Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - April 26, 2026

Transcript

The Feed & The Thread - April 26, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  AI tools are generating confident answers with zero
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  grounding. So the old rule of strong opinions is actually
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  broken now. We're getting dangerous certainty from systems
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  that don't know what they're doing. We need to talk about
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  this.
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  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
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  Chicago Camps. There's an open call for speakers for UX Camp
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  Summer on May 30th, so now is your chance to get on stage and
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  share your ideas! You can use our Proposal Counselor to help
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  you get submitted today. The Feed & The Thread is available
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  online at feed and thread dot com to submit your feeds, or
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  download our app for all the feeds and threads delivered
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  right to your pocket.
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  We're drowning in features while our tools push us to move
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  faster. The real challenge isn't adding more, but having the
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  discipline to remove what doesn't matter. Luis Hermosilla
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  at UX Design.cc argues that true design mastery now means
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  strategic subtraction. In "The art of subtraction in a world of
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  infinite features", he shows how adding features often dilutes
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  the experience. Removing non- essential parts creates the
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  clarity users actually need. Speed is breaking our ability to
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  build trust and consensus. Fabricio Teixeira writes about
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  this at UX Design.cc in "What we behold, the trust-latency gap,
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  designing haptics". He challenges the factory model of
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  software and warns that AI coding agents can't replace
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  human collaboration. Our product mantras are getting
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  inverted by confident AI outputs. Jeff Gothelf at his own
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  blog explores this in "Strong opinions, loosely held — and
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  what that means in the age of AI". He notes that AI lacks the
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  memory of past failures that gives human opinions real value.
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  Other reads today from UX Planet on vibe coding myths, AI model
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  comparisons, and the future of product design.
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  Today we're digging into the real cost of feature creep.
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  Over on r/UXDesign, a designer is admitting they're looking for
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  a way out because the financial instability has finally caught
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  up. They're watching savings erode while unemployed for over
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  a year. One commenter notes the field has professionalized and
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  success stories just don't post as often. But the silence from
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  the unemployed is deafening. The real discipline right now isn't
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  adding more features, it's having the courage to leave a
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  broken system. In r/UXDesign again, a team lead is asking
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  where top talent is actually moving beyond simple upskilling.
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  They're rejecting generic advice and looking for real strategic
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  shifts into product or audience building. They fear pure
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  execution roles are becoming obsolete in the AI era. This
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  question matters because it exposes a gap between tool
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  adoption and career survival. If we keep adding tools without
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  removing execution work, we're just speeding up our own
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  obsolescence. Over on r/UXDesign, two new weekly
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  threads are popping up to separate entry-level hunters
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  from experienced pros seeking portfolio reviews. One is for
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  those with three years plus, the other for anyone just breaking
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  in. The strict guidelines on anonymity show how desperate
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  people are to get honest feedback without risking their
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  current jobs. It's a sign that the old career ladders are gone
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  and we're all scrambling for a new map. The tension is clear:
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  we're asking for better structure in research while
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  simultaneously wondering if the whole profession is collapsing
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  under its own weight.
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  Chicago Camps is hosting UX Camp Summer on Saturday, May 30th.
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  There's an open call for speakers so submit your idea
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  today! It's an online event, so you can join from anywhere in
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  the world! Tickets are free, thanks to the generosity of the
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  community! If it's within your budget, you can purchase a
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  general admission ticket for only thirteen dollars and fifty
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  cents. Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org.
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  The thread about designers leaving the field because
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  savings are gone hits harder than any article on feature
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  bloat. It proves the discipline isn't just about removing code,
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  it's about the courage to abandon a broken system. That
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  courage is exactly what the new anonymous review threads are
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  trying to buy back. People are desperate for honest feedback
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  but terrified their current employer will find out, so
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  they're building safety nets in the shadows. But those safety
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  nets only work if the profession actually values the judgment
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  they're hiding. If the market only rewards speed and output,
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  then hiding to get better just delays the inevitable. Speed is
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  the trap. The real value isn't in the mockup the AI spits out
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  in seconds, it's in the strategic subtraction that
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  decides which mockup gets thrown away. So the market is forcing
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  a shift where the ability to say no becomes the only thing that
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  can't be automated. And that's the gap where the profession
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  actually gets rebuilt. Uncomfortable territory. But
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  uncomfortable and obsolete have never been the same thing. No.
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  And right now the gap between those two words is where all the
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  interesting work lives.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. We'll catch you next
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  time!