Timeless skills. Automated skills. New essentials.

Working closely with so many product builders, I’m seeing a clear shift: the strongest aren’t doubling down on process, specs and documentation—they’re rewriting the role with judgment, taste, and influence.

Some skills remain timeless. 

Some are being automated. 

And some new ones are already non-negotiable.

Still timeless

• Product taste → knowing what is right for users and business

• Ownership → driving outcomes end-to-end

• Stakeholder management → aligning engineers, designers, and leaders toward one vision

Disrupted by AI

• Research → surveys, and synthesis now automated

• Documentation → PRDs drafted instantly by AI

• Analysis → data crunching handled by algorithms

New essentials

• AI workflows → weaving AI into the product —deciding where to automate, where to augment, and where humans must stay in control.

• AI evals → building the discipline to measure accuracy, bias, and reliability of AI systems, and knowing when “good enough” is safe to ship.

• Context engineering → shaping prompts, framing data, and setting guardrails so AI delivers useful and relevant outputs.

The playbook has changed for all of us - whether in design, engineering, or product. 

Every builder will need to know which timeless instincts to protect, which skills to let AI take over, and which new ones to embrace.

Design just went presidential :)

I thought my weekend was set: another round of beers ranting about Trump’s new tariffs with some buddies.

But instead, he threw us all a curveball—by signing an executive order on… design.

Yep, you heard that right. The U.S. government now gets:
🎨 A Chief Design Officer
🏛 A National Design Studio
⚡ A mandate to make public services beautiful and efficient

As someone in India who’s spent most of his career wishing for stronger executive presence in design—so products could be intuitive, simple, and yes, actually beautiful—I’ll happily raise a glass to Trump on this one. 🍻

Stop starving the next generation of designers

I get a few messages every month from junior designers requesting for opportunities. Sadly, I have nowhere to send them.

The job boards and my conversations with other design leaders tell the same story: senior IC roles dominate while entry-level positions have nearly vanished.

What’s feeding this narrative? “Since AI can handle the foundational work, why invest in developing human talent?”

The real issue isn't that AI can do junior work—it's that we've forgotten what junior work actually is. 

Learning to think through problems. 

Building design judgment. 

Understanding how to collaborate. 

Developing the instincts that come from being in the room when decisions get made.

The energy, curiosity, and fresh thinking that juniors bring isn't just nice to have—it's essential for healthy design culture. And if you give them real, meaningful work, mentor them and connect them to the right people—they will deliver. Every. Single. Time.

Without juniors today, who replaces the seniors in 5 years? Time to build balanced teams before it’s too late!

Why my team thanks me for being inconsistent

I got so tired of my feed drowning in "AI will change everything" posts that I decided to write about something truly revolutionary: managing actual humans with feelings and stuff :)

(Almost) Wrapped up quarterly check-ins with my team—2 weeks of 1:1s that reminded me of a management principle that goes against conventional wisdom: Great managers must be inconsistent.

This sounds counterintuitive. We're taught to be fair, predictable, consistent. But here's what I've learned: treating everyone the same isn't actually fair at all.

During these 1-1s, I found myself playing completely different roles:

• “The challenger” for someone who gets energized by stretch goals

• “The sounding board” for someone who just needed to be heard

• “The influencer” for someone whose great work was flying under the radar

• “The straight talker” for someone who needed an honest reality check

• “The hard truth deliverer” for someone who simply wasn't cutting it

Each person walked into that room with different needs, different motivations, different circumstances. This "inconsistency" is actually the most consistent thing we can do—consistently meeting each person where they are and giving them what they need to succeed.

So here's my controversial take:

Stop trying to be "fair" to everyone. Your team will thank you for it.

Your edge in design might not be design

The design work that’s moved the needle most in my career… 

often hasn’t been the design itself.

(IRecently) It’s actually been the story around it—

why a product matters, what it changes, how it fits into people’s lives.

That’s where my background in advertising and consulting keeps showing up, 

not simply as an adjacent skill. But as THE edge.

It’s clearly NOT what my peers and bosses expected from design. 

But now? 

They see it.
They ask for it.
They rely on it.

And as AI continues to accelerate execution, this ability to connect the dots—across brand, narrative, craft,  interaction and user interface —isn’t just useful.

It might become essential.

IMHO, this is the  moment of creative generalists.

Not in the jack-of-all-trades mode. 

But … A translator. A taste-maker. A sense-maker.

So, if that’s your background: You're not on the edges of design. You're exactly where it might be headed.

Burnout is the tax on undervalued design

Lenny’s recent poll on burnout among product teams had a surprising result for many: Designers were the most burnt out.
But if you’re on a design team, this tracks.

While PMs and engineers are happily vibe-coding prototypes in hours (respect 👏)—design has quietly absorbed more work, not less. 

Because, while a prototype might be a replacement for PRD (which hardly any one reads anyway), it hardly covers for the intentionality and care great design brings. 

Most prototypes—while helpful—lack taste, hierarchy, narrative, and consistency. That’s not a dig, it’s a reflection of the mindset, skills, and doing right by the people we’re designing for. 

But that desire is constantly in tension with the business need to move fast and ship. 

Add to this:

• Low(er) influence on roadmaps

• Constant advocacy for value 

• Context switching between products with tight timelines 

…and you’ve got a team that’s perpetually catching up, always proving its worth, and rarely allowed to lead.

If you're a product or engineering leader reading this:
Empower design not just to respond, but to shape.

Because what looks like polish is often the very soul of the product experience.

No one’s going to invite you to the AI table. Go anyway.

I recently watched a designer on my team accept a data dump labeled "moments of satisfaction and frustration" from our AI-powered analysis of our customers' calls between their staff and guests. Their response? "Great! I'll design a dashboard to display this."

No questions about how AI analyzed human conversations. 

No validation that these "moments" were real. 

And, I said nothing.

We've both failed here. We've become decorators of AI output instead of advocates for human understanding.

Here's the uncomfortable truth: In AI-powered products, the model IS the interface. Your beautiful UI means nothing if the underlying AI is trained on biased data, excludes entire user groups, or makes decisions that offer no value to the people (worse, even harm them) you're designing for.

We're entering a new paradigm after GUI, Web, Social, and Mobile. And, we can't afford to arrive late to the conversation. 

Stop waiting for an invitation to AI strategy meetings. Start questioning:

• What data trained this model?

• Who's missing from the dataset?

• How do algorithmic decisions impact different user groups?

• What feedback loops help the AI learn ethically?

Our empathy and problem-solving skills are exactly what AI development needs. But, the choice is ours: Design interfaces for AI systems built without us, or help design the intelligence itself.

As far as I can see, the future belongs to designers who refuse to stay at the surface level.

Shipping fast is easy (with AI). Shipping well is (still) rare :)

(A few weekends ago) I witnessed an army of engineers, organized into groups, racing to "hack" more than a dozen shippable features—powered by AI—in record time. 💪 💪 💪 

Ideas that would normally take weeks? Brought to life in a matter of hours with tremendous energy, blazing keyboards (And a lot of beverages and pizza ☕ 🍕 ).

It was inspiring, exciting (and slightly chaotic)!

But as I worked with a few teams to wrap some of that impressive functionality into something people might enjoy using, I couldn't help but realize that while AI can help us build fast, thoughtful design will make this matter.

The future isn't just about what we can ship.

It’s (still) about what people will love to use. 🙏 

==

P.S. Huge kudos to the entire team (and their mentors) who pulled this off in the middle of a hectic release cycle, 

AND a special shoutout to one of our team leaders, Anurag Chaudhary, who stood his ground, refusing to ship until a certain experience bar was met. While some celebrated because “it works!”, he insisted: "Not unless it works well :)"

Moving fast vs Moving thoughtfully. A design legend’s take

“I have no interest in breaking stuff for the sake of breaking stuff. I think breaking stuff and moving on quickly... leaves us surrounded by carnage…”

In today's AI-augmented environment, when the drive to "move fast" is highlighted as a path to innovation and remaining competitive, this quote from Sir Jony Ive serves as a powerful counterpoint. (If you're not familiar, Sir Jony Ive is the design legend known for his pivotal role in creating iconic products like the iPod, iPhone, and iMac at Apple)

Speaking at a recent event with Stripe's CEO (well known for his deep-rooted focus on design), Ive shared his perspective that building with true craft, care, and intentionality goes beyond simply meeting functional requirements or business metrics. For Ive, it is fundamentally about fulfilling a responsibility towards our customers and is deeply connected to a place of spirituality and gratitude for the opportunity to serve others. 

Here are five key takeaways from the discussion, highly relevant for anyone building products today:

1. What we make shows who we are and reflects our values and goals

2. Real innovation is not “being different for the sake of being different” but something that moves humanity forward

3. Make your users feel special so they think “somebody gave a shit about me”

4. Don’t only measure the measurable - Qualities like making something "delightful to use" are equally, if not more, important

5. True craft cares about everything, even the unseen. A powerful marker of who we truly are is "what we do when/where no one sees"

In all humility, Ive by no means dismissed the need to "move things forward" or innovate, but challenged the idea that innovation is merely "being different or breaking stuff". 

This is a powerful call to infuse our building process – from design to engineering – with genuine care for the people we aim to serve. 

Video link 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wLb9g_8r-mE

Churchill dictated naked :) You can at least prompt better!

Churchill, butt-naked in his bathtub, dictating entire speeches to his secretary who’s furiously typing away outside the door, is a great reference for how to work with AI. 

Absurd, right? But there’s a genius insight hiding in there!

While Churchill was dishing out orders, he wasn’t just barking commands. He was collaborating—fine-tuning his speeches with his secretary like a true creative partner.

And that’s exactly how the most successful people today work with AI, according to a study by Stanford.

The study found that most people say AI actually hurts their creativity. But there’s a small group who are crushing it with AI. What’s their secret?

Underperformers treat AI like a tool.

High performers treat AI like a teammate.

They don’t just ask for outputs and accept them.

They let AI ask them questions, pushing it to deliver better. 

They coach it, refine it, and make it work harder.

Same ChatGPT.
Same tools.
Completely different results.

So go ahead—be like Churchill.
Speak your ideas aloud. Collaborate. Refine.
Don’t use AI. Work with it.

AI isn’t coming for designers. It’s coming for mediocrity.

A fascinating experiment recently pitted an experienced designer against a non-designer armed with AI tools in a head-to-head landing page design competition. (Link in post comments)

The results were illuminating: while the seasoned pro (expectedly) won, the AI-assisted novice remained competitive throughout the process, creating work that judges found “impressive enough”. The gap that once required years of training to bridge is now being narrowed by vibe-coding tools.

But this is far from a doomsday scenario some alarmists would like us to believe.

Yes, AI is lowering the barrier to entry in design. Anyone with access to these tools can now produce serviceable work. But the truly existential question isn't whether AI can help non-designers make passable websites.

The true opportunity lies in how professional designers can harness these same technologies to elevate their craft beyond what was previously possible.

Most designers are approaching AI defensively—learning just enough to stay relevant while hoping our "human creativity" will remain our differentiator. That approach is dangerously shortsighted. We need to fundamentally reimagine what design can be when augmented by these tools—creating work of such vision and sophistication that it establishes an entirely new standard.

The floor is indeed rising quickly. But who among us is seriously experimenting with how high the ceiling might go?

Hope is not a promotion strategy

Hope is a dangerous thing. Especially in performance reviews.
Here are three things I’ve learned when you aim for something awesome and instead get a lesson in humility :)

Promotions, bonuses, and raises are outcomes, not goals. Tie your ambition to those, and you’re at the mercy of calibrations, and budgets. Instead, set goals around becoming so good they CAN’T IGNORE YOU. Focus on owning your craft and enriching your soul with the progress you see every day, not with a one-time reward dictated by a spreadsheet. (Julie Zhuo says it better, but you get the gist.)

A good manager is a rare find. If you have one, cherish them. Not just as a boss but as a human who sees you—your potential, your struggles, your wins that didn’t make it to the company-wide email. The kind of manager who doesn’t just push you forward but pulls you up. Who fights for your case behind closed doors, reminds you of your worth when self-doubt creeps in, and—on the days you want to rage-quit—sends you a “Let’s talk” message instead of “It was a tough decision this time”

Finally, make it impossible to ignore you next time. If this review cycle leaves you with a pile of feedback, sit with your manager, get hyper-specific on what success actually looks like, and turn it into a game plan they are thrilled to see you execute. Then? Go all in. Build things so sharp naysayers sit up and take notice. Make sure, when the next review rolls around, the decision isn’t a debate—it’s a no-brainer.

So if this review didn’t go your way, take a deep breath. This isn’t the final score. You’ve got time, talent, and the drive to make the next one yours.

Stop managing. Start making!

I’ve been watching a curious trend lately. Folks with 10 yrs+ in design, implementation, and operations are sliding into product management—a reminder of how delightfully ambiguous skills needed for a successful PM, can be!!

Meanwhile, I have rarely come across anyone pivoting into design after 10+ years elsewhere. Developing taste and the hardcore craft of design isn’t a weekend side hustle you can bluff your way into, late in the game.

But while product management is where career switchers seem to be going to thrive, design management is where creativity is headed to die—buried under layers of delegation and "people management".

Trying to hire design managers lately, I noticed how many have over-optimized themselves into delegation machines to the extent that when asked how AI is redefining their work, the hottest take I heard was: “I use ChatGPT instead of Google to research and write copy.” Groundbreaking

The best design leaders DON'T step back—they step in.

They operate in "creator mode".

They set the vision, shape the work, and stay close to execution so the details don’t drift. It’s not micromanagement. It’s being in the trenches, sweating the details, and pushing outcomes higher.

And in an AI-augmented world where resources will only get scarcer, true leadership won’t be about stepping back. The best leaders will need to set a high bar for originality, storytelling, and emotional resonance—things AI can’t fully grasp ( as yet).

If you’re a design leader clinging to process and delegation, here’s your wake-up call: You can either be a creator or an administrator.

Only one of those will shape the future.

Design doesn’t need a seat. It needs a spine!

“Designers don’t think strategically or tie their work to business impact”
Right. And everyone else is just so laser-focused on business goals.

Let’s be clear—this story isn’t about our capabilities. It’s corporate-speak for "Let’s keep design out of the big decisions…and underpaid”

And here’s the worse part: (Many) designers repeat this nonsense too.

By claiming that design hasn’t "earned" its seat at the table, we reveal an inferiority complex—as if product and engineering earned their powers by submitting a 50-slide ROI deck. (Spoiler: they didn’t).

If someone doesn’t value design, no PowerPoint deck is going to change their mind.
That’s their problem, not yours.

Here’s what our playbook needs to be:
1. Measure impact in ways that matter to us.
2. Stop begging for respect.
3. Work with people who respect our craft—(and pay accordingly).

Life’s too short to explain (again) why good design is good business.

Your users aren’t loyal - they’re just trapped :(

I’ve always championed the mantra: “Design is everything!” A smooth, intuitive experience drives engagement and retention, while bad UX pushes users away. Or so I thought—until I realized that’s not always true.

Users often tolerate bad UX—sometimes for years—when the product delivers something they can’t get elsewhere

When resources are tight, companies prioritize usability based on how competitive the market is. In a crowded field, design becomes a powerful differentiator—users will flock to the option that offers both utility and a seamless experience.

But in niche, high-necessity markets with little competition? Usability takes a backseat. When the product is critical and alternatives are scarce, users endure friction because they have to.

Think government portals, university systems, or many professional software for that matter. Even Adobe—despite its complexity and steep learning curves—has held its position as an industry standard for decades.

This insight reshaped my understanding of UX. If the perceived or actual value of a product is high enough, users will tolerate poor usability rather than abandon it encouraging the companies to allocate resources elsewhere, such as expanding features, improving infrastructure etc.

But here’s the risk: A product that survives despite poor UX is running on borrowed time. The moment a competitor offers the same utility with better usability, the balance shifts. Look at Figma stealing Adobe’s thunder :)

So here’s the question we must ask ourselves: Are your users staying because they love the experience—or because they have no other choice?

If your users are silently enduring bad UX today, what happens when they finally have an alternative?

Designs vs PMs vs Engineers: Survival of the least automatable

"Will AI take my job?" is the new "Do you have a minute to talk?"
Naturally, this sparks some very rational, completely unbiased discussions in the team :)

Exhibit A:

PM: "I’m using tools like Lovable and Bolt to whip up fully functional prototypes. Sooo... you designers are kinda screwed, right?"

Engineer: "Cute. Maybe improve prompting to get your specs right first? And before you come for me—AI writing actual production code? Yeah, let me know when that’s not a hallucination."

Me: "Fantastic, Mr. PM! You’re finally not dependent on us designers for at least a simple single-screen UI. That means we can focus on solving real problems—like workflows across dozens of screens with hundreds of states that don’t feel like a robot made them.
And Mr. Engineer, let’s just say the jury is still out on whether AI will replace designers with taste, empathy, and craft… or engineers stacking generic UI components like a Jenga tower."

So who’s actually winning here? AI. We’re just arguing over who gets replaced last.
Now excuse me while I update my LinkedIn skills to include ‘Collaborates Masterfully Well with AI :)’”

Where are our supercars!

I just watched Lotus reveal a vision car that physically transforms while driving (crazy right), less than 24 hours after a heated debate with my design team about using consistent button shapes and colors. What's wrong with us?

It's not that we lack creativity. We just limit our imagination to two-week sprints, quarterly roadmaps, and endless stakeholder meetings.

The auto industry's secret? They never stopped creating concept cars – those wildly impractical, impossibly futuristic vehicles that rarely see mass production.

Are these exercises in futility? Quite the opposite. They're strategic north stars that shape entire industry roadmaps. They stretch our imagination of what's possible, inject bold ideas into conservative roadmaps, and most importantly, spark crucial debates about where we should be heading.

We digital product designers have this same superpower, yet we rarely unleash it. Our job isn't just to solve today's UX problems. It's to envision tomorrow's possibilities before anyone else can see them.

Here's what I wish to do at Zenoti Design in 2025:
- Carve out dedicated "concept design" time – completely detached from current roadmaps
- Push beyond incremental improvements to imagine transformative possibilities
- Use these visions to inspire engineers, product managers, executives and our customers!

Remember, our concept might be the spark that fires the entire product roadmap. The auto industry has known this for decades. Time for us to reclaim our power to dream bigger.

What's your "concept car" this year?

Even Harry Potter has haters! :(

While exploring gifting ideas for my son’s friend, we stumbled upon the Harry Potter collection and it was fascinating to see thousands of negative reviews alongside the countless praises. 

This stark reality serves as a powerful reminder that no matter how iconic your work is, you will never satisfy everyone.

I see this phenomenon play out in our work all the time. In our quest to create exceptional experiences, we often fall into the trap of trying to appease every opinion.

Great design is about making choices that serve your audience best—not chasing after every voice. So let’s stop spreading ourselves thin, folks!

Before You Do 90 Hours, Try Doing 9

Before leaders jump to 90 hour weeks, maybe they should ask their teams to pack-in more work during the stipulated 40?

A typical "hardcore" workday in the life of a knowledge worker:
• 10:30 AM: Get in a bit late because … well….rush hour
• 11:00 AM: Daily standup (after breakfast, of course!)
• 11:30 AM: Pre-lunch scrum meeting
• 1:00 PM: Lunch break
• 1:30 PM: Post-Lunch Soota+chai break
• 2:00 PM: Post-lunch status update
• 4:00 PM: Evening snack break
• 5:00 PM: End-of-day alignment meeting

P.S. Would love to do 90 hours but my calendar is fully booked with meetings about productivity :)

The best seat in the house isn’t always at the table!

After years of being the loudest ‘Seat at the table' evangelist (And pitching it as the Holy Grail of design careers), I have a confession to make...

I'm actually loving NOT being at the executive table these days (and not having to perfect my 'I'm totally following this financial forecast' face 🤫🤫). 

Turns out, not being summoned to countless Business Reviews has got me to discover the joy of actually ... building!

Going deep into our craft. 

Discovering new tools and tactics.

Mentoring the team. 

Solving real user problems.

Don't get me wrong – design absolutely needs strategic influence in organizations. But maybe, just maybe, influence can come from doing exceptional work rather than sitting through 47 status updates about things that won't change your life.

So ... here’s to enjoying the strategic absence from certain tables, because (often) the best view isn't from the table, it's from the design studio where actual work happens 👍 ❤️👍