Whenever I talk about design, many, especially the agile community, mistake it with what they call “big upfront design”. So here is my answer.

Design is not a phase, not even an activity. It is an ability to select the best possible option for the current problem.

Doing design as a big upfront activity is same as developing software using waterfall methodology. You are going to face the same issues like communication, lack of feedback, wasting time on unwanted features, etc.

In fact, the main intention of creating the D3 is, making the design process as simple as possible and brining the benefit of agile to the design. If I put it simple words, D3 is an iterative process to do the design.

I received a wonderful story today, I don’t know how authentic it is, but it’s conveying a great message “why we should focus on solution instead of problem”.

When NASA began the launch of astronauts into space, they found out that the pens wouldn't work at zero gravity (ink won't flow down to the writing surface). To solve this problem, it took them one decade and $12 million.

They developed a pen that worked at zero gravity, upside down, underwater, in practically any surface including crystal and in a temperature range from below freezing to over 300 degrees C.

And what did the Russians do...?? They used a pencil.