Jules Walter argues that product sense is a learned skill rather than an innate talent, defined as consistently crafting products that have the intended impact on users through empathy and creativity. He offers four…
Marty Cagan, a consultant who works mainly with CEOs and product leaders, writes an open letter to designers about common mistakes that undermine their impact on products. He argues that designers should be involved…
Marty Cagan argues that UX designers often work in isolation, going off for days or weeks to produce a polished 'grand reveal,' a pattern he calls the 'internal agency model.' This breaks down because requirements and…
Cagan argues that many product teams neglect design, leaving products with weak user experiences because the design roles that shape usability and emotional appeal are missing. He lays out four design roles that work…
Cagan argues that user experience design should be completed before implementation begins, even though requirements/design and implementation/testing can each be run in parallel within their own pairs. He explains that…
Marty Cagan argues that a company building its first in-house design team should not simply recreate the old agency model, where designers received specs and produced screens. Modern product designers work continuously…
Marty Cagan argues that great products are not accidents but follow from a set of consistent principles. He lists ten truths, centered on the primacy of user experience design, the need to test ideas with real users…
Cagan argues that most websites are hard to use, ugly, or both, and that even companies that invest in design often fall short. He observes that interaction designers tend to produce usable but dull sites, while visual…
Cagan argues that the product design field should expand its focus well beyond usability. Usability still matters and can differentiate products, especially in enterprise software, but the harder question is whether…
Chris Jones argues that enterprise software companies often underinvest in product design because they assume only end users benefit from it, when design also drives buyer decisions. He contends that the product itself…
Marty Cagan recalls his early-1980s work at HP Labs, where research head Joel Birnbaum asked why most people dislike their computers, and proposed the idea of a 'domesticated computer' that adapts to people rather than…
“As I mentioned last week, I'm working with a design intern this summer. We were talking about the over all design process, when I argued, when you get to the ideation stage you have to grind it out. I like this metaphor. You can't just have one or”
Jason Fried argues that the most interesting design is the kind that changes how people behave, not just how something looks or works. He uses the power reserve indicator on the A. Lange & Söhne Lange 1 watch as an…
Marty Cagan argues that removing usability problems and bugs only gets a product to the absence of pain, which is not the same as delighting users. Great products cause pleasure, sometimes from raw value, but often from…
Julie Zhuo argues that as AI systems get better at producing polished work, the traditional signals of skill and craft are eroding, pushing people to ask what human contribution still matters. The essay frames this…
Jason Fried argues that the original Cuisinart food processor is a near-perfect example of interface design. Its two large paddle buttons, one latching for continuous ON and one spring-loaded for momentary PULSE/OFF…
Teresa Torres describes a design problem with a job posting form's location options, where combining multiple location types and telecommute rules created excessive complexity. Instead of designing from scratch, her…
Jason Fried describes staying in a brand-new rental house packed with smart-home technology and finds it worse than basic, older equipment. Lights, a TV, a dishwasher that needs an app, a thermostat, and an alarm panel…
Teresa Torres describes mentoring a design intern with no prior design background, who is learning interaction design over a summer. Her approach blends reading (Don Norman's and Alan Cooper's books), iterative…
Sho Kuwamoto, Figma's VP of Product, argues that Figma's success comes from putting customer needs first, a philosophy built into its culture from the early private beta. He describes how customer support became…
Lenny Rachitsky profiles how Linear, the project-management tool, builds its product, based on an interview with CEO Karri Saarinen. The post's core argument is that a small, craft-focused setup works well: no dedicated…
Katie Dill, a design leader who has worked with hundreds of PMs, offers five practical tips for building a strong product management and design partnership. She argues that PMs and designers share the same goal of…
Julie Zhuo's paid essay opens with Andy Warhol's point that every Coke tastes the same regardless of who drinks it, then uses that idea to frame a discussion of software. The piece appears to argue that digital products…
Jason Fried, co-founder of Basecamp, praises the Concept2 RowErg indoor rowing machine as a benchmark of product quality. He describes its simple, durable construction, low maintenance, easy assembly and compact…