Slow down with AI

30 Apr 2026

All the current hype with vibe coding is around speed and power, which constantly ramps up with each new model that’s announced. Do we need all that? What if we focused on using AI to slow down instead of speeding up?

Tools are fragmented but the opportunity is clear.

It’s easy to see the benefits of automating the tedious, routine production steps of building digital products. Speeding that part up is amazing. As the tools quickly evolve and compete, we benefit from testing out different workflows. For example Figma make is adding code generation to a design tool while Claude Design is a design workflow to a code generator. Both aim to complete the journey from design to development from different ends. Right now we are in a tool explosion like never before. Don’t worry about following all the tools, just pick one go deep and understand the potential they bring to your workflow.

Shift from execution to decision-making

If AI makes the traditional production design/code process faster, then what do we gain with that time-savings? More time to go slow. The higher-value question becomes what to build, not just how to build it. Designers are skilled at deciding what to build, we call it discovery, research, wire-framing, and product strategy. These early-stage exploration skills become so much more important when production is so easy.

As we gain this new speed for doing, we should slow down and spend more time thinking. We get to expand our value in new territory by driving product vision, expanding cross-functional collaboration, and improving product quality.

Instead of fearing replacement by AI, let’s embrace this opportunity to adapt our skills. We can move design’s value toward strategy and quality, those goals we had that felt out of reach when execution took most of our time.