6 ways designers waste time (and what to do instead)
When designers are perceived as a time sink, stakeholders start losing trust, leading to more prescriptive asks, micromanagement, and a frustrating work environment where design has less influence.
Hey, Miranda here 👋
As designers, we take pride in our craft. We care about details, iterate on ideas, and push for the best possible user experience. But in fast-paced product teams, it’s easy to get caught up in work that doesn’t move the needle. From a Product Manager’s perspective, here are six common ways designers waste time — and my recommendations on what to do instead to stay impactful.
Over-Polishing Too Early
🛑 The Problem: Spending too much time perfecting pixels before key product decisions are made leads to wasted effort when priorities shift. High-fidelity mockups shouldn’t happen before there’s alignment on the fundamentals.
✅ What to Do Instead: Match fidelity to the decision-making stage. Early on, focus on sketches, wireframes, and quick prototypes to validate ideas efficiently. Save pixel-perfect execution for when the direction is locked in.
Ignoring Existing Solutions and Starting from Scratch
🛑 The Problem: Starting a design from scratch without researching how competitors or other products have solved similar problems can lead to unnecessary work and missed opportunities to leverage proven solutions.
✅ What to Do Instead: Look outward before designing from the ground up. Before diving into design, research how others have tackled similar challenges. Study competitor products, industry best practices, and established UX patterns. There’s a good chance an effective solution already exists that can be adapted to your needs, allowing you to focus on meaningful innovation rather than reinventing the basics.
A really easy way to avoid this mistake is to use Mobbin. They have thousands of real product screens that you can sort by UI element or product flow, getting you straight to what you need to reference 👌
Designing Without Technical or Business Constraints in Mind
🛑 The Problem: Beautiful but unbuildable designs slow down development and create unnecessary friction with engineering and product teams. If a solution isn’t feasible or aligned with business goals, it won’t ship — no matter how great it looks.
✅ What to Do Instead: Get context early. Partner with engineers and PMs in the discovery phase. Ask about technical constraints, business priorities, and timeline realities. Bring feasibility into design critiques so that solutions are both elegant and executable.
Endless Iteration Without Clear Decision-Making
🛑 The Problem: Iteration is a core part of design — but without clear decision-making, it becomes a time sink. Refining an idea endlessly without a structured way to assess its impact can delay projects and frustrate stakeholders.
✅ What to Do Instead: Use design principles and data to guide decisions. Set a clear goal for each iteration and validate ideas with user testing. Ask yourself: What am I trying to improve, and do I have evidence that it needs more refinement? If you’re iterating for the sake of iteration, it’s time to move forward.
Designing in a Silo Without Stakeholder Input
🛑 The Problem: Going deep into a design without checking in with PMs, engineers, or other stakeholders often results in major pivots and wasted effort. The longer a designer works in isolation, the greater the risk of misalignment.
✅ What to Do Instead: Work in tight feedback loops. Set up regular check-ins with PMs and engineers to align on priorities and feasibility. Use lightweight updates, quick Slack messages, or async Loom videos to get early input without slowing down momentum.
Reinventing the Wheel Instead of Using Existing Components
🛑 The Problem: Custom UI elements might look great, but if they don’t align with the existing design system, they slow down development and create inconsistency. A custom button isn’t innovative — it’s just expensive.
✅ What to Do Instead: Know when to innovate vs. standardize. Use existing design system components whenever possible to maintain consistency and speed up development. Spend creative energy where it truly improves the user experience — not on redesigning dropdowns and buttons.
Doing Activities with No Clear Purpose
🛑 The Problem: Detailed journey maps, endless mood boards, or excessive persona documents can feel productive but often lack direct relevance to the problem at hand. If an activity doesn’t inform a decision, it’s just busywork.
✅ What to Do Instead: Tie every activity to a decision. Before investing time, ask: What decision will this help make? How does this move the project forward? If there’s no clear answer, either skip the activity or simplify it.
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Final Thoughts
Great design isn’t just about aesthetics — it’s about efficiency, collaboration, and impact. The best designers know how to prioritize, align early, and focus on outcomes. By avoiding these common time-wasters, you’ll not only improve your workflow but also gain more trust and influence within your team.
Design smarter, not harder.
If you found this article interesting or useful please consider supporting me by checking out Mobbin. I’ve been using them on my latest critique videos and I love how easy they make it to find full product design flows 🙌
P.S. A few more ways I can help you ⤵️
- I’ve created quite a few resources for UXers, take a look.
- Bring your burning product & UX design questions over to one of my regular Live AMAs and get my 13+ year-backed professional advice on the spot.
- Follow me on Tiktok or Instagram for critiques, advice, & how-to’s focused on helping you grow in your career and land a job in this difficult market.
- Join me over on LinkedIn for personal experience stories and targeted tips for experienced designers
