What can't AI do?

Can a weekend side project really predict the future?

I was blown away when I saw Javi Lopez's post about building a working game using just ChatGPT4 and Midjourney.

It took him about 10-12 hours, sending over 400 ChatGPT messages to write the code and go back and forth to fix any bugs.

The two caveats are that it is a simple game and when you dig into his process it's clear that you need to know what you're doing to craft the prompts but it highlights how much is achievable by just one or two people today. And this is the worst it will ever be!

Extrapolating it out I think we're going to see an increase in much smaller teams like Basecamp and Linear use. With just one researcher, one developer and one designer you will be able to build systems that used to take dozens of people. This will lead to a lot more custom software work as prices come down.

I'm excited as I think it is going to enable some incredible products to be built and improve the ways of working for people. But I'd love to know your thoughts on how you see things changing?

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

Q: Will Linear's approach to design scale as the company scales?

We have a 60/40 split in favour of those that think Linear’s simple design approach will scale. There was good support for the idea that designs are meant to be discarded - one person responded with “In my opinion, there is no value in keeping design files up to date to reflect the living product”. However on the dissenting side there were also some good arguments “Scaling by keeping teams small and separating products will create incoherence anyway without structured guardrails”. The poll was close so I guess it comes down to what gets included in the lightweight design system, and how you work to keep it lightweight.

This Weeks Updates

Enabling the Team

Crossfunctional Collaboration: Challenges And Strategies For Success by Tim Neusesser
Discover the importance of setting SMART goals, defining roles, managing expectations and fostering a culture of open feedback.

Fixing the Shipyard, Not Just the Ships: How Product Leaders Should Empower Their PMs by Petra Wille
Petra explores the shift from individual problem solving to systemic solutions, as leaders have good intentions to help members, but often miss the big picture.

Product Direction

Unbundling AI by Benedict Evans
ChatGPT can do everything - but it requires too much of the user. Benedict predicts we'll see an unbundling with competitors for different verticals.

I Just Coded "Angry Pumpkins 🎃" Using AI by Javi Lopez
ChatGPT, MidJourney and Dall-e were all that Javi needed to create a fully functioning "Angry Pumpkins" game!

Continuous Discovery

Beyond The Buzzwords: Alternatives To Research, Data, Insights by Zarla Ludin
Find out why richer UX research vocabulary improves clarity and avoids limiting impact.

How Do You Avoid Adding Unnecessary Features To Your Product? by Kristen Poli
Most products evolve over time, but not all new features translate into value. Discover strategies for project managers to avoid feature overload.

Continuous Design

How To NOT Be A Bad Design Manager by Nate Schloesser
Nate shares lessons on design leadership, with an emphasis on learning from failure, fostering autonomy and how to truly support your team.

The Design Manager’s Toolkit by Jared Zimmerman
Jared creates a playbook for handling challenges as a manager based on the best elements of being a designer.

Continuous Delivery

Why I Won't Use Next.js by Kent C. Dodds Kent shares his preference for Remix over Next.js, from a web standards perspective to concerns about increasing complexity.

Why I'm Using Next.js by Lee Robinson
Lee provides a response to Kent's article that argues for the adoption of NextJs.

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