Systems Thinking

Pages and buttons are just touchpoints. It is the underlying system that makes them meaningful, and we must design that system first.

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

Systems Thinking

The social lives of ideas (Don't Just Do Things, Part 3)

Oct 27, 2025

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6 min read

The social lives of ideas (Don't Just Do Things, Part 3)

No amount of outputs will help maintain unbroken intent all the way through to delivery.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

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

Problem Design

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

Systems Thinking

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

Problem Design

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

Systems Thinking

If you're comfortable, your principles aren't working

Apr 27, 2025

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9 min read

If you're comfortable, your principles aren't working

Design principles are a tool for delegating and scaling the ability to say "no" to many good ideas, so that they can say "yes" to one great idea. If your principles aren't constraining these kinds of decisions, then they are not actually fit for purpose.

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

Apr 11, 2025

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9 min read

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

Systems Thinking

Design is a leadership skill (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 3)

Mar 29, 2025

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8 min read

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

Systems Thinking

Jan 17, 2025

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9 min read

A good day for a picnic

The inaugural post of the Product Picnic newsletter

Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

When teams don't understand their own product

Without UX governance, your app turns to "sludge"

The social lives of ideas (Don't Just Do Things, Part 3)

The aesthetics of success come at the cost of failure

AI saved the feature factory

Can Designers Avoid Meetings?

Apple's Liquid Glass is a grim portent for UX

If you're comfortable, your principles aren't working

Attack of the Template Ronin

Design is a leadership skill (why design goes wrong and how to set it right part 3)

A good day for a picnic

The Product Picnic