Archive

Problem Design

LLMs are just normal technology. But tech is just a normal medium.

Sep 27, 2026

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5 min read

LLMs are just normal technology. But tech is just a normal medium.

The more we focus on a particular technology, the more we lose sight of what normal people actually care about.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Assigning agency to AI means surrendering your own

Sep 20, 2026

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5 min read

Assigning agency to AI means surrendering your own

Claude is not a colleague, collaborator, or sentient being. It is a SaaS product.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

AI hypervigilance is now an omnipresent cognitive load for your users

Sep 13, 2026

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4 min read

AI hypervigilance is now an omnipresent cognitive load for your users

AI may make your job easier, but that effort has just been shifted onto your users. They are noticing it and they hate it.

Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

Sense-making is only productive when it is collective

Aug 23, 2026

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3 min read

Sense-making is only productive when it is collective

The "optimization" you achieve by automating interfaces between colleagues is always going to be self-defeating.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

No amount of velocity can shield your team from opportunity cost

Aug 16, 2026

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5 min read

No amount of velocity can shield your team from opportunity cost

AKA "LLMs can't fix your shitty internal culture"

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

Cognitive Pollution: Real knowledge only forms through doing the work

Aug 7, 2026

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5 min read

Cognitive Pollution: Real knowledge only forms through doing the work

What if the cure for getting a grip on this moment wasn't a pound of artificial intelligence, but an ounce of the natural variety?

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

AI is not a substitute for knowing how to run software projects

Jul 26, 2026

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3 min read

AI is not a substitute for knowing how to run software projects

Despite execs' best hopes for automating their own jobs, technology will always remain downstream of decision-making.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Thoughtless features never add up to a thoughtful product

Jul 19, 2026

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5 min read

Thoughtless features never add up to a thoughtful product

Your first idea for how to solve a problem is most likely to be a low-impact hack. Delightful user experiences require a higher level of thinking.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Empathy and delight mean nothing when the software is disrespectful

Jul 12, 2026

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6 min read

Empathy and delight mean nothing when the software is disrespectful

Software is now something we do TO users, instead of something that we make FOR them.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Jul 6, 2026

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5 min read

Trust is not built on craft alone

No amount of tooling will let product teams move faster than being trusted to own their process. That trust is earned through rigor rather than mere velocity.

Pavel Samsonov

Archive

LLMs are just normal technology. But tech is just a normal medium.

Assigning agency to AI means surrendering your own

AI hypervigilance is now an omnipresent cognitive load for your users

Sense-making is only productive when it is collective

No amount of velocity can shield your team from opportunity cost

Cognitive Pollution: Real knowledge only forms through doing the work

AI is not a substitute for knowing how to run software projects

Thoughtless features never add up to a thoughtful product

Empathy and delight mean nothing when the software is disrespectful

Trust is not built on craft alone

The Product Picnic