Waterfall is about how engineers work. If you want to build it all at once and release nothing until it’s completely done, that’s up to you. CX/UX don’t tell Engineers how to work.

Engineering is at the end. They’re at the end now no matter what approach you use. Since the dawn of time, design comes before building. Sounds like they are looking for a reason to mutiny. :) Good luck with that team! :)

Researching first so that we have a learn-build-test-iterate cycle is common at most of the companies you admire. Many of them still have R&D teams because R comes before D. Replacing guesses with knowledge reduces risk, improves customer satisfaction and outcomes, and is more Agile and Lean. Lean says we’re supposed to deliver what the customer perceives as high value in every release or we’ve created waste we should cut.

CX/UX don’t have to design the entire product before Engineering can start. But we do have to complete (learn, build, test, iterate, build, etc.) one user task or workflow before Engineering can build that. We don’t just unit test without integration testing. UX can’t design half of a process and send that to Engineering. We will need to test the whole process/flow and make sure we have the right execution of the right idea. Engineering can build that while we work on the next task/workflow/issue.

It can be Agile, but only when people understand that the customer experience is all you have. Rush that out, make it crappy, alienate customers, piss them off with MVPs and slices of what they need, piss them off with guesses about what they need, and you risk that they jump to competitors. Negative word of mouth. Draining customer support. Things that cost us money, which make leaders and execs sad.

Happy to throw out the cookies with the baking tray if the baking tray has serious flaws that are working against customer outcomes, Agile, or Lean. If you’ve served up some crap on that tray, I might want the whole tray gone. :)