Pavel Samsonov

Problem designer. Sick of rectangles.

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

Systems Thinking

Even with a silver bullet, you still have to aim

Jun 28, 2026

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4 min read

Even with a silver bullet, you still have to aim

Productivity gains among frontline employees can't counteract the abdication of responsibility at the executive level.

Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

Jun 21, 2026

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3 min read

The glassholes are back, thanks to AI

Recording people without consent — once seen as a brazen privacy violation — has become thoughtlessly routine, both in meetings and on the street.

Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

Jun 13, 2026

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5 min read

Feedback loops require real feedback. AI drives it underground.

The methods we take for granted have load-bearing requirements that have already gone extinct in many organizations.

Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

Product teams struggled to create intent. AI let them think they could skip it.

Jun 7, 2026

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3 min read

Product teams struggled to create intent. AI let them think they could skip it.

Don't mistake product delivery for the finish line. It's just the start of the race.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

The future of UX design is not a higher-velocity version of its present

May 31, 2026

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6 min read

The future of UX design is not a higher-velocity version of its present

Scaling the rate at which we fiddle around the edges of a system will never translate into meaningful transformation of that system.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

AI is not the future of software development, but the last dying gasp of the past

May 23, 2026

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6 min read

AI is not the future of software development, but the last dying gasp of the past

The industry has been building careers and business models around solving the very problems it created. But the conditions that once made this possible are breaking down.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

The newest term in the AI lexicon is "interpassivity"

May 10, 2026

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3 min read

The newest term in the AI lexicon is "interpassivity"

The industry is reorienting around software that uses itself. But giving ourselves permission to lean back and relax merely indulges an old and toxic tendency.

Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

May 3, 2026

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3 min read

The illiterate organization

Even the most actionable insight will never be acted upon when coherence has broken down.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Claude Design is a "clock time" solution for a "calendar time" problem

Apr 26, 2026

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4 min read

Claude Design is a "clock time" solution for a "calendar time" problem

Orgs are betting that they can substitute sense-making with faster artifact delivery. Users are paying the price.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Start designing in content, not in code.

Apr 19, 2026

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2 min read

Start designing in content, not in code.

Putting the cart before the horse is not giving you real velocity wins.

Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

Designers will never have influence without understanding how organizations learn

Apr 12, 2026

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9 min read

Designers will never have influence without understanding how organizations learn

We confuse prototypes with demos, and validation with confirmation bias. As a result, we cannot lead — instead, we are led.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

AI mandates are a demand for cognitive surrender

Apr 5, 2026

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7 min read

AI mandates are a demand for cognitive surrender

Studies show that reducing our scope of judgment to checking AI outputs leads to abandoning critical thinking altogether.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Grammarly shows how prototyping turned into an excuse for not thinking

Mar 28, 2026

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10 min read

Grammarly shows how prototyping turned into an excuse for not thinking

The industry is in the grip of directionless urgency, and users are paying the price. Strategy has been replaced with half-baked features.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

UX works through social relationships. AI tools are erasing them.

Mar 22, 2026

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8 min read

UX works through social relationships. AI tools are erasing them.

Stakeholders want to vibe code and have designers clean up after them afterwards. But rather than helping with velocity, there is just more noise and more work for everyone.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Software is a coordination problem. AI can't help you with that.

Mar 13, 2026

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6 min read

Software is a coordination problem. AI can't help you with that.

The feedback loops of the product delivery lifecycle go through people. Adding AI makes it slower, not faster.

Pavel Samsonov

Problem Design

Checking an LLM's work is a systemic, not an individual, problem.

Mar 8, 2026

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8 min read

Checking an LLM's work is a systemic, not an individual, problem.

Only a culture of design critique can prevent sloppy AI-generated problem definitions.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

"AI layoffs" like Block's are a race to the bottom that have nothing to do with productivity.

Mar 1, 2026

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7 min read

"AI layoffs" like Block's are a race to the bottom that have nothing to do with productivity.

You won't be replaced by AI, nor a person using AI, because backfills aren't real.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Research is leadership, and code can help (but only in the right places)

Feb 22, 2026

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7 min read

Research is leadership, and code can help (but only in the right places)

Code was never the blocker in delivering customer value — and the easier writing code becomes, the more it distracts from the work we must do to unblock productivity.

Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

Corporations demand perfection from workers, but AI gets unlimited slack.

Feb 15, 2026

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7 min read

Corporations demand perfection from workers, but AI gets unlimited slack.

LLM users have bottomless patience for inconsistent tools, and no grace left for their colleagues. What if we could flip it around?

Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

Feb 7, 2026

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5 min read

The circular logic of our metrics

We design what is familiar. The design patterns we adopt are the ones yelling at us the loudest.

Pavel Samsonov