I believe in the full UX process outlined in Sprint methodology. This entails 5 stages:

1:Ideation and questioning. What is your requirement? What is your product? What do you wish to achieve? What are our challenges and what needs identification?

2:Sketching and deciding. Rapid creation of solutions and answers to the questions above. This can be in the form of sketches or wireframes.

3:Decisions. Reviewing the sketches and identifying the best solutions. This can take shape in storyboards, and flowcharts, using tools such as FigJam.

4:Prototype. Iteratively building a working prototype in Figma or XD that allows the stakeholders to visualize the product. We can then review as this is built whether it contains the necessary features laid out in the first stages.

5: Test. We test the prototype as much as possible, with real users if possible or personas at the very least. This requires absolute objectivity, you cannot be precious with your designs. Finding flaws is as useful as finding wins. With every test, we analyze and review what works and what requires tweaking.

After following these stages either in a 5 day Sprint or over a long term project the resources saved in time and work for developers results in a more well defined product that has been designed with the user requirements and needs at the forefront of the process instead of being an afterthought.