How do design teams change now, by Jason Cyr:
The build side of product development just got 10x faster. The thinking side didn’t.
The argument is: designers set direction of what needs to get build - do the "thinking". Here's a key quote:
Design teams aren’t shrinking. They’re stretching — into systems, into code, into direction-setting that was always their real superpower but often got buried under production work.
This is where a lot of design/AI thinking seems to be right now, and even though I agree with the hands-on direction discussed, I think the conclusions are mistaken, in the sense that it's in conflict with reality:
Design was rarely/never the only or main function that did the "direction-setting", the strategic thinking, the connecting with customers. That was (depending on the org) largely overtaken by product, or already in the hands of other disciplines (business, strategy, ...). YMMV, but I'm speaking industry-wide.
Design teams are shrinking and will likely continue to shrink, as a lot of the production work is simply removed.
I think this is a hard time for design-leaning people. The total amount of jobs out there will likely shrink quite a bit. And I'm not sure design will be able to step in the "own the thinking" if they continue to assume other disciplines (engineering, product, ...) don't own that as well.