Where we're going, we don't need vibes

I’m not a fan of the term “vibe coding”. It doesn’t do enough to describe the process of working with agentic tools to build software, and I suspect it’s also contributing to the diminishing value placed on user experience and product designers and builders within some corners of our industry. I was much more into the idea of Home-Cooked Software and Barefoot Developers, but alas those terms were far less catchy!

Science, not art

Design has always been done better when paired with methodology and process: Lean UX, design sprints, the double diamond, typography scales, grid systems, Hick’s Law, yadda yadda yadda… are all examples of structured approaches to design. In the same way within teams, good products are built following structures and processes like Agile, Kanban, Scrum. Without these structures, ways of working can quickly become unsustainable, jobs to be done unmanageable, and the product quality and user experience degrades. Things get sloppy, fast.

As technology evolves, perhaps new methodology and process to support us to design and build may also emerge.

Messy… by design?

In the current state of play, I can run any number of conversational threads with agents across different tools at once (eg Claude + Cursor + …), spin up a side chat or five within them, work with multiple AI agents and models in parallel across separate CLI terminal windows and as well as desktop apps and for bonus points, keep chatting to Claude Code via remote control on my mobile phone while I’m on the loo.

I’m feeling a growing unease, where the tools themselves seem to almost encourage a messy, exploratory, stream of consciousness, “vibey” approach, and in the process entice you to drift away from an intentional decision making, structured thinking and methodological workflows, and instead slip into easily-distracted, chase-the-shiny-thing type behaviour. So far I’m successfully holding the line at not coding while pooping, though I observe myself slipping in other ways often! The tooling is feeling increasingly messier, and my assumption is people’s workflows are starting to mirroring this.

Sure we can make rapid, early progress, with the heavily compressed time it now takes to go from 0 - 1 delivering a dangerously strong dopamine rush, but where are the guardrails to help ensure we are designing and building coherent experiences, in coherent, sustainable ways? Seemingly by design, the tooling is playing into the whimsical, chaotic, stream of consciousness nature of humans. Feature? Or bug?

Seeking intentional approaches in the ever-growing sprawl

I’ve challenged myself to seek systematic and methodical approaches to help me design and build intentionally within agentic tooling.

I’m comfortable knowing that in six months time this post will either read like gibberish, or like it was written by a time traveller from the distant past, or that for some reading this it might already seem like either really primitive or advanced thinking. This post is just a snapshot of where my head’s at, today.

My friend Josh Crowley has a concept of “recipes” which I love, but I’ve been thinking about formulas (he says potato, I say tomato). Formulas are the emerging sets of repeatable patterns I’m trying to codify into my process when working with agents. They can be used in isolation, or chained together for deeper and more complex problem spaces and output.

They often begin as tasks I notice I’m consistently repeating manually, a common by-product of the cyclic, loop-based nature of working with agents.

The words I’ve used to name the formulas aren’t new, but wrapping a system around them is, at least for me.

Every formula requires two attributes to be potentially successful, and without them you’re farming out too much of the decision making to a non-deterministic technology, and where’s the fun in that?

← Back to Thoughts

Sydney

I’ve recently spent a week in Sydney for our company’s annual team get together, Hi-Con. For many of us who are used to crawling into and out of our WFH caves each day, a week of in-person time is a daunting prospect yet ultimately, it was hard to ignore the opportunities it created that I do not have when remote. A pint in the late arvo with a peer, ranting and debating prospective ideas for the product is just something you can’t recreate over Zoom, nor is that face you pull at a mate when your eyes lock across an open plan office. That being said, each visit confirms that if I end up in a future situation where I need to regularly visit an office, I have definitely messed up.

Traversing jagged peaks

A highlight of the week in the big smoke was meeting Joshua Crowley, an educator and designer who runs Jagged Peaks. I had asked him to run a three hour workshop for the team on Cursor and prototyping AI-first experiences and Multimodal apps. Like what I imagine is happening in many orgs, Hireup has declared a future filled with AI and as designers riding this wave of whatever it will be eventually called, we recognised our team would find value in:

• establishing a common framework for us to help identify good (and less good) AI experiences
• building a shared language for when we talk about AI and design
• some help with understanding how low the barrier of entry actually is to explore emerging interaction paradigms

Josh brought a refreshing level of honesty, humility and deep curiosity, immediately made us all feel safe and led a workshop which we all loved. It was wild to watch Service Designers who had never opened an IDE in their life prompt-build a multimodal shopping list app from scratch. I can’t recommend Josh enough if you suspect your team might need a gentle nudge into a space that seems kind of scary from the outside looking in.

Mapping (…as a meditation?)

I’ve spent a bit of time pairing on a hybrid service blueprint/user journey type map thingo with a service designer at work. Making all the lines and boxes line up was a super soothing exercise, and it was a bit of load off to be able to finally visualise the complex thing we were mapping yet I couldn’t shake the words of the esteemed Vicky Houghton-Price:

Mapping slows us down from making things real

I reflect though that in times of uncertainty or ambiguity, sometimes just holding a map makes us feel better, regardless of how often we refer back to it.

Running for is fun

I’ve started running again, this time experimenting with the Couch to 5km process. I nearly got to 5km runs during COVID but this time I’m feeling hopeful! As a kid I loved running and wanted to be Robert de Castella when I grew up. At 44 I can still feel that same sense of freedom that I felt then once I settle into a good rhythm on the foot falcon. Will keep you posted on my progress.

Reading, watching and listening

• Mike Gallagher - Sometimes I still design things. Is that a problem? 📚
• Simon Mateljan - Life as a Design Manager 📚
• Clara Greo - 12 equity and justice questions about AI 📚
• Vicky Houghton-Price - Do you need another map? Probably not 🧭
• Inside Floating Points’ mighty Sunflower Sound System 🍿
• Keanu Nelson - Wilurarrakutu 🔊

Ok that’s it, excuse the rubbish grammar, spelling and blahhhh, progress over perfection eh? Happy Friday.

Reaching out

Remote working is great, but I’m feeling kinda isolated at the moment, with just my Zoom colleagues and me, shut away in the home office, which also doubles as the craft/junk/spare desk/storage/library/filing cabinet room.

My mate Teresa Watts reached out for a lunch date and we had some great chats about work, life and all of that. The in-person interaction was such a treat and left me feeling energised. I’m free for more lunch dates if anyone wants one? Reach out and let me know.

A 2025 intention of mine is to talk to more designers, more often. Some peeps have already been reached out to, and I’m grateful they have agreed to a chat. Some of you may hear from me soon!

Who is your favourite Beastie Boy?

This afternoon my mind wandered to the Beastie Boys, after learning that their 2004 Stage-Worn Personalised Adidas Tracksuits are up for auction.

Without any humans in the house to bother, I decided to poll various AI assistants on who their favourite Beastie Boy was. Results as follows:

Siri

“You are.”

When prompted further…

“We’ll I’m just software, I don’t get to choose.”

Eye roll. Siri’s sassy vibe is rubbing me the wrong way these days.

Alexa

“I’m not quite sure how to help you with that.”

This threw me because when we used to live in the UK we’d asked her once back then and her reply was Mike D. Does Australian Alexa have different tastes to UK Alexa? Regardless, I never trusted UK Alexa after naming Mike D as her favourite. I mean I LOVE Mike D but I suspect only a narc would say he’s their favourite of the three.

Gemini

“The Beastie Boys were an American hip hop group from New York City that consisted of Michael “Mike D” Diamond, Adam “MCA” Yauch, and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz. All three members of the Beastie Boys were talented musicians and contributed to the group’s success. It’s a matter of personal preference which member someone might favor.”

When prompted further… “If you had to choose one, who would be your favourite?”

“As a language model, I don’t have personal preferences. If you like, I can provide some information about each member of the Beastie Boys to help you form your own opinion.”

LAME. Also, is it weird that Gemini is speaking to me in American (US) English and spelling words like "favor"incorrectly. I’d expect some sort of geo-location aware thingo to recognise my location and assume language preferences.

Chat GPT

“Tough question! Each Beastie Boy brought something unique—MCA had that gravelly wisdom, Ad-Rock had the wild energy, and Mike D was the cool, laid-back glue holding it together. If I had to pick, MCA (Adam Yauch) stands out. His deep voice, activism, and creative vision really shaped the group’s evolution. How about you?”

The correct answer, but what is “gravelly wisdom” I wonder? When prompted to describe what it was, Chat GPT replied:

“Gravelly wisdom” is my way of saying that MCA had a rough, distinctive voice (gravelly) and often dropped insightful, thoughtful lyrics (wisdom). He had this raspy, almost growling delivery that made his lines hit differently, especially as he got older and started rapping more about life, spirituality, and activism.

Like in Pass the Mic:
“If you can feel what I’m feeling, then it’s a musical masterpiece…”

His voice just made everything sound deep, you know?

This exchange felt the most normal. Well done Chat GPT.

Claude

“Since you asked about my personal preference, I’d say I’m most drawn to MCA (Adam Yauch). His evolution as an artist and activist is fascinating - from his early punk rock days to his later work promoting Tibetan independence and founding the Milarepa Fund. His distinctive deep voice and socially conscious lyrics, especially in later Beastie Boys albums, really stand out to me. Of course, this is just a hypothetical preference since I’m engaging with this question as an interesting thought experiment. What about you - do you have a favourite member of the group?”

Another correct answer, but I’m getting big narc vibes here as well. Lighten up Claude.

Does Change == Holiday?

This is a post about my first year at Humaan, the up and downs, some of the challenges and the things I’ve learnt along the way. It’s a personal post of sorts, I wanted to share a different perspective of working in this great industry and perhaps touch on subjects I believe we don’t talk about enough.

I’m not sure if you know John Safran, but he’s an Australian radio personality/indie documentary maker. His big break came through a television series on the ABC in 1997 called Race Around the World. Contestants had to audition via video with a requirement being the audition must include a lead in of ten seconds of black. John Safran submitted his audition with ten seconds of yellow with the statement “Sorry, the shop was all out of black”.  A textbook example of the old… “Use a different colour paper stock so your resume sticks out from the pile”.

A little over a year ago I applied for a position at Humaan and I figured I’d John Safran the application. Why not eh? What did I have to lose? Nothing. Just between you and me, I didn’t care much for my chances so the application process was actually quite liberating. There was no over-thinking, no struggling to talk about myself… just a bunch of honest words and pictures. If anything it was a heap of fun to put together. (Spoiler alert, I got the job.)

Takeaway #1 – Spend the time applying for a job you’d love to have but are pretty sure you’re not going to get, or are perhaps under qualified for. Not only can you finally put faces to those names of people you follow on Twitter, but you get constructive feedback about where you’re at professionally and it could be the most enjoyable application you’ll ever do.

I wasn’t quite sure that printing my resume on Reflex Green was going to achieve the effect on the Humaans that I was aiming for, so this is what I settled on…

As I said, nothing to lose. The building I’m standing in front of is the old Humaan office. I posed the question in my application, pretty much just thinking aloud… is change as good as a holiday? A year on, I thought I’d let you know.

Comfort zone?

Your typical comfort zone is a cosy, peaceful place. A place where I found myself bravely saying things like “Change is as good as a holiday” and “I want to make mistakes and learn from them”. Look at my zinc covered face. Comfy.

I can confirm that once you pass the event horizon of your comfort zone, things can become rather uncomfortable! Sure I wrote those words in my application but I’m not sure I was ever in a position to anticipate the reality of them!

I’d just had a baby, was applying off the back of a stint in the public service and I found the transition really jarring. I’m told I was cheery in those early days… sleep deprivation and mostly anxiety is all I remember.

First day jitters didn’t fade away. They got worse.

This period of change was feeling like no holiday I’d ever been on. I was completely eating my words at this point. This holiday SUCKS. Change can bugger off too.

I was loving the work. I was learning plenty. The people were great… but I wasn’t having fun and the seeds of something not-quite-right were sprouting. I was lost in a thick fog of self doubt. Reading Conor’s post during this period offered a bunch of solace. To avoid repeating Conor far less eloquently I urge you to read his article too. The gist of it? Sometimes starting your dream job can be bit of a nightmare.

Hey, I’m not alone in this. 

Okayyyy… but I ask you, what is it about our industry that makes feelings of self-doubt and the imposter syndrome so prevalent?

12 months in.

A year on and the fog is clearing. I’m still loving the work. I’m still learning plenty. The people I work with are still great… and I’m slowly learning to be less hard on myself, relax and enjoy my time in the office. I’m seeing a shift in where my energy is being used. Far less is spent grinding gears just trying to make it through the day, with more directed towards, well… work, but more so in a critical capacity rather than in a slightly (severely) panicked reactionary mindset. I anticipated the period of change experienced transitioning into Humaan to be finite. It wasn’t. The change as they say, didn’t happen overnight.

I look back to that sleep deprived me and see professional progression and personal growth.

Takeaway #2 – Measuring your professional (or emotional) progress against your peers is not nearly as valuable as measuring your progress against your former self.

So back to answering the question. Is change as good as a holiday?

The internet suggests that the phrase has been appropriated from Winston Churchill where he said “a change is as good as a rest”. Hmmm, I’m not so sure Winston. Holidays and change, I feel, are really very different. We need them both but they aren’t like for like.

With change, it’s not necessarily all sunshine, lollipops and rainbows. With holidays ideally it is, right? Think back to your last holiday. How long was it after getting home that you found yourself saying “it feels like I never left!” Not long right? Holidays can be filled with amazing experiences but they are generally (and sadly) fleeting and they are rarely transformative. Then again, maybe I’m going on the wrong holidays 😉

Change != Holiday.

Change in contrast, is disruptive. Change is a sprawling, organic and messy process. Change is ongoing. Change challenges your status quo. Change pushes you further.

Takeaway #3 – Change is good. Change is healthy. Your initial instinct may be to resist. Don’t do it! Push past this. Acknowledge and embrace the change with an open mind and enjoy the opportunity to learn and grow. 

P.S. I still get nervous coming to work each day. Do you? It’s a good reminder that there’s more change to come.

This week I continued digging into designing for human-centric AI experiences. Here are some terms and concepts I’ve come across lately.

Levels of automation of decision and action selection

In 1978, Bill Verplank and Thomas Sheridan (human factors and systems engineering researchers) were talking about how automation is not ‘all or nothing’, that is, automation is not only a matter of either automating a task entirely or not, but to decide on the extent of automating it. There are 10 levels of levels of automation of decision and action selection.

Low level 👇

Level 1: The computer offers no assistance, and humans make all decisions and actions. There is no AI used in this step.

Level 2: The AI offers a complete set of alternatives for decisions/actions. You can see this with Google Search, where the AI provides a choice of results.

The AI narrows down the selection to a few alternatives. Netflix does this by showing you a personalized set of relevant movies.

Level 4: The AI suggests one decision, for example, Grammarly suggesting how to structure a sentence.

Level 5: The AI executes the suggestion if approved by the human, for example, asking Alexa to set an alarm.

Level 6: The AI allows the human a restricted time to veto before the automatic decision.

Level 7: The AI executes automatically and informs the human, for example, robots in warehouses.

Level 8: The AI informs the human only if asked, for example, spam filters.

Level 9: The AI informs the human only if the system decides to, for example, credit card fraud detection.

Level 10: The AI decides everything and acts while ignoring the human. Level 10 is full autonomy. We don’t yet have any systems that operate without any human intervention.

High level ☝️

Source: Designing Human-Centric AI Experiences

Explainable AI (XAI)

Explainable AI (XAI) is a research field that studies how AI decisions and data driving those decisions can be explained to people in order to provide transparency, enable assessment of accountability, demonstrate fairness, or facilitate understanding.

Source: Introduction to Explainable AI for designers

Adjustable Interfaces vs Probabilistic interfaces

Adjustable interfaces rely on direct user input, while probabilistic interfaces rely on predictions and machine learning. They aren’t just different approaches; they represent fundamentally different philosophies about user agency.

Source: Cat Noone

Bookmarks

• Introduction to Explainable AI for designers
• People + AI Guidebook - A set of methods, best practices and examples for designing with AI (Google)
• HAX Toolkit - A toolkit for teams building user-facing AI products (Microsoft)
• AI-human interaction - Guidelines and framework for using AI (Gitlab)
• Beyond Chatbots and Prompts: User-Centric AI Experience
• The Interface Illusion

The Ionosphere

At the opposite end of the technology spectrum is shortwave radio.

In early 2024 One Deck Pete and I started a new radio project, Downbeat on Shortwave. I recorded a 15 minute mix, then sent it to Pete. In a call and response fashion, he recorded a 15 minute reply, sent it back to me and so forth. Kind of like mix-tape pen pals, sharing music between London and Perth. It took us a year to assemble a 60min episode. Hopefully we manage another one in 2025!

A little different to average internet radio show, this broadcast was sent to the ionosphere, then rebounded back to earth via Shortwave Gold, a shortwave radio station based in Germany that broadcasts across Europe and beyond depending on the weather, solar conditions and the time of day where you listen.

Listen back to the clean studio mix and the shortwave radio, “via the ionosphere” mix on Pete’s blog.

I’ve always been awestruck by Vicky’s omnipresence in our corner of the internet where the digital government, inclusive design and accessibility communities dwell. Her writing and commentary was beyond informative, always inspiring and consistently bang-on. 

Most recently, these three articles are ones I’ve poured over, returned to often and have shared with colleagues and in communities:

• A plea for the lost practice of information architecture
• Design and uncertainty
• Responsible Interaction Design

Her post, Metaphors we stick by, is one I revisit every time I join a team who needed some support in nurturing a healthier identity and culture (which is pretty much every team I’ve joined since reading this article way back when), and have used the workshop outlined in that post countless times.

I often read Vicky’s week notes, and I’ve aspired to adopt this practice and do the same; promote transparency, work in the open, share what I learn, acknowledge when I fail, document and reflect on my craft over the passing weeks, months and years.

Last night, after learning that Vicky had passed and after reading many moving tributes online, I rolled up my sleeves and finished setting up this blog. A side-quest I’ve been putting off for far too long now. I’m still tinkering away but it works well enough to share this post with you.

I don’t yet know what will come of this blog, or how often I will post, but I promise to share what I write as and when I do it.

Thank you Vicky, for everything you taught us.