A small tidbit from Product Design Psychology, by Wouter de Bres:
“The first idea that feels good is often the one that survives, not because it’s right, but because the team becomes emotionally attached to it.”
One of the most useful observations in the book is that many of the problems we describe as design challenges are actually human challenges. The tendency to become attached to an early idea isn’t unique to design teams, it’s just a form of commitment bias that happens to show up around whiteboards and Figma files.
De Bres’s observation is not revelatory; every experienced designer has seen it happen. A promising idea emerges, the room likes it, and what began as exploration quietly becomes justification. But naming the bias makes it easier to catch before it hardens into the plan.
The work is to keep exploring a little past the point where it already feels solved.