Ted Goas

I’m coding more (using AI but avoiding the slop) and using and using Figma less (only for general direction, not as source of truth). That and more in my next newsletter sending Tuesday. Sign up here: www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

Whenever I worry that a design I’m working on isn’t very good, I remind myself that Workday is a publicly traded company.

🚨 Are we in another tech bubble? Yes, but that might actually be a good thing.

Also: AI’s design blindspot, how teams really work, and some eye candy from Shopify.

Last newsletter of the year going out Friday morning → www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

🚨 Are we in another tech bubble? Yes, but that might actually be a good thing.

Also: AI’s design blindspot, how teams really work, and some eye candy from Shopify.

Last newsletter of the year going out Friday morning → www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

A huge part of any job to being reliable.

Showing up on time. Doing what you said you were going to do. Getting back to someone who asked you a question.

I never realized what a superpower this was until I worked with people who are not reliable.

Not sure if y'all see my posts since I'm not active here much, but I spend time on my newsletter.

Next issue sends Thursday and talks about the perils of vibe-coding, good climate news, and getting fast approvals from your boss. If that sorta thing interests you, sign up www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

Not sure if y'all see my posts since I'm not active here much, but I spend time on my newsletter.

Next issue sends Thursday and talks about the perils of vibe-coding, good climate news, and getting fast approvals from your boss. If that sorta thing interests you, sign up www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

The Last Two Weeks A fortnightly newsletter product design and leadership

Why design taste matters, solar panels in space, and my thoughts on design management. Next newsletter goes out Wednesday: tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Text that reads 'In 2120, five companies control Earth'

This first sentence of Alien: Earth's synopsis reads like modern day society, give or take 3 companies. Love it here...

Great show btw

The Last Two Weeks A fortnightly newsletter product design and leadership

Why design taste matters, solar panels in space, and my thoughts on design management. Next newsletter goes out Wednesday: tedgoas.beehiiv.com/subscribe

Management values I didn’t expect to learn Design management is harder (and better) than I thought

I wrote about my first few years of management. It's harder (and better) than I thought: medium.com/p/7c998c017602

Management values I didn’t expect to learn Design management is harder (and better) than I thought

I wrote about my first few years of management. It's harder (and better) than I thought: medium.com/p/7c998c017602

Version of a Wikipedia biography, with a heavily yassified photo of Elon Musk. Elon Reeve Musk (/ˈiːlɒn/ EE-lon; born June 28, 1971) is the world's preeminent genius-visionary-engineer and Mommy's most special boy. Admirers often note his humble beginnings as the son of a wealthy South African emerald mine owner, a hardship from which he heroically emerged to dominate every industry he touched. Credited with making comedy legal again on Twitter, Musk has assumed the role of humanity's chief advocate for free speech—except in the case of critics, journalists, whistleblowers, or Wikipedia editors who fail to properly appreciate him. He is the sole and undisputed founder, savior, and spiritual leader of Tesla, SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter, which he rescued from obscurity), Neuralink, the Boring Company, and the Department of Government Efficiency(DOGE), among countless other ventures. His supporters, who number in the hundreds of millions, frequently describe him as the closest thing Ea

Tweet by Elon Musk: We are building Grokipedia @xAI . Will be a massive improvement over Wikipedia. Frankly, it is a necessary step towards the xAI goal of understanding the Universe.

can't wait to read Elon's new bio on Grokipedia

Agree with that last part. I enjoyed it overall but the alien looked a bit fake in the last two episodes.

I love this!

"Taste gives you vision. It’s the lens through which you decide what matters and what doesn’t. Experience, on the other hand, is efficiency. It helps you ship faster, avoid mistakes, and manage the moving parts of projects."

You need both.

carlbarenbrug.com/taste-matters

Starting to see AI disclaimers in email footers. At least brands are being honest about it...

Strategy, not vibe-coding, is your superpower. Plus burner phones, some wild photography, and the return of Digg!

Newsletter goes out Wednesday: www.tedgoas.com/newsletter/

It’s amazing how much you can get done simply by being someone others want to work with.

Circle of life

Even with the help of Ai, it took me four hours to write an article until I was happy with it. "Ai assisted" doesn't mean "Ai slop", but the difference between the two is v noticeable.

Would love to hear your journey Dan, from someone who's already had a foot in the dev world.

A swiss army knife with design terms written on each blade.

Designers: We’ll all be design engineers in a year.
And that’s a good thing. AI is removing the blockers between idea and execution, for everyone. Let me tell you about something my PM did last week.

tedgoas.beehiiv.com/p/well-all-b...

If you enjoy things like this, I write a monthly newsletter about how product design and leadership is changing: www.tedgoas.com/newsletter

This is what “doing more with less” looks like.
One last note:
AI has made coding fun again!
I offload the boring stuff and focus on the fun part: seeing my design actually work in the browser.

Back to my PM’s prototype.
She said: “But I’m not a designer…”
I told her: “That’s ok.”
A designer can jump in later to help.

Yes, we can code more.
But we’ll still want engineers to review, just as my PM needs a designer to shape her prototype into the final experience.
Craft still matters.

But rough drafts aren’t the end.
That’s where taste comes in.
AI is like a hyperactive intern: fast, eager, and clueless.
It needs our guidance.

Early-stage work, getting from nothing to something, will be shared.
Code is a natural next step for designers.

EPD roles are flattening.
Designers will still design, but also fix bugs, build animations, ship small features.
Generalists will own the future.

How many times have we filed a Jira for a tiny fix, only to watch it die in backlog?
With AI, we can do it ourselves.