I've spent the last decade reviewing product designs for startups, and I keep circling back to a tough question: does design thinking actually produce better outcomes, or is it just a comfortable process that makes teams feel innovative? I've seen workshops where sticky notes pile up but the final product still misses the user's real need. Sometimes a quick throwaway prototype tested with five people teaches more than weeks of empathy mapping. So, is structured design methodology genuinely worth the cost, or can leaner, instinct-driven approaches get us to better products faster?