In March, Jenny Wen, who leads design for Claude, went on Lenny’s Podcast with a title that’s hard to ignore: “The design process is dead.”
Her point, as I understood it: the process we were taught, research, then explore, then narrow down, then polished mockups, can’t keep up when engineers ship in hours. Design now happens inside the build, and a big part of the job is helping the team get it made.
Months later, after a summer of building, I mostly agree. But from where I sit, the process isn’t what died. The handoff did.
Look at what I still do. Morning started with other parents and the one moment worth designing for. In Kansas City last summer, I rode the buses and sat with dispatch before I drew anything. None of that got faster, and I don’t want it to.
What’s gone is the long middle: the polished mockups, the spec, the walkthrough with engineers, the wait for a sprint. That middle used to be the job. Now I go from an idea to something I can try on my phone the same day, and that’s where the design happens.
Some of it even runs backwards. Peek began as something to play, not a problem to solve, and most of what I know about it came from playing it.
So I’d put it this way: the steps aren’t in a line anymore, but they all still happen. Research still tells me what matters. Exploring happens in code instead of on a canvas. Narrowing down happens on a real phone, not in a review.
She also said designers might be holding on to taste a little too tightly. That’s the part I’d push back on. The agent will build anything I ask, very quickly, and it can’t tell me which version is right. When anyone can make the screen, choosing the right one matters more.
If the process is dead, the problem isn’t. I still start there.