DX Perspective: Strategy 3.0, Invisible Machines, and The Future of AI Tooling
Exploring the "Age of Invisible Machines" reshaping organizations, diving into Strategy 3.0 (Roger Martin meets social science), and getting a peek at Figma's 2025 AI report.
Hi all!
Here’s your weekly dose of DX Perspective, a list of what I’m exploring and thinking about. Feel free to forward this along to friends.
kw picks
Strategy 3.0 - the next wave of strategy — ReD Associates
Strategy 3.0 takes Roger Martin’s world-famous strategic playbook used by CEOs worldwide and combines it with ReD’s social science-based approach to create a joint framework for developing original strategies for the worlds of tomorrow.
How to Build and Scale Onboarding
The "leaky bucket" problem keeps founders up late at night. There are many levers you can pull to address it, but Gaurav Vohra says onboarding might be the most effective.
Figma's 2025 AI report: Perspectives From Designers and Developers
Last year, in Figma’s first annual AI report, we suggested that we were in a “pivotal” moment with AI, when AI hype in the industry was at its peak. While so much has changed in the twelve months since then, we’re still wrestling with many of the same questions. With foundational models becoming less expensive and widely accessible, there’s more competition than ever, and product builders are feeling pressure to both adopt AI into their workflows, and also ship AI-powered features at a fast clip.
13 Tech Career Misconceptions — Things I Wish I'd Learned Earlier
How people can be entirely wrong about things.
What I'm reading
Age of Invisible Machines: A Guide to Orchestrating AI Agents and Making Organizations More Self-Driving – 2nd edition
In the newly revised second edition of Age of Invisible Machines, renowned tech leader Robb Wilson delivers a startlingly insightful and eye-opening blueprint for using conversational AI to make your company self-driving―with a digital ecosystem of interconnected automations powering all aspects of your business.
Simple design by Charlie Deets
For as long as I remember, I’ve believed in simple design as a principle in my practice. It feels fundamental to me when I think about good design. At the same time, I see many successful examples of complex products in the world. So I decided to ask, what value is simple design really providing me and my work?
Standardizing your company’s approach can pay off. Here’s how.
Designing Perplexity (Talk notes from LukeW)
In his AI Speaker Series presentation at Sutter Hill Ventures, Henry Modisett, Head of Design at Perplexity, shared insights on designing AI products and the evolving role of designers in this new landscape. Here's my notes from his talk.
Emerging Tech
A Deep Dive Into MCP and the Future of AI Tooling by Andreessen Horowitz
Since OpenAI released function calling in 2023, I’ve been thinking about what it would take to unlock an ecosystem of agent and tool use. As the foundational models get more intelligent, agents’ ability to interact with external tools, data, and APIs becomes increasingly fragmented: Developers need to implement agents with special business logic for every single system the agent operates in and integrates with.
#023 Someone Like You (Only Hotter) by Dani Loftus
When our online world becomes populated by digital doubles will we lock in, or run out?
How AI, No-Code & Lean Teams Are Redefining Design
Tools and Resources
A product design process for the real world by Ted Goas
The product design playbook I use to break down and execute on design projects.
html.to.design — by ‹div›RIOTS
Import websites to Figma designs
My recent articles
Are You Actually Making Progress? How I Rewired My Weekly Reflection to Drive Real Impact
Strategic Design Leadership: Essential Questions for Design Executives
Fueling Innovation: How Design Leaders Drive Product Transformation
Moving Beyond Execution — The Evolution to Strategic Design Leadership
Decoding The Future: The Evolution Of Intelligent Interfaces
🔈 Design Leadership at Scale — Shape The Future of Business
DLS courses are built for design leaders ready to sharpen their strategy, expand their influence, and lead at the highest level. Whether you‘re mapping your next career move, strengthening design operations, or stepping into executive leadership, these programs give you the frameworks and insights to drive real impact.
DLS: Career Strategy (Sept 13–14)
Your career journey deserves intention and strategy. This weekend immersive is designed for design leaders who are ready to map out their path, elevate their impact, and align their leadership trajectory with long-term goals. Whether refining your current role or preparing for new opportunities, you’ll gain actionable frameworks to craft a career that stands out in a competitive market.
DLS: Executive (June 23–July 3)
This advanced course is tailored for senior design leaders—Senior Directors, VPs, SVPs, and CDOs — who are ready to lead at the intersection of design, business strategy, and emerging technology. Dive deep into aligning design with business objectives, fostering product culture transformation, and building scalable operations that support innovation and growth.
DLS: Operations
Scaling a design organization without compromising quality or culture is a challenge every design leader faces. This course equips senior and emerging design operations leaders with the tools to build robust infrastructure, optimize processes, and drive operational excellence. From talent development to systems that support rapid growth, this program is crafted for leaders ready to take their teams to the next level.
DLS: Director+
Built for experienced design leaders ready to step up to executive roles, Director+ focuses on leading in complex, matrixed organizations, scaling your influence, and making high-impact decisions. This course will empower you to lead with clarity and confidence, bridging design with broader business goals to drive value across the organization.
And please give me feedback. Which bullet above is your favorite? What do you want more or less of? Other suggestions? Please let me know.
Have a great weekend.
— Rachel