I have been thinking a lot about experience design process and which of our current methods and tools need to be reconsidered given the state of AI powered tools. If I think about the simplest version what we do, it is the double diamond process that everyone is familiar with:
Diamond 1: Build the right thing.
Diamond 2: Build it right.
In 2026, Diamond 2 is being rapidly commoditized. It is not as hard as it once was to "build it right". It can be done faster, cheaper, and more iteratively than ever before. Failing faster could be a viable option for figuring out what is the right thing because you can produce working software quickly for testing with users. In my career, I have worked at many places who wanted to take this approach and learn quickly, but everyone struggles with being ok with shipping experiences that might fail and iterating when it does. So Diamond 2 is likely not the place that large organizations will learn what is "the right thing." That means the value shifts upstream — to Diamond 1.
It means that the skills that have always mattered as you diverge and discover the problem space and converge and define the solutions are what will matter going forward:
-empathy and user research - understanding what people feel and need
-taste and judgement - know what good looks like
-driving clarity on business strategy and resulting requirements
-building alignment - everyone still needs to be onboard
-data analysis and experience mapping - create clear understanding of the current and desired state experience
-ability to articulate this desired state experience and create a narrative
-comfort with ambiguity — the fuzzy front end doesn't have clean answers and that's the point
The toolset for discovery is also changing rapidly, but that is a post for another time.
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Shout out to @natebjones , @lennysan and @jenny_wen for the inspiration on this topic.
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