Well put and absolutely correct.
The older I get, the more and more I find that the design process can be applied to nearly any problem that exists in the world, whether simple or complex. Sometimes I find myself over-thinking extremely trivial matters around the house, drives my girlfriend nuts. Occasionally she appreciates it though. Pick your battles I suppose, haha!
A professor of mine at SCAD told us a story from a previous ID position she held. For whatever reason, she had about 3 months of no real ID work to do. Perhaps something to do with their manufacturing schedules, budget for new products, etc. So she was just earning a salary, sitting at her desk, being told to not actively develop new products at the time. Every day she drove into work, she and all the other employees would have to deal with this horrendously designed parking lot. Fender benders were a common occurrence. Water cooler discussions were always about “that damn parking lot”. Just poorly designed, so I’m told. She spent the next several weeks designing and perfecting the parking lot layout. Ultimately everyone loved it. Just an example.