by other…