In recent weeks I have had reason to ponder the speed at which designers work. More specifically, the various rates that I have operated at across my career. Sometimes fast and from the hip. Other times methodical and deliberate. For young designers, which was my experience while teaching, tend to move fast all the time. They many opportunities to create subtly and intentionality in their work. Older designers, tend to work slowly, usually under the guise of "getting it right the first time." A smart design process benefits from both methods, but I tend to think that being bent toward release is always helpful. As I've thought about this topic recently, I recall something I read in a book titled The Nature and Aesthetics of Design by David Pye.
It must be emphasized that design, of every kind, is a matter of trial and error. There are always some trial assumptions which no calculation or drawing can verify. Man [People] cannot foresee the future. Design, like war, is an uncertain trade, and we have to make the things we have designed before we can find out whether our assumptions are right or wrong. There is no other way to find out. When we modify our prototype, it is, quite flatly, because we guessed wrong. It is eminently true of design that if you are not prepared to make mistakes, you will never make anything at all. Research is very often a euphemism for trying the wrong ways first, as we all must do.
In a world of design thinking, design systems, design language, user research, validation, metrical analysis, and so forth – ugh, it is so easy to get bogged down and I don't even want to finish my thought. Instead, it is helpful to think of those parts of the design processes as safe places for experimentation. That way Design, as a culture and corporate department, was more honest about embracing the need for design to make mistakes as a part our processes.