"If a designer asks for more time, they aren't being lazy, they are trying to figure out the variables in the potential solutions so that you don't have to deal with regression and you can truly layer on additional features in a way that will not break the system or the interaction behavioral patterns being established from a well thought out master plan, which if done right, will be flexible enough to accommodate future features.

The simplest way to achieve this is to really have business objectives clearly spelled out before design begins. If you hear complaints from designers, or anybody on a team, it usually means folks aren't sure of what they are aiming for. Understanding team dependencies is important, and can be tackled at different speeds depending on the size of the team/ organization."
- from a poster on LinkedIn

There is a very interesting thread going on LinkedIn What Do You Never Want to Never Hear A Designer Say Again. From the sound of the comments on the thread (with the exception of the quote above) it is unfortunately clear that there is still misconceptions about what a good designer can bring to the table.

I think a reoccurring theme is the notion that designers do not need to know about or are not privy to the business objectives.

While it is true traditional visual/graphic/motion designers are not taught or used to this kind of information, this is rapidly changing and designers quite often have years of business experience, and have traversed in large organizations.

Another great quote:


"What intrigues me about most of these answers is that they all seem to come *after* the opportunities for planning and communication. So... if there was a breakdown along the line, is it all on the designer? Usually not. "

I sincerely hope this is just a sign of growing pains in the industry and things will get better as people who work in that nebulous area currently called "interaction, UX, product design" and live in that are between visual design, research, strategy, technology and product management are more frequently seen.