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Oliver Buchannon
Pavel Samsonov

Problem designer. Sick of rectangles.

Teamwork and Leadership

+1

All your problems are people problems (Don't Just Do Things, Part 2)

Oct 19, 2025

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7 min read

All your problems are people problems (Don't Just Do Things, Part 2)

If you want to do strategy, you must be willing to do process transformation first.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+1

"Just doing things" is not a path to value (Don't Just Do Things, Part 1)

Oct 12, 2025

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7 min read

"Just doing things" is not a path to value (Don't Just Do Things, Part 1)

Action for the sake of action feels good, but the path of least resistance leads you to surrender your own agency.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

User Agency

UX so bad that it's illegal

Oct 5, 2025

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6 min read

UX so bad that it's illegal

Big tech is divesting from user-centered design, and getting into hot water with the law.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

+1

"Workslop" was the logical outcome of productivity maxxing

Sep 27, 2025

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7 min read

"Workslop" was the logical outcome of productivity maxxing

Local throughput optimization always externalizes costs onto downstream colleagues.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+2

The people ARE the process

Sep 21, 2025

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8 min read

The people ARE the process

Cutting down on collaboration tricks you into thinking you're going faster, but it destroys the divergence effects that make the design process valuable.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

+3

Research is a leadership skill; don't cede it to AI

Sep 12, 2025

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9 min read

Research is a leadership skill; don't cede it to AI

The role of UX is not only to change the behaviors of users, but also to influence the behaviors of stakeholders. Adding AI tools to this process only undermines alignment.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+2

Skipping alignment leads to zero-impact UX

Sep 7, 2025

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9 min read

Skipping alignment leads to zero-impact UX

Deliverable artifacts are only a small part of the social system that product development entails. Any "productivity" gained by ignoring that system is an illusion.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

The aesthetics of success come at the cost of failure

Aug 31, 2025

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7 min read

The aesthetics of success come at the cost of failure

It's easy to get a seat at the table. Just agree to become part of the problem.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

"Human in the loop" is a thought-terminating cliche

Aug 24, 2025

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10 min read

"Human in the loop" is a thought-terminating cliche

Without thoughtful guard rails, asking people to clean up after machines doesn't make machines better — it makes people worse.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

Aura UX

Aug 17, 2025

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8 min read

Aura UX

Shortcuts to establishing the legitimacy of design sabotage your ability to achieve anything meaningful.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

+1

The ROI of UX is so massive that no one will believe you

Aug 10, 2025

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7 min read

The ROI of UX is so massive that no one will believe you

User research makes the most difference when findings challenge closely-held assumptions. But the truth is often unpopular.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

The AI age is the "age of no consent"

Aug 1, 2025

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10 min read

The AI age is the "age of no consent"

"Inevitability" means design decisions are no longer informed by user needs; now they are unilaterally imposed. The users are the ones being designed.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

Design struggles to be born

Jul 27, 2025

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7 min read

Design struggles to be born

The golden age of UX is over. But the momentum that it brought is not yet extinguished, and a new generation of design leaders is seizing it.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+1

Only outputs can be automated

Jul 20, 2025

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8 min read

Only outputs can be automated

By emphasizing design's role as a producer of visual outputs, our leaders have eroded the entire justification for UX as a practice.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+1

Fear vs Play

Jul 12, 2025

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9 min read

Fear vs Play

Fear is choking out thoughtfulness in tech, and it can't be replaced with "more productivity" — because productivity is not what motivates corporate layoffs.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+2

AI saved the feature factory

Jul 6, 2025

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9 min read

AI saved the feature factory

When outputs are valued above all else, hallucinations and slop aren't bugs — they're features.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

Can Designers Avoid Meetings?

Jun 28, 2025

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8 min read

Can Designers Avoid Meetings?

LLMs are not the first tool to promise that they can free us from having to talk to people so we can "focus on the work." But talking to people IS the work.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+1

Imitating the future, breaking the present

Jun 20, 2025

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7 min read

Imitating the future, breaking the present

Tech companies are only pretending to innovate, through copying futuristic aesthetics from science fiction without understanding their purpose.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

+1

Apple's Liquid Glass is a grim portent for UX

Jun 13, 2025

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11 min read

Apple's Liquid Glass is a grim portent for UX

Industry leaders like Apple and Shopify are redefining design excellence from making products usable to solely luxury branding.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

The glue is the work

Jun 8, 2025

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7 min read

The glue is the work

Tech orgs only function thanks to people who volunteer for thankless "glue work." This is the space where UX lives; for the field to get respect we need to make this work visible.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

The AI Hangover Era (The Everything App Part 3)

May 31, 2025

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12 min read

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

LLMs

+1

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

May 23, 2025

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10 min read

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

LLMs

+1

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

May 18, 2025

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10 min read

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

Problem Design

+1

Figma Dreamweaver

May 9, 2025

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7 min read

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

LLMs

+1

The AI job crisis is a crisis of groupthink

May 4, 2025

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10 min read

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
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