Every designer has faced it: a ticket lands in your backlog with little context. No PRD, no clear scope-just a line like, “Update this flow” or “Try this variation.” Early in my career, I treated every task as equally important. I would dive in, polish the UI, and deliver on time. But often, the work had no real impact. It was just a box ticked. The problem wasn’t execution-it was that I hadn’t asked the right question: what’s the core issue we’re solving?

Sometimes tasks are handed down as experiments without clarity, or worse, just to fill time. Designers who simply execute risk wasting effort on changes that don’t move the needle. The real responsibility is to assess the impact before investing energy. That means stepping back, even if the brief is thin, and clarifying whether the task ties to a real user or business problem.

I’ve learned to approach these situations by slowing down before speeding up. Instead of rushing into Figma, I pause and ask questions. Is this task solving a validated pain point? Is it connected to a larger goal? Will this improve the user journey or just add noise? When the answers aren’t clear, that’s a signal to push back and seek context.

Here’s how I now assess tasks with missing scope:

• Clarify the problem – ask why this work matters and what issue it is supposed to solve.
• Estimate impact – weigh the effort against potential user or business value.
• Challenge low-value tasks – push back when something feels like design theater, not meaningful progress.
• Connect to goals – make sure every task links to a broader objective, not just a checkbox.

Over time, I’ve realized that being a strong designer isn’t about doing every task you’re handed. It’s about knowing which ones deserve deep effort and which need a conversation before you start. By assessing impact, you protect your time, strengthen trust with stakeholders, and ensure design energy is spent where it creates the most value. A polished screen that solves nothing isn’t good design-it’s wasted opportunity.