Module 6: When Design Gets Skipped | Design-First Delivery | elijah.ai
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Module 6: When Design Gets Skipped

Real Talk

What this module covers: What happens when you skip the steps in Modules 1–5. Not to scare you—to give you language when someone says "we don't have time for all that." The checklist doesn't slow you down. It keeps you from building something you'll have to tear down.

What You Get When You Skip Design

Real talk. When you skip these steps, you get:

  • Apps that solve the wrong problem (or no one's problem). You built something. It works. But the person who asked for it says "oh, that's not quite what I meant." Or worse: no one uses it because no one owned the outcome.
  • Flows that break because data boundaries or connectors weren't thought through. You built a flow that mixes SharePoint and Gmail. Your admin's DLP policy says no. Now you're refactoring—or the flow sits in limbo while you negotiate.
  • Rework when governance or compliance show up late. You shipped. It's in production. Then someone asks: "Who can see this data? Is it audit-ready?" You don't know. You're scrambling to add security and logging after the fact.
  • Pilots that never scale because no one owned the outcome. The pilot worked. Everyone loved the demo. But there's no owner. No rollout plan. No support model. Six months later it's orphaned and someone's asking "whatever happened to that thing?"

The "We Don't Have Time" Pushback

You'll hear it: "We need to move fast. Can't we just build it and figure out the rest later?"

Here's the thing. The modules don't add weeks. They add clarity. A 30-minute requirement capture session can save you 30 hours of rework. A 15-minute conversation about who owns the outcome can prevent a pilot from dying on the vine.

The checklist is a filter. It keeps you from saying yes to every request—and from building things that will haunt your backlog. When someone drops "we need an app for X" on your desk, you can say: "I'd love to help. Let's get an owner, a problem statement, and a baseline. Ten minutes. Then we'll know if we should build."

The Bottom Line

Low-code isn't failing because Power Platform is weak. It's failing because we skip the part where we figure out what we're actually building. You wouldn't pour a foundation without a blueprint. Same idea.

Use the modules. Use the checklist. Protect your time. Protect your credibility.

You're Done

You've worked through the Design-First Delivery series. Go build something that sticks.

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Part of the Design-First Delivery series from elijah.ai. Back to index. Pairs with Low-Code Isn't Failing—You're Skipping Design.