Early in my career, I spent three full days polishing wireframes during a sprint. Every flow, every edge case, every detail was mapped out. I was proud of it-until the review meeting. A teammate presented almost the same work. We had solved the same problem separately. The room went quiet. What should have been progress turned into wasted effort.

That moment stuck with me. The problem wasn’t design skill, it was communication. We never shared intent, never synced on ownership, never checked in. From then on, I told myself: design doesn’t start with Figma, it starts with conversations. A two-minute chat can save days of duplicate work.

Since then, I’ve built new habits. Before opening a design file, I align with the team on who’s tackling what. We keep a shared board for task ownership, run quick weekly syncs for visibility, and use Slack for fast clarifications. The difference is huge-no more duplicated flows, and a lot more trust.

Over time, I realized the practices that matter most are simple: talk early about what you plan to tackle, share drafts even when they feel rough, log progress in a central place, clarify roles and respect ownership, and celebrate collaboration openly. These small shifts keep everyone aligned without slowing the pace of work.

What I learned is that duplicate work isn’t a design problem, it’s a communication problem. Once we fixed the way we talked, efficiency and energy followed. Every project started to feel less like individuals running in parallel, and more like a team moving as one. Good UX is built on good conversations.