Why AI Can't Replace Design Thinking

I spent a whole day letting Claude handle a tricky implementation — dynamically generating HTML tables with rowspan and colspan.

It’s a genuinely hard problem.

Looks Right, Doesn’t Work

I let Claude handle everything from design to code.

• The output looked reasonable
• The logic seemed correct at first glance
• But it didn’t work

This happened over and over.

I Realized I’d Done Nothing All Day

At some point I noticed:

• I’d spent hours waiting for Claude to think
• I hadn’t actually thought about anything myself

The whole day was gone.

The Problem Wasn’t Claude — It Was Me

I’d delegated the design itself to AI.

That was the mistake.

Design Is Still a Human Job

For problems like this, what matters most is:

• How to decompose the problem
• What algorithm to use
• How to structure the data

Humans are still better at this.

AI is great at:

• Writing code
• Generating patterns

But creating a solid design from scratch? Not yet.

I’d Been Getting Lazy

Honestly, I’d fallen into a habit of thinking “just let Claude do it.”

That’s a dangerous mindset.

Tomorrow I’ll Do It Right

Here’s my plan:

• Design it myself first
• Decide the approach
• Then let Claude write the code

The Takeaway

AI is not a substitute for thinking. AI is a tool you use after you’ve thought.

In One Sentence

Design first. AI later.