The Product Picnic

The Product Picnic

Writing on UX and product management to connect today's discourse with classic insights that the industry forgot.

Featured Posts

Why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 1

Why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 1

At the root of design's crisis is an incentives crisis throughout tech. But we have tools that let us cut through the magical thinking of feature factories - if we're willing to use them.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Archive

The AI Hangover Era (The Everything App Part 3)

The AI Hangover Era (The Everything App Part 3)

Some leaders are starting to realize the extent to which AI has broken their ability to prioritize and ship value. Others are still doubling down.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
AI is not an assistant – it's your new boss (The Everything App part 2)

AI is not an assistant – it's your new boss (The Everything App part 2)

As managers continue to outsource data-gathering and decision-making to LLMs, the person above you on the org chart is transforming into a chatbot's clerk – and leaving product teams with the consequences.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
The Everything App is a symptom of Nothing Management (part 1)

The Everything App is a symptom of Nothing Management (part 1)

Leaders who surrender their point of view inevitably arrive at the same conclusion: we must solve every problem for every user. This approach demolishes the possibility of real impact.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Figma Dreamweaver

Figma Dreamweaver

The dream of being able to generate working websites will remain out of reach until UX redefines its practice around semantic structure rather than layouts.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
The AI job crisis is a crisis of groupthink

The AI job crisis is a crisis of groupthink

Unmoored from user needs as the driver for decision-making, executives increasingly perform innovation for their peers. Today, that means AI products and AI workflows – no matter the cost.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
If you're comfortable, your principles aren't working

If you're comfortable, your principles aren't working

Design principles are a tool for delegating and scaling the ability to say "no" to many good ideas, so that they can say "yes" to one great idea. If your principles aren't constraining these kinds of decisions, then they are not actually fit for purpose.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Taste is a dead end; what you should have is a point of view

Taste is a dead end; what you should have is a point of view

By justifying decisions on the basis of taste, designers are throwing away the influence they need for preventing low-value feature bloat

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Attack of the Template Ronin

Attack of the Template Ronin

Learning “best practices” by rote has produced a cohort of shallow generalists. Solving real-world challenges requires tailoring your methods to the problem's unique context.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Design without feedback is theater (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 4)

Design without feedback is theater (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 4)

The building blocks of feedback loops are learn, design, build – in that order. It's Design's job to create these loops, because no one else will do it for you.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Design is a leadership skill (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 3)

Design is a leadership skill (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 3)

A seat at the table is no good unless design is part of the strategy. To find the right place to apply leverage, designers need to embrace systems thinking.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Steering a design career (why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 2)

Steering a design career (why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 2)

The work of design starts long before you open Figma. We must first seek out – or create – conditions in which good design is even possible, by building our own relational power.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 1

Why design goes wrong and how to set it right, part 1

At the root of design's crisis is an incentives crisis throughout tech. But we have tools that let us cut through the magical thinking of feature factories - if we're willing to use them.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
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