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The Feed & The Thread - February 25, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  Today we're diving into how complexity accumulates in
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  systems through a series of small, locally rational choices
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  that lead to fragility and incomprehensibility over time.
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  And on the community front, designers are asking whether
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  honest portfolios are costing them jobs, and what happens when
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  your entire craft goes on autopilot.
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  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
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  Chicago Camps. Our next UX Camp event is coming up on Saturday,
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  May 30th. Tickets are free - with an option to pay if it's in
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  budget for you. There's an open call for speakers so now is your
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  chance to get on stage and share your ideas! You can also find
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  The Feed & The Thread online at feed and thread dot com to
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  submit your feeds, or download our app for all the feeds and
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  threads delivered right to your pocket.
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  The industry's been busy over the past day. Here's what's
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  catching our attention and worthy of yours. In a new piece
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  titled "How complexity accumulates," Michael Parent at
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  UX Design.cc explores how systems become fragile and
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  unmaintainable through small, locally rational choices. He
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  notes that each addition multiplies rather than adds to
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  the overall system's complexity, emphasizing the need for Systems
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  Thinking in managing this issue. Jeff Sauro, PhD, and Jim Lewis,
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  PhD at MeasuringU introduce Bayesian thinking as a method
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  for updating beliefs about user experience based on collected
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  data in, "An Intro to Bayesian Thinking for UX Research:
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  Updating Beliefs with Data." They illustrate this through
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  examples like estimating completion rates in usability
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  tests. Also publishing recently: Codrops, CSS-Tricks,
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  and UX Planet. Be sure to check them out in your feeds!
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  Okay, what's the community buzzing about?
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  Over in r/UXDesign, a designer asked a question that clearly
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  struck a chord: is honesty killing my portfolio? They've
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  been getting rejected because their case studies don't have
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  the polished research artifacts and process diagrams, but the
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  thing is, their real projects didn't allow for those. The
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  community's take? Don't hide the constraints; show how you worked
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  within them. Navigating limitations is its own design
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  skill, and a portfolio that shows that is more honest than
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  one full of made-up deliverables. And sticking with
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  r/UXDesign, there's a confession thread that's worth your time:
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  when did your craft turn into autopilot? One designer said
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  they ran an entire design cycle and felt absolutely nothing. No
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  curiosity, no investment, just muscle memory. The advice coming
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  in is to find that one moment in your workflow where you can stop
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  and ask "why" instead of just "what's next." Small thing, but
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  it snaps you back into the work. Meanwhile, over at r/web_design,
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  the comments are going on a thread asking whether AI website
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  builders are ready to replace WordPress. The consensus so far:
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  they're fast for a first draft, but when it comes to long-term
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  maintenance and client reliability, most folks are
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  sticking with what they know. Speed to launch is great; speed
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  to headache is not. That's what folks are buzzing about today!
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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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  Today, we talked about how complexity accumulates in
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  systems, highlighting the need for Systems Thinking. And over
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  in the community, the portfolio honesty thread really stood out:
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  the idea that showing how you worked within constraints is
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  itself a design skill and that shouldn't be overlooked.
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  That's your update for today. See you next time.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. Keep designing with
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  intention!