Understanding design processes is important. It gives guidances and clearity on what steps to take. But with experience one learns that each process has it's limits as they are usually rigid and contextual in nature. So a process is a great tool and
When looking at design teams and where UX should be placed in the organisation, I believe that there are 3 levels where we should look at to really understand the impact that UX should make for an organisation. Just like in the military these levels are the tactical level, the operational level and the strategic level.
When I started out in the design field these terminologies did not exist yet. But soon, UX was introduced and compassed basically everything. Later on things evolved with more distinction in UX roles and the adding of the CX practices. Nowadays I would view UX as a part of CX. As your user is in general also a customer. The user is a customer that uses the digital applications and when most services are digital, good UX ussually also means good CX.
A designer and leader live in service of others, So happy to help others move forwards.