Articles
Articles
Essays on product thinking, systems, and design practice
A curated set of essays that make the thinking behind the work more legible — from AI-assisted workflows and research methods to information architecture, delivery, and decision design.
AI & workflow design
How AI changes product workflows, trust, review, and decision support.
AI and product thinking
AI can accelerate workflows and improve visibility, but it does not rescue weak strategy, shallow UX, or unclear decision-making.
Where AI actually helps product teams
AI can be genuinely useful in product work, but usually in quieter, more grounded ways than the hype suggests.
Research & validation
Methods for understanding friction, ambiguity, and what users actually do.
Research beyond surveys
Surveys have their place, but they are often the wrong tool for understanding friction, ambiguity, and failure inside real product workflows.
Testing before launch
Testing should not be treated as a final validation ritual. Its real value is in shaping decisions earlier, while teams still have room to respond.
Prototyping as a research tool
Prototypes do far more than make ideas look finished. They help teams test assumptions, expose gaps, and think through behaviour before the cost of change rises.
Systems, IA & complexity
Designing structures that help people navigate complexity, information, and choice.
Designing for specialist users
Specialist products demand more than simplified interfaces. Good UX respects domain depth, supports confidence, and reduces unnecessary effort without flattening the work.
Information architecture for complexity
Information architecture is not just about navigation. In complex systems, it shapes comprehension, trust, and whether users can move through the product without guesswork.
Practice, delivery & leadership
Essays on collaboration, delivery, design maturity, and working well with product and engineering.
Lean UX without dogma
Lean UX can help teams move faster and stay closer to the work, but only if it is treated as a practical approach rather than a belief system.
Agile, UX, and delivery
The tension between Agile and UX is often overstated. More often, the real problem is weak planning, unclear ownership, and design arriving too late or too vaguely.
What design systems enable
Design systems are not just component libraries. At their best, they improve consistency, reduce decision drag, and help teams build with more confidence across products.
Messy success and neat case studies
Product work rarely unfolds in clean arcs. The more honest story is usually mixed, partial, and harder to package neatly.