Friday Focus (#4): Pace vs. Impact

It’s Friday. The week’s been fast, too fast in some places. And it’s left me thinking about the cost of that speed.

Yesterday, I raised something with senior leadership that had been building for a while, a growing concern about how we’re valuing the work. Not just the outcomes, but the process, the thinking, the craft. A moment arose that made the issue impossible to ignore.

A major client initiative, something I’d spent weeks shaping with intent and strategy, landed incredibly well. The feedback was energising, the kind of response that tells you the work hit exactly as it should. But almost immediately, the internal conversation turned to speed. “Can we just send them the prototypes?” was the ask. And that’s where I pushed back.

This week’s focus: the tension between urgency and thoughtfulness. And why protecting the way we present work is as important as the work itself.

• Design isn't just the outcome. It's the experience of arriving there.
  Screens aren’t the product, the thinking behind them is. When we present without context, without narrative, we reduce our work to surfaces. That might feel efficient, but it’s often ineffective. The work lands harder, and lasts longer, when it's introduced with clarity and intent.

• Speed can undermine trust.
  Clients and stakeholders don’t just evaluate what they see, they notice how they see it. A rushed walkthrough, a fragmented prototype, a half-told story… these things quietly erode confidence. When we sacrifice orchestration, we weaken the perception of our strategic value.

• Storytelling isn’t fluff. It’s leadership.
  Walking someone through a design isn’t just presentation, it’s influence. A structured story gives meaning to decisions, clarity to trade-offs, and purpose to every detail. That’s not extra, that’s the work.

• Not every request deserves a yes.
  “Can we just send the prototype?” seems harmless. But often, it bypasses the very thing that gives our work power: the ability to guide, to frame, to lead the conversation. A strategic no, delivered with care, protects the outcome and the relationship.

• Pace without clarity creates churn.
  What feels like momentum in the moment can lead to rework, misalignment, and vague feedback later. It’s faster to slow down and get it right, once, than to keep iterating in circles because the foundation wasn’t properly communicated.

• Designers aren’t here to ‘just make screens’.
  We’re here to shape outcomes, tell stories, build trust, and move teams forward. When we’re reduced to deliverables over direction, we lose the opportunity to lead. And that’s a much bigger risk than taking an extra day.

• Quality doesn’t mean slow, it means deliberate.
  There’s a difference between dragging your feet and designing with purpose. One wastes time. The other protects it. Being deliberate about how and when we share work isn’t inefficiency, it’s craft.

That’s the thought I’m sitting with this week.

If you’ve found yourself pushing back against false urgency, I hope this reinforces your instinct. Not all speed is progress. And not all impact is visible in the moment, especially when it comes to trust, credibility, and the long game.

Back next Friday.

Enjoy your weekend.