Stronger Outcomes Start with a Little Friction
From parking to prompting, the smoothest path often includes the friction we’re tempted to skip
Our street has very limited parking.
You’re lucky if you find a spot.
Especially on evenings and weekends.
But now, as a family of four, it was finally time to get a car, which we did last month. (Yay!)
Since then, I’ve been thinking about the idea of the ‘perfect spot’ right outside our house, and how it might actually be the wrong thing to aim for.
Yes, it’s close and convenient. But it’s also unpredictable. After wearily arriving home from a long weekend away, I often end up circling, second-guessing whether a spot might come up, before eventually parking a few streets away.
There’s friction in the short walk, yes. But there’s less stress, fewer variables, and more momentum. It’s often quicker to commit to that upfront than waste time chasing the ‘perfect’ outcome.
It’s a small reminder of a broader truth: we often get stronger outcomes when we stop trying to eliminate friction altogether, and instead recognise where it shows up, and design with it in mind.
I. Should designers code?
It depends. What’s your intended outcome?
The ‘should designers code?’ debate pops up again and again. I’ve worked with teams where it’s a hard requirement and others where there’s more flexibility. For me, the better question is: what’s the most effective path to reach your goal?
For most product teams, the outcome is shipping improvements to customers. That often means designers collaborating closely with engineers to get a shared vision into production. And the more fluent everyone is in the shared language of code, the less translation is needed, and the smoother the delivery becomes.
That fluency can take time to build. But it’s often the kind of friction that leads to better outcomes in the long run, clearer handoffs, fewer misunderstandings, and faster iteration.
Questions to consider:
→ What outcome are you optimising for?
→ Where is unnecessary translation slowing you down?
II. Should designers use acronyms?
It depends. Who’s your audience?
Until I worked with Harry—Monzo’s former Head Writer extraordinaire—I rarely thought about acronyms. I had a rough mental model: some are widely understood (PM, UI, OKR), and some are hyper-specific (PSC, SAR, SCA in Fintech).
But when I joined Monzo, and teams with deep banking expertise, my mental model flipped. What was obvious to me wasn’t obvious to them and vice versa.
Acronyms often feel like shortcuts. But they only work when everyone shares the same reference point. Otherwise, they introduce tiny moments of uncertainty. Mini speed bumps that add up.
Taking a little extra time to write something out might feel like unnecessary friction. But if it means your message is clearer, quicker to grasp, and easier to act on, it’s friction worth embracing.
Questions to consider:
→ Who are you communicating with (human or AI)?
→ Will your shortcut actually make things faster?
III. Should designers write prompts?
It depends. What’s your strongest communication tool?
As we enter this AI era, I’ve seen growing attention on ‘how to prompt like a designer’. I’m all for designers using AI—and writing better—but I think the real skill isn’t in crafting magic phrases. It’s in choosing the right communication method for the task, even if that means leaning into more friction up front.
Many designers are naturally strong visual communicators. Whether that’s sketching a quick diagram to explain information architecture or attaching a Figma mockup to clarify intent, these methods are often faster, and with a higher resolution, than words alone.
In other words, ‘good prompting’ is often just a proxy for communicating clearly. And words aren’t the only tool in the box.
Questions to consider:
→ What’s the clearest way to express your intent?
→ Are you defaulting to speed over clarity?
Wrapping up
Not all friction is wasted effort. In the right places, it helps clarify thinking, align teams, and build momentum. And often, it’s that quiet effort early on that sets up everything that follows.
So as you navigate your next project or team decision I’d suggest you pause to consider:
→ What’s your real goal?
→ Where is friction showing up?
→ What kind of effort might actually help you get there faster?
Thanks for reading!
This was inspired by these two fantastic posts
Taste at Speed — By Carly Ayres
The Most Valuable Commodity in the World is Friction — By Kyla Scanlon