DX Perspective: The New Mandate, When Speed Becomes Table Stakes, and Creating Intelligent Products
Exploring the new mandate for design leadership in an AI-native world, and examining how speed has transformed from competitive advantage to baseline requirement.
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
The new mandate: design leadership in an AI-native world
Too many design leaders are still waiting. Waiting for product to define the strategy. Waiting for clarity before they weigh in. Waiting for permission to lead. But in an AI-first world, the waiting game is over.
Design assimilated into business, but did business ever understand design?
Rejecting the notion that design is ‘dead,’ Pentagram partner Natasha Jen says that it has instead fallen victim to a monoculture of metrics. Now is its moment to reclaim what it does best – ‘construct reality’ and ‘shape meaning’ – rather than hit short-term goals to shift units.
The Future Needs Better Storytellers: Designing with Imagination in Mind
It’s the year 2040. And no one calls themselves a “changemaker” anymore.
What I'm reading
When Growth Plateaus: How and When to Layer on New Acquisition Channels
This post is the third in an unintentional series on the levers founders reach for when trying to scale their company’s growth. This is beyond the day-to-day optimization a growth team might work on. This is about the next mountain that can 3x to 10x the company’s value.
Your next design system user is an agent
How to structure components for machine readability, semantic clarity, and long-term resilience
Every few months, some bright spark reminds the internet that designer and former Apple Chief Creative Officer Jony Ive “just copied Dieter Rams."
Customer value means business value
People don’t purchase products because companies are selling them. People find themselves in situations where they are trying to achieve progress or reach a desired outcome This can be articulated as a ‘need’ and is what motivates their action.
Should You “Rent” an Exec for Your Startup? A Fractional COO Weighs In
Everyone tells you that hiring execs is some of the most consequential work you’ll do as an early-stage founder. And yet it’s frustratingly hard to find the time to do it well.
When Speed Becomes Table Stakes: 5 Improvements to Accelerate Insight to Action
In a world where traditional moats can evaporate in weeks rather than years, speed has transformed from competitive advantage to baseline requirement—yet here lies the paradox: while building and shipping have never been faster, the insights to fuel that building remain trapped in months-long archaeological expeditions through disconnected tools.
Design at Intercom - by Tom Scott
I’m excited to tell the story behind the design team at Intercom. In the last 2 years Intercom has truly rebooted with ambition as they’ve pivoted to being an AI first company. They are at the coal face of AI redefining customer service with Fin.
Trading Margin for Moat: Why the Forward Deployed Engineer Is the Hottest Job in Startups | Andreessen Horowitz
It turns out dethroning Salesforce isn’t as simple as spinning up an OpenAI-enabled voice agent. Companies attempting to replace core workflows owned by legacy systems of record with lightweight, wrapper-like integrations too often see their agents break or fail outright.
What I'm watching + listening to
The Curious Case of Henry Modisett — First of Kind
Perplexity's groundbreaking approach to browser development, blending search engines seamlessly into the browsing experience. The discussion delves into the art of balancing innovation with familiar user interactions and the fast-paced iteration that fuels their product evolution. It also spotlights the quest for exceptional design talent and the dynamic, opportunity-rich environment startups offer to ambitious designers.
How to build an AI-first organization | Ethan Mollick
Most companies are using AI to cut costs. Ethan Mollick argues that the biggest mistake companies make is thinking too small. In the first episode of Strange Loop, Wharton professor and leading AI researcher Ethan Mollick joins Sana founder and CEO Joel Hellermark for a candid and wide-ranging conversation about the rapidly changing world of AI at work.
35 years of product design wisdom from Apple, Disney, Pinterest and beyond | Bob Baxley – Lenny’s Podcast
A student of history turned software craftsman, Bob discovered his calling after exploring photography, filmmaking, and music, ultimately recognizing software as the most powerful creative medium of our time. Bob champions the moral obligation designers have to reduce frustration in people’s daily digital interactions.
LinkedIn founder: how to get ahead while others lose their jobs | Reid Hoffman - Silicon Valley Girl
The new bar for design excellence at Shopify – Dive Club | Darrin Henein
This week's episode is with Darrin Henein who is the VP of Design at Shopify. We talk about how they create a culture of excellence and how AI is influencing the way they practice the design.
Cassie Kozyrkov on How AI Can Be a Leadership Partner
The data scientist and author of the Decision Intelligence newsletter on why people who think they’re making data-based decisions may actually fall short.
Outsourcing Thought - with Nicholas Thompson and Nita Farahany – The Most Interesting Thing in A.I. podcast
AI is reshaping not just what we think but how we think. In this episode, Nicholas speaks with neuroethicist and legal scholar Nita Farahany about AI's impact on human cognition.
Emerging Tech
Will Jony Ive be able to move design to the next frontier with OpenAI? by Darren Yeo
After years of quiet creativity, Jony Ive returns to the spotlight — partnering with OpenAI to design humane AI hardware and redefine the future of design with care, simplicity, and soul. Will his vision steer technology back toward the human experience?
AI chatbots ranked by data they collect - Surfshark
AI chatbots are everywhere these days, but have you ever wondered what information they might be gathering about you? To provide clarity, we analyzed the data collection practices of the top 10 AI chatbots available on the Apple Store, from Google Gemini to DeepSeek, ChatGPT, and more.
Creating Intelligent Products - Silicon Valley Product Group
This is an article about the potential future of the products we will create, and how we will create those products. However, to understand where we’re heading, we need to look back over the past 40 years.
Tools and Resources
Practical ways I use AI in design
From content riffs to research synthesis: what’s working, what’s tricky, and what’s next
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 (Sept 16–25)
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