What design partners actually help with

A small thing I've noticed while talking to potential design partners:

The conversations are rarely about the product.

They're usually about the workflow around the product.

At first I thought feedback would mostly be:

"Add this feature."
"Improve this screen."
"Change this output."

Instead, most conversations end up being about how people currently work, where things break down, and what they've already tried before.

The more I do customer conversations, the more I think design partners are valuable for reasons that have nothing to do with design.

They help you understand the job you're actually being hired to do.