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Thinking,in ink.

Essays, field notes, hard-won learnings, the occasional shower thought. I write things down to find out what I actually think. You are welcome to read over my shoulder.

13 essays · 14 topics · latest Jul 08, 2026

Showing 13 essays

  • Jul 08, 2026

    Nobody is searching for otolaryngology

    Patients search by symptom, condition, and body part. Hospital sites answer in the language of departments, so every marketing dollar drives traffic into a vocabulary wall the navigation built.

    4 min
  • Jun 28, 2026

    The university homepage is a treaty, not a front door

    Every university homepage is cluttered in the same way, and the reason is not design. The space is divided by internal seniority, not visitor need, and no layout fixes a negotiation.

    5 min
  • Jun 19, 2026

    Emotional resonance is the differentiator

    AI can generate a competent website in minutes, which is exactly why competence no longer sets work apart. What stands out now is whether the experience makes anyone feel something.

    7 min
  • Jun 11, 2026

    Most redesigns are reorganizations

    When a product feels broken, the instinct is to redesign the surface. Usually the problem is underneath, in how the thing is organized. The fix is structure, not paint.

    3 min
  • Jun 10, 2026

    The prototype is the spec

    Forward-thinking teams are trading static, text-heavy PRDs for working, clickable prototypes built fast with AI. The spec is becoming something you use, not something you read.

    4 min
  • May 20, 2026

    Designing for cognitive load

    Most products do not fail because they lack features. They fail because they ask people to think too hard about the wrong things. A working method for spending attention deliberately.

    3 min
  • May 06, 2026

    Users don't know where your website ends

    A patient books care in one continuous motion across three systems owned by three teams. The worst failures live in the seams between them, and nobody is accountable for a seam.

    4 min
  • Apr 14, 2026

    Good work looks like failure at 90 days

    Structural work pays off on a lag, as search re-indexes and habits re-form long after the quarterly review has rendered its verdict. Negotiate the measurement window before launch.

    4 min
  • Mar 19, 2026

    Nobody gets promoted for deleting pages

    Everyone knows which pages are dead. They stay up because publishing is rewarded and pruning is punished, and making subtraction safe is a leadership deliverable, not another audit.

    3 min
  • Feb 24, 2026

    The tree test won an argument I couldn't

    Months of recommending the same navigation change moved nobody; one tree test ended the argument in a single meeting. The difference was research designed so the losing side could concede safely.

    4 min
  • Jan 27, 2026

    Polish is no longer evidence of thinking

    Reviews approve finished-looking work because finish used to mean effort. AI made finish free, and the instinct that reads polish as rigor is now approving hollow work it cannot feel.

    4 min
  • Dec 09, 2025

    Cheap alternatives are how good decisions die

    Design decisions used to be protected by the cost of producing an alternative, and AI removed that cost. If the reasoning was never written down, it is now up for grabs.

    4 min
  • Oct 21, 2025

    We automated the apprenticeship

    A junior on my team turned a rough brief into a polished prototype before lunch, and it worried me. The production drudgery AI just removed was where judgment formed, and that training now has to be rebuilt on purpose.

    4 min