I think a more fundamental and important aspect to this is developing a shared understanding of the design the change is ultimately intended to accomplish and the roadmap to achieving that.

Shared between the implementer and the reviewers, that is, which means design brainstorming, design formalization of some kind (writing the significant aspects down, or recording them in some other way), and a review process.

I should also say: this process doesn't have to be any larger or more heavy-weight than the change itself. And changes that don't have a design aspect can skip it entirely. But this article is talking about building a story with commits, and at that level you're almost surely talking about a significant design aspect.