Archive

Problem Design

Your problem framing is sabotaging your strategy

Jan 18, 2026

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7 min read

Your problem framing is sabotaging your strategy

Skipping to designing the solution before you have adequately designed the problem is not speeding you up, but slowing you down.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

See what is happening, not what is supposed to happen

Jan 11, 2026

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11 min read

See what is happening, not what is supposed to happen

The stories we are telling around user research and LLMs have locked us into a doomed framing. Reject the very notion that it is "better than nothing."

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Jan 4, 2026

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7 min read

Your metrics are an avoidance strategy

Being able to quantify outcomes doesn't make them meaningful. Moving past artificial metrics requires building shared intention with colleagues.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Dec 26, 2025

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6 min read

Bouncing back from burnout

The causes of burnout are systemic. You can't get out of it just by trying harder.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

AI Fatigue VS the Executive Echo Chamber

Dec 20, 2025

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7 min read

AI Fatigue VS the Executive Echo Chamber

The backlash against "AI-in-everything" is rising. Only execs are surprised.

Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

Dec 14, 2025

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9 min read

Stop doing UX cheerleading

Design is being hijacked to create legitimacy for bad ideas. We can do better.

Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

Dec 7, 2025

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9 min read

The myth of "no design process"

Process can add friction, but trying to get rid of friction by getting rid of process dooms design to irrelevance.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

When teams don't understand their own product

Nov 23, 2025

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7 min read

When teams don't understand their own product

A usable product starts with the conceptual model, but designers have "optimized" that work out of the profession. It's time to bring it back.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Without UX governance, your app turns to "sludge"

Nov 15, 2025

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7 min read

Without UX governance, your app turns to "sludge"

Break out of the feature delivery mindset and attend to the architecture and maintenance of the product.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Nov 9, 2025

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6 min read

This meeting could have been a picnic

Well-designed meetings are just as important to our work as well-designed artifacts.

Pavel Samsonov

Archive

Your problem framing is sabotaging your strategy

See what is happening, not what is supposed to happen

Your metrics are an avoidance strategy

Bouncing back from burnout

AI Fatigue VS the Executive Echo Chamber

Stop doing UX cheerleading

The myth of "no design process"

When teams don't understand their own product

Without UX governance, your app turns to "sludge"

This meeting could have been a picnic

The Product Picnic