Weekend Reads: Five Links
Strategic thinking vs. Execution. Multi-modal design & Agents.
Write a Working Backwards Doc
The Working Backwards process is a useful tool in product development. It starts with the customer experience and works backwards to create a clear vision and plan. This approach can help teams bridge uncertainty between their current state and their desired, future outcome.
If we're not working backwards from a clear vision of success, are we truly building a bridge to the future, or constructing a path to nowhere?
How To: Write a Working Backwards Doc | tig.log (kindel.com)
"Users prefer consistency, while builders seek constant improvement, creating tension."
Product teams are wired to keep building. Product managers, designers, and engineers are constantly on the lookout for the next feature to add or the next problem to solve.
According to this article, the constant urge to build often turns out to be more harmful and most often leads to bad products over time. WDYT?
HMW strike the right balance?
The Paradox of Builders & Users · Hardik Pandya (hvpandya.com)
Design Execution to Strategic Design
Balancing strategic thinking with tactical delivery is crucial and difficult. There are some pointers in this post on approaches that help.
HMW nurture a design culture that both pushes the boundaries of strategic thinking while maintaining focus on delivering delightful (and feasible) user experiences?
Designing for the Agent
Great read on the widely used chat-based AI paradigm (Multi-turn, aka Chat) by proposing a more integrated approach for software, where AI agents work autonomously within existing workflows, allowing users to supervise and manage complex tasks with greater intent.
It also, very briefly, highlights the importance of moving beyond the articulation barrier, suggesting AI-assisted flows that anticipate and adapt to user intent, similar to how Notion's context menu learns from user behavior to streamline frequent actions (Try the text color picker a few times).
I think this type of thinking and applying these approaches could help reduce cognitive overhead and enhance user experience by integrating AI assistance into the natural (”Human”) flow of work.
ChatGPT’s New Advanced Voice Mode
ChatGPT's new Advanced Voice Mode is changing how we interact with AI, offering a more natural and responsive experience.
This update is big in its potential to assist users in processing their private thoughts authentically.
As AI assistants begin to understand and respond to human emotions, HMW redefine the boundaries between technological tools and emotional companions? HMW build more intuitive and empathetic human-computer interactions?
Review: ChatGPT’s New Advanced Voice Mode (every.to)