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

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
The bounty of the commons

The bounty of the commons

You'll never be able to make effective trade-offs without thinking holistically about the entire system, and the other people within it

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
The algorithm is not an excuse to stop systems thinking

The algorithm is not an excuse to stop systems thinking

Algorithmic search has pushed both users and designers towards design patterns that use removing friction as an excuse to take away control. But some tools are bringing thoughtfulness back.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
The process is the point

The process is the point

Using LLMs to rush the design process to the output at the end cuts out the very feedback loop that makes design worth doing in the first place.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Verschlimmbessern

Verschlimmbessern

Elevating quantitative methods above all other ways of informing decisions is a great example of "making things worse by making them better."

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
The outputs of design are memetic, not visual

The outputs of design are memetic, not visual

Like our products, visual artifacts should be designed to fit their audience and purpose. That purpose is not "so that someone can look at it."

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Hiring learners 👍 vs hiring to learn 👎

Hiring learners 👍 vs hiring to learn 👎

UX teams are optimizing themselves into being bad at UX.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
Tools for not-thinking

Tools for not-thinking

User research would have prevented this week's extremely expensive mistakes - but leaders are determined to keep making them.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov
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