The Real Cost of Changing Designs

Duke Nukem Forever took over 14 years to develop due to a string of requirements changes, scope creep and unforeseen challenges. The team were struggling to create the graphics they needed with their game engine and decided to swap game engines after over a year and a half of work. This design change required them to effectively start over with the game.

This is why project managers are so protective of their project scope and development leads are so resistant to change. But there are countless examples of teams working iteratively and releasing hundreds of times per day. Why do some teams thrive on change and others are crushed by it?

It's our processes!

Long approval processes, manual testing cycles and big-bang rewrites slow down delivery. By adopting modern alternatives we can embrace change rather than avoid it. Software's flexibility is a feature, not a bug. I go into more detail in this weeks article in the continues development section below.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

Don’t Let Bad Time Management Undermine Your Leadership by Elizabeth Grace Saunders
Effective time management is essential for leadership success. Prioritizing tasks, delegating, and blocking time for strategic thinking help leaders avoid burnout and improve team productivity.

The Tech Stack That Makes Hierarchy Obsolete by Pim de Morree
Self-managed teams, armed with the right tech stack, don’t just survive without bosses, they thrive. Think tools that make roles crystal clear, decisions transparent, and communication frictionless.

Product Direction

Product Strategy Should Be Messy by Ant Murhpy
Product strategy shouldn't be overly structured; it should embrace messiness to adapt to evolving market needs and foster innovation.

Smart Product Teams Keep Their Options Open — Here’s How by Paul Brown
Bad product decisions don’t just slow you down, they haunt your future. Create flexibility in product teams, by staying open to various solutions, adapt quickly, and embrace uncertainty to drive innovation and success.

Continuous Research

Beyond Numbers: How To Properly Evaluate Qualitative UX Research by Maria Panagiotidi
Evaluate UX metrics beyond just numbers, incorporate qualitative insights for a more holistic view of user experience.

SQL Is For All UX Researchers by Carl J. Pearson
UX researchers can benefit from learning SQL, allowing them to access and manipulate data directly, enhancing their research process.

Continuous Design

The Designer's Handbook for Developer Handoff by Jake Albaugh, Chad Bergman
Clear file structure, consistent components, and thoughtful documentation make the handoff between design and development far smoother. Design tokens and naming conventions play a key role in ensuring accuracy and reducing back-and-forth during implementation. [Sponsored Content]

Journey-centric Design Lessons Learned: From Culture Change To Process Governance by Kim Flaherty
In the evolution of journey-centric design, there is a necessity of a cultural shift from product-centric to customer journey-focused approaches. Journey management is an ongoing process, with no definitive endpoint.

Continuous Development

The Real Cost Of Changing Designs by Rory Madden
The real cost of change in software development isn't in the technical modifications – it's in our processes and mindset. By recognising software's inherently malleable nature and embracing modern development practices, teams can break free from the perception of changes as risky.

Javascript Fatigue Strikes Back by Allen Pike
Server-Side Rendering (SSR) can alleviate some of the JavaScript fatigue challenges for better performance and maintainability.

UXDX USA 2025 Is Happening Right Now!
Shoutout to our incredible sponsors for New York

We are proud to be partnering with some of the most innovative companies in the industry who are helping make this event possible. A huge thank you to Optimal, Maze, HTEC, Marvin, Airtable, Askable, Great Question, Sprig, dscout, Figma, and Bloomberg for their support.

These companies are leading the charge in UX, product, and design innovation, and we’re excited to have them join us for an unforgettable event. Stay tuned on our socials for the latest and live updates on inspiring talks from thought leaders in the field!

If you are at UXDX, be sure to visit their booths at the event to learn more about how they’re shaping the future of UX and product design!

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FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS 

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Video of the Week
Ways of Working:
Autonomy and Alignment in a Distributed Product Organisation

In this video, join Mario, Head of Payment Products at Vipps Mobile Pay, as he discusses how to scale product development organizations effectively. Drawing from his experience in the merger between Norway’s Vipps and Denmark’s Mobile Pay, Mario will explore how to align teams and ensure better product outcomes by adopting a flex-focus rhythm.

He'll also delve into the challenges of balancing short- and long-term goals within a divisionalized product organization, where no single individual or team holds overall responsibility for product development. Watch now to gain valuable insights on navigating these complexities and driving successful product outcomes at scale.

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: How would you describe your team's approach to technical design?

This week’s poll results reveal that teams have varying approaches to technical design. The majority (40%) follow a "Big Design Up Front" approach, suggesting a preference for thorough planning before development starts.

A significant 27% of teams take a more flexible "Just-in-Time Design" approach, while 20% focus on high-level architecture without diving into specific features. 10% employ a hybrid approach that blends these methods, and 3% don’t incorporate formal design at all.

If you’re looking to refine your approach to technical design and ensure your process is as efficient as possible, check out our Continuous Development course for strategies and insights on adapting to evolving needs.

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