Scroll through social media and you'll see everyone talking about AI and speed. Less effort, faster results. It's all "look what I created with one prompt and it only took 2 minutes!" As a product designer, I'm interested in how AI might reshape my role and processes. The other day, I watched a designer proudly demonstrate how they'd compressed their design process from 10 steps to 2 using AI.

Speed paradox

Sometimes going fast is good. When you've got an idea and want to test it quickly in the real world, speed is great. Get an idea out there, see how people respond. If it works - refine, test, iterate. If it doesn't, throw it away, with minimal effort lost.

But as a product designer, I've learned to be wary of speed. Good designers often push against it. Because speed usually means cutting corners:

• Instead of scoping work properly to find that sweet spot of MVP, we end up de-scoping everything
• Research and testing
• Time to explore and think critically

There is a key difference between going fast to test fast vs rushing through the process of developing an idea. The counter argument to this is get AI to do the work upfront and then add human oversight at the end. But this would miss all the good stuff that comes out of the journey.

Collaborating with AI

The whole "do less with AI" mindset misses the point entirely. I see AI differently - as something that can amplify human ideas and creativity. Not as a replacement, but as a partner. I'm sure AI can replace some of the craft, but it shouldn't eliminate all those crucial steps we take to ensure we're building the right thing.

There's a reason why product designers and researchers spend time exploring ideas, doing research, thinking deeply, and analysing data. It's all part of building on an idea. It's messy, it's rough, but that's where the critical thinking happens. Sometimes showing a rough sketch on paper is more valuable than a polished design. Knowing exactly how much to show and when - that's a skill. Without those rough early stages, feedback gets stuck in the weeds instead of addressing the bigger picture.

Decision making

I love using AI in my process. It leads to better quality thinking and decisions making. It's an excellent feedback tool and collaborator. It can help explore multiple solutions quickly. But here's what's crucial: keeping human judgement at the centre of decision making so we can evaluate which direction makes sense for users.

As product designers, we need to explain the 'why' behind our decisions. Often, we're explaining why we chose not to do something. If we let AI make those decisions, or rush through processes just to get there faster, we'll end up with poorer decisions. Or we'll miss vital feedback because AI got us to the finish line too quickly.

So instead of viewing AI as a shortcut to the end goal, start with AI as a way to get to a better outcome.

Instead of:
"Look how much faster I got here"

Try:
"Look how much better my outcome was"

Back to journal