Logo
Search
Home
Archive & Search
Browse by Tags
Login
Sign Up
Logo

Teamwork and Leadership

UX is a team sport. To drive strategy and render our design decisions into products, we must bring others along with us.

Systems Thinking

+2

Trust is not built on craft alone

Jul 6, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

Even with a silver bullet, you still have to aim

Jun 28, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

+2

Feedback loops require real feedback. AI drives it underground.

Jun 13, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

+1

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

Jun 7, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

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

Apr 26, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Metrics and Data

+1

Designers will never have influence without understanding how organizations learn

Apr 12, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

AI mandates are a demand for cognitive surrender

Apr 5, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

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

Mar 22, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

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

Feb 15, 2026

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Feedback Loops

+1

Stop doing UX cheerleading

Dec 14, 2025

•

9 min read

Stop doing UX cheerleading

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

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

The myth of "no design process"

Dec 7, 2025

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

When teams don't understand their own product

Nov 23, 2025

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

LLMs

+1

Amazon's layoffs are driven by something even stupider than AI

Nov 2, 2025

•

8 min read

Amazon's layoffs are driven by something even stupider than AI

Andy Jassy wants you to think that velocity can make up for lack of strategy. But "build, measure, learn" only works if you're willing to learn.

Pavel Samsonov
Pavel Samsonov

Systems Thinking

+1

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

Oct 27, 2025

•

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
Pavel Samsonov

Teamwork and Leadership

+1

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

Oct 19, 2025

•

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

•

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

LLMs

+2

The people ARE the process

Sep 21, 2025

•

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

•

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

•

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

•

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

Aura UX

Aug 17, 2025

•

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

•

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

Teamwork and Leadership

Design struggles to be born

Jul 27, 2025

•

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

Systems Thinking

+1

Can Designers Avoid Meetings?

Jun 28, 2025

•

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

Teamwork and Leadership

The glue is the work

Jun 8, 2025

•

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
Load more

The Product Picnic

Writing on UX and product management to connect today's discourse with classic insights that the industry forgot.

© 2026 The Product Picnic.
beehiivPowered by beehiiv