Designers often face a habit of accepting "good enough" solutions, which erodes design's authority. This tendency stems from a desire for quick fixes rather than addressing foundational problems. The author recounts a personal experience where a flawed knowledge base system was superficially improved rather than properly audited. This led to increased support volume, highlighting the cost of choosing partial solutions.Recognizing this pattern is the first step; the challenge lies in unlearning it. Unnamed habits persist and become more expensive over time. Design's authority is compromised not by a lack of influence, but by failing to "own the altitude" of the problem. Altitude ownership means clearly defining one's responsibilities and defending the work's requirements.This ownership is distinct from seniority or title, focusing instead on the ability to make quality decisions under increasing uncertainty. Design careers have different altitudes: interface, product, systems, and organizational. Each altitude presents greater uncertainty and higher stakes for wrong decisions.Mastery in design evolves from learning manuals to making decisions without definitive answers. The key differentiator for success at higher altitudes is judgment, the ability to navigate incomplete information and make critical calls. This judgment is often more crucial than acquiring new skills, as leaders fail when they continue old practices at new levels.At the interface level, ownership means identifying whose accountability is being compromised when details are cut, even without direct authority to stop it. At the product altitude, it involves defining and owning the right outcomes, not just task completion. This requires understanding what success truly means for the product.