I definitely agree that there is a perfect world where designs are fully researched with a battery of user tests and for large companies like Facebook, Atlassian, and Lyft this is critical to their success. Every design decision, large and small, matters when you have an audience of billions of people. Furthermore, there is no excuse not to conduct research when you have the resources to dedicate to doing design right.
That said, if you are a scrappy startup (or in the case of an article, a single founder who may not even be a designer to begin with), it is often necessary to simply do whatever it takes to deliver a product. Money, time, experience, infrastructure, personnel, etc., are all limiting factors.
If I were consulting on a project for a Fortune 500 I would tell them to leverage their resources to maximize their change of success. If I were consulting on a project for a small business or startup I would tell them to be smart and triage key pieces that represent their "special sauce" above features that feel more like known territory.
That said, if you are a scrappy startup (or in the case of an article, a single founder who may not even be a designer to begin with), it is often necessary to simply do whatever it takes to deliver a product. Money, time, experience, infrastructure, personnel, etc., are all limiting factors.
If I were consulting on a project for a Fortune 500 I would tell them to leverage their resources to maximize their change of success. If I were consulting on a project for a small business or startup I would tell them to be smart and triage key pieces that represent their "special sauce" above features that feel more like known territory.