Latest / The Feed & The Thread / The Feed & The Thread - July 13, 2026

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The Feed & The Thread - July 13, 2026 · The Feed & The Thread

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  Traditional feedback tools fail because AI gives everyone a
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  different answer. So we're just guessing what users actually
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  saw. And that's why we're digging into how to measure
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  experience when the output is never the same.
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  Welcome to The Feed and The Thread, brought to you by
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  Chicago Camps. Leadership By Design is on Thursday and
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  Friday, September 17 and 18 and tickets are available now! And
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  while you're at it, get caught up on UX fundamentals with five
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  minute UX at five em UX dot com. The Feed & The Thread is
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  available online at feed and thread dot com to submit your
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  feeds, or download our app for all the feeds and threads
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  delivered right to your pocket.
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  We treat user feedback as a universal signal, but AI breaks
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  that assumption. When every output is unique, traditional
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  metrics fail, forcing us to rethink how we measure success
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  and quality. Jeff Gothelf at his own blog addresses this in
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  "How to Collect Product Feedback When Your AI Gives Every User a
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  Different Answer". He argues that subjective opinions miss
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  the mark because AI outputs are non-deterministic. Instead, he
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  suggests tracking 'next actions' like override rates. This shifts
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  focus from what users say to what they actually do next.
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  Aurélie Radom at UX Design.cc makes a sharp distinction in
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  "Taste cannot be delegated". She claims AI can predict
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  preferences but lacks the judgment to decide what deserves
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  to exist. Taste isn't just data; it's responsible action based on
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  context. We risk shipping hollow designs if we delegate that
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  choice to algorithms. Pavel Samsonov at Product Picnic
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  critiques our industry in "Empathy and delight mean
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  nothing when the software is disrespectful". He says empathy
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  without respect is just pity, often born from a designer's
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  messiah complex. Removing all friction also removes user
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  agency and the ability to course-correct. True respect
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  means building software that trusts users to handle
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  complexity. Other articles today from Roman Pichler on
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  product vision, UX Planet on code loops, and UX Design.cc on
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  craft outcomes.
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  Practitioners are realizing that traditional feedback loops are
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  breaking down, forcing a rethink of how we measure success when
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  outputs become unique. Over on r/UserExperience, a researcher
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  admits they were just collecting quotes instead of actually
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  understanding users. They shifted from frantic note-taking
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  to focusing on immediate observations, letting recordings
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  handle the detailed context. This matters because when AI
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  generates unique responses, we can't rely on standardized
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  metrics anymore. We have to trust our qualitative intuition
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  more than ever. In r/uxwriting, a graduate in Germany shares
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  eight months of job searching with no results. They want to
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  pivot using logical thinking and information architecture, but
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  they explicitly rule out coding. It's a stark reminder that the
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  market is frozen for juniors, and degrees alone don't
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  guarantee entry. The tension here's between having the right
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  skills and finding a door that's actually open. On r/Design,
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  someone asks for help pivoting from marketing to strategic
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  design without drawing. They're looking for programs that
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  prioritize psychology over technical illustration. This
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  highlights a persistent divide in the field: is design a craft
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  you learn by doing, or a strategy you study? When AI
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  handles the visual execution, the strategic mind becomes the
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  real differentiator. Also on r/Design, a user reports that
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  Canva Docs PDF exports are wonky. It's a small frustration,
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  but it underscores the tension between ease of use and
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  professional output. We trade precision for speed, and then we
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  pay the price in broken layouts. It's a reminder that tool
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  convenience often hides technical debt. We're seeing a
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  shift from measuring output to measuring intent, as the tools
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  that generate the work become less relevant than the questions
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  we ask.
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  Chicago Camps is hosting Leadership By Design on Thursday
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  & Friday, September 17 & 18. It's an online event, so you can
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  join from anywhere in the world! Tickets are free, thanks to the
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  generosity of the community! If it's within your budget, you can
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  purchase a general admission ticket for only twenty six
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  dollars - with limited early bird tickets at only fifteen
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  dollars. Get tickets now at Chicago Camps dot org.
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  Pavel Samsonov's point about empathy versus respect hits a
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  nerve. He argues that removing all friction actually strips
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  users of agency. It turns care into pity. That resonates
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  because the community is already seeing the cost. When we trade
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  precision for speed in tools like Canva, we pay with broken
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  layouts. Convenience hides technical debt. Exactly. We're
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  optimizing for ease while ignoring the structural
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  integrity of the output. The algorithm gives you what you ask
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  for, not what you need. It lacks the judgment to say no. So the
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  shift isn't just about better tools. It's about trusting the
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  user to handle complexity. We need to stop designing for
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  people who can't think and start designing for people who choose
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  to act. Respect means leaving room for error. It means the
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  software doesn't correct you until you've actually failed.
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  Right. And when we stop trying to be messiahs, we finally start
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  building products that respect the user's intelligence.
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  That's The Feed and The Thread for today. We'll catch you next
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  time!