So the issue with being purely execution-focused is that there is no way to plan.

Design is a form of planning. By taking the top X items, adding them to the queue and then going into “estimating” on a one week sprint cycle, it positions design as a resource and leaves little for collaboration – the aim of the engineering team is to quickly deliver software, while the aim of the design team is to deliver the best user experience independent of the timeline.

So there is friction in these goals.

There is some space between execution/implementation and strategic design that is collaborative, not adversarial.