Insights on Product Development

Hiring Beyond 2025: Breaking the Algorithm, Beating the Bots, and Building Better Teams

“In a market where CVs are rewritten by machines and screened by other machines, the only reliable differentiator is the one thing algorithms cannot fake for long: how people think, collaborate, and grow with others.” That was the unspoken tension running through the panel at UXDX: AJ King (Senior UX Researcher at Houseful), Marine Palamutyan (Senior Manager UX Research at DocuSign), and Mihaela Draghici (Engineering Manager at Volkswagen Digital Solutions). Together, they unpacked the messy, o

Impact Without the Despair: Navigating Complexity with Intent

“Design isn’t just making screens. It is making decisions.” That was a quote Niall O’Kelly shared at UXDX EMEA 2025, reframing chaos as ambition in motion and showing how impact comes not from controlling complexity but from navigating it with clarity, trust and timing.

How To Use Your Learning & Development (L&D) Budget: Books, Courses, Conferences, And More

Most employees never use their learning and development (L&D) budget, sometimes also called a training budget. Here’s how to spend it wisely: books, online courses, workshops, degrees and conferences compared.

Hiring Beyond 2025: Breaking the Algorithm, Beating the Bots, and Building Better Teams

Excerpt:“Stop applying into the void. You already have a ‘no,’ so why not reach out directly? A single human connection will always beat an algorithm.” This is the advice of Mrinali Kamath, former Product Design Director at Ford. That was one of the many reality checks shared at UXDX USA 2025, during a candid panel on the future of hiring in design and product. Featuring Mrinali Kamath, Product Design Director at Ford; Ryan Leffel, Head of Design at Priceline; and Kelly Bowker, Head of Design a

From Product to CEO: Leading Beyond Execution

“Numbers up when you speak to the board, people down when you lead the team. That balance, of capital and care, is what unlocks trust at every level.” That is the mantra Rhiannon White shared at UXDX EMEA 2025. When Rhiannon White stepped into the CEO role at Clue, she thought the transition from Chief Product Officer might be more about nuance than fundamental change. After all, it was just two letters in a title. But as she shared in her fireside conversation with UXDX founder Rory Madden

Thriving as a Long-Term IC: Lessons in Influence, Growth, & Fulfillment

“Designers often think success means climbing the management ladder. But what if your real impact and fulfilment comes from staying an individual contributor?” That’s the provocative question Cliff Seal, UX Architect at Salesforce, put on the table in his talk at UXDX USA 2025. After 13 years at the same company, a rare milestone in today’s fast-moving tech world, Cliff has built a career that challenges conventional wisdom about growth, leadership, and longevity in design. Rather than chasing

Driving Transformational Business Results: The Role of Design Across the Org

“We all get into design to create for people. But when you start your first job, you quickly realise no one prepared you for how to design with people.” That candid observation from Daniela Jorge, Chief Design Officer at Capital One, set the tone for her fireside chat with Alex Burke, CEO of Optimal, at UXDX USA 2025. Their conversation, Driving Transformational Business Results: The Role of Design Across the Org, was a masterclass in how design leadership extends far beyond screens, pixels, or

The Engagement Dilemma: How to keep users hooked without causing fatigue

Balancing deep engagement with healthy consumption experience In the digital age, engagement is the holy grail of user experience. As social media platforms, we are  constantly seeking ways to captivate our audience, to keep them hooked on our content, and to make them come back for more. But as we strive for deeper engagement, we risk crossing a fine line into fatigue. Think about it: how many times have you found yourself mindlessly scrolling through social media, only to realize hours have

Design Beyond Barriers: How Comcast's Accessibility-First Approach Is Revolutionizing Hardware Design

"When you make a product more inclusive, you make a better product for everyone." This simple yet powerful principle has guided Grayson Byrd and his team at Comcast through a seven-year journey to reimagine what accessible hardware design could be. The result? The Xfinity Large Button Voice Remote – a device that's revolutionizing how people with disabilities interact with their televisions and challenging the entire industry to think differently about accessibility. From Afterthought to Innov

How Chase Drives Customer-Centric Transformation at Enterprise Scale

In an era where agile startups dominate the innovation narrative, how does a 300,000-employee banking behemoth stay nimble enough to deliver customer-centric digital experiences? At UXDX USA, Sonali Divilek, Head of Digital at Chase, pulled back the curtain on precisely this challenge, revealing strategies that balance the seemingly contradictory forces of enterprise scale and customer-focused experimentation. "Our job is to power the digital platform that gets customers to their full financial

Strategic AI Integration in Engineering Teams: Lessons from Google's Applied ML Approach

In the race to implement AI solutions, many organizations skip the most critical step: defining the actual business problem. "It's very tempting to think that the answer is generative AI, no matter what the question is," cautions Keyvan Azami, Engineering Manager at Google. "Start with the problem." After eight years leading ML implementation for Google's internal operations, Azami has developed a methodical approach that cuts through the hype. His team's experiences offer valuable insights fo

Improving Product Design with Futurism

When we think about design, we often focus on interfaces, interactions, and user journeys. But what if design could do more than just refine what exists? What if it could actively shape the future? Jod Kaftan, Head of Product Design & Research at Oracle, believes that futurism and design thinking are deeply intertwined. And by applying strategic foresight, designers can play an active role in shaping tomorrow’s products, industries, and even societies. At UXDX USA 2024, Kaftan shared how future

The Challenge of Process in Mature Organizations

Processes can be both a blessing and a burden. In mature organizations, they provide structure, continuity, and predictability. But they can also be rigid, bureaucratic, and resistant to change. At UXDX USA 2024, Chris Avore, Head of Design at Northwestern Mutual, tackled this challenge head-on in his talk, Implementing Product Process Change in a Mature Organization. Avore laid out a compelling case for why process should be seen as an enabler rather than an inhibitor of innovation. He explore

Design-Driven Leadership

“Good intentions aren’t enough—mechanisms work better.” This was one of the defining insights from Mrinali Kamath’s talk at UXDX USA 2024, where she shared how she navigated ambiguity, alignment challenges, and resource constraints to lead with design-driven leadership at Ford. In a world where UX isn’t just about designing products but also shaping business strategy, Mrinali’s journey is a powerful case study of how design thinking can create impact—not just for customers, but for teams and le

Motion for AI: Creating Empathy in Technology

What if motion design could bridge the gap between humans and artificial intelligence? Pavithra Ramamurthy, Lead Product Designer at Salesforce, shares how motion design enhances AI transparency, fosters user trust, and turns technology into an empathetic partner. The Challenge Artificial intelligence (AI) has transformed the technological landscape, but creating AI systems that connect emotionally with users remains a significant challenge. At UXDX USA 2024, Pavithra Ramamurthy, Lead Product