Lenny Rachitsky runs a product community where he asks a question each month. A recent one was: "What's one change you've made to your product development process in the past year that's had the most impact on your team's success?"
My answer: adding product design reviews as a formal step in our process.
It sounds simple, almost obvious. But it's made a meaningful difference to how we ship.
Here's how it works. Between development and testing, designers and developers sit down together and run through the feature. They look at what's been built against what was designed. They spot issues. They fix them on the spot where possible.
Before we introduced this step, feedback on design implementation came late. QA would flag visual bugs. Designers would notice inconsistencies after release. Small things would slip through that shouldn't have. The feedback loop was too long, and by the time issues surfaced, the developer had moved on to something else.
Now, those issues get caught earlier. The designer sees the implementation while it's still fresh. The developer can make adjustments immediately. The feedback loop shrinks from days to minutes.
But the impact goes beyond just catching bugs faster. It's changed the relationship between designers and developers on the team. They talk more. They understand each other's constraints better. There's less friction and more collaboration.
One detail that matters: the developer schedules the review, not the designer. This creates ownership. And an unexpected benefit has emerged from this. Developers have started scheduling mini design reviews as they go, checking in on specific components before the full review. By the time they reach the final review, there are only minor tweaks left.
For a remote team, this has been particularly valuable. It's created regular, productive touchpoints that wouldn't happen naturally when you're not in the same room. The conversations are focused and practical. They build trust.
If you're looking for one small process change that pays off quickly, this is a good place to start.