Why Products Fail

Centralised decision-making in product development may seem effective initially, just as the Soviet Union out-grew the US economy for almost two decades, but it ultimately stifles innovation and adaptability.

The book, Why Nations Fail, highlights that extractive political and economic institutions are to blame for nations failing. Centralised decision-making and limited profit sharing mirror these institutions, but at an organisational level.

In my article this week I go into more detail about the parallel between nation and organisational institutions and what we can do to improve our chances of success.

This Week’s Updates

Enabling the Team

Why Products Fail by Rory Madden
Success requires building truly inclusive structures that empower teams and align incentives with long-term value creation. The market ultimately rewards organisations that can adapt and innovate, which happens best through distributed power and shared rewards.

Navigating The Jump From Manager To Executive by Melody Wilding
Moving from manager to executive means shifting from execution to orchestration. Success requires developing a point of view, managing across functions, influencing without authority, and owning outcomes beyond your immediate domain.

Product Direction

How To Recognize OKRs Masquerading As Strategy by Jeff Gothelf
OKRs are a tool for alignment, not a replacement for strategy. When teams mistake them for vision, they risk chasing numbers without context. Clear strategy should guide OKRs, not the other way around.

Your Competitors Are Telling You Their Strategy by Jenny Wanger
Competitors often reveal their strategy through job postings, product updates, and partnerships. Systematically tracking these signals helps teams anticipate moves, identify gaps, and refine their own positioning.

Continuous Research

The Ikea Effect: A UX Researcher's Guide To Building Stakeholder Buy-In by Dr Maria Panagiotidi
The IKEA effect shows how people overvalue what they help create. Recognising this bias in UX research helps explain stakeholder attachment to certain features and highlights the need for objective validation.

A Research Agenda For Generative AI In UX by Raluca Budiu
GenAI introduces new UX research challenges, from understanding how users form trust in AI systems to evaluating transparency and control. The research agenda can guide teams studying AI-driven experiences.

Continuous Design

Persuasion Vs Manipulation In Healthcare UX: Designing For Behavior Change by Ellie Koewler
Designing for behaviour change in healthcare requires a careful balance between persuasion and manipulation. Clear intent, transparency, and patient trust are essential to creating ethical experiences that genuinely support healthier outcomes.

The Role Of Prototyping In Perfecting Product Designs by Guillaume Deschamps
Prototyping allows teams to test assumptions, gather feedback early, and reduce costly rework. It's a critical step in refining ideas into solutions that are both usable and aligned with user needs.

Continuous Development

How To Plan For Maintenance by Luca Rossi and Nicola Ballotta
Maintenance work often falls through the cracks, despite being essential. This framework helps to categorise maintenance types (reactive, preventive, and strategic) and helps teams allocate time intentionally, ensuring it’s recognised as real engineering work.

How Staff+ Engineers Can Develop Strategic Thinking by Shweta Saraf
As engineers grow into Staff+ roles, their influence expands beyond technical expertise. This piece outlines how strategic thinking (navigating priorities, aligning with business goals, and operating across teams) is critical for higher-impact leadership.

Scale UX with Clear Content & Smart Testing

Join the free online community event happening today!

Join the UXDX Community online today for an evening of practical insights on scaling UX. Kalina will show you how to stop reinventing the wheel and make content patterns a powerful part of your design system. Alessandro shares lessons learned from real-world projects, showing how unmoderated testing can deliver reliable, actionable data (even when working with complex digital products).

Don’t miss this chance to learn actionable strategies for building better products faster with your team. Register now to secure your spot: https://uxdx.com/community/community-emea-2025-09-02/

FREE COMMUNITY EVENTS 

Check out more upcoming community events 

Video of the Week
Building a 'Know Your Product' Culture in Tech Teams

To finish of our most anticipated Youtube videos we re-share this online community session given by Anastasiia Khait, Product Owner at EIS. She shared her launch of ‘Know your product’ and dove into the business side of things to bring back the excitement, clear up any confusion, and ensure everyone truly understands what we're building.

If you want to achieve less confusion, fewer surprises, and that big ideas stay awesome from start to finish… Then I might be good to check out this video:

The Results of Last Week’s Poll

The question: Have you ever had to work around your company's developer platform?

This week’s poll explores how teams experience their company’s developer platform. 43% of respondents say their platform is a great enabler, while 21% find it mostly works well. However, 19% report occasional friction where parts don’t meet their needs, and 14% often have to work around it, slowing down their work.

These results highlight that while many developer platforms empower teams, a significant portion still face limitations that impact efficiency. Balancing platform flexibility with consistency is key to keeping teams productive and aligned.

If you’re looking to make your teams collaboration more impactful, our upcoming “From a Team of Functions to a Cross-Functional Team” course in Dublin this October offers practical strategies and frameworks to help your team collaborate successfully.

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