Péter Balázs Polgár

Design explorer. Building products and product design teams.

Currently lead product designer at Canonical, designing humane human–AI workflows.

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2026

  1. e50 Consistency is spelling, coherence is voice
  2. AI and clarity of intentions
  3. Brain fry and the automation trap
  4. e49 The power of stepping back
  5. Knowledge workflow 2026 updates: Obsidian, Claude

2025

  1. AI lacks intentionality
  2. e48 Combating groupthink
  3. Workflow change types with automation
  4. Evaluating managers
  5. e47 Discovery is more than user research
  6. To care about well-being is system maintence

2024

  1. AI tools' near future
  2. Research both known unknowns and unknown unknows
  3. Design with restraint
  4. Designing towards hurdles
  5. e46 Personas are meant to be used, not just created
  6. e45 Better presentations with the pyramid principle
  7. e44 Nonviolent communication for designers
  8. Generative AI's automation trap
  9. e43 The team's common rituals build the team
  10. e42 Facilitating participatory design
  11. e41 Articulating the design team's value
  12. e40 Prototypes model experiences
  13. Switching from Evernote to Joplin

2023

  1. e39 2023 Retrospect
  2. e38 Maturity models help formulate what good looks like
  3. e37 Nurturing designer and researcher careers
  4. UX & PM: A Strategic Duo part 2
  5. e36 Design team structures - defining how we work
  6. e35 Develop your leadership style
  7. e34 Wartime - peacetime design leadership
  8. e33 Activating insights for the design process
  9. Anatomy of a UX strategy
  10. e32 Rigor is essential in user research
  11. e31 Why writing matters for designers
  12. e30 Raising the team's empathy
  13. e29 Managing designers and managing researchers
  14. e28 Desire paths - following the users' tracks
  15. Yet another post on designer job titles
  16. e27 Onboarding designers
  17. e26 Product trios for designers
  18. e25 Writing useful hypotheses
  19. e24 Problem space, solution space
  20. e23 Celebrating successes is a team effort
  21. e22 UX strategy - the design team's guide to success
  22. e21 1-on-1s - strengthening the team with coaching
  23. e20 Designing meaningful products with AI
  24. e19 Design audits - improving collaboration, quality, and alignment
  25. e18 Sustainability for product design teams
  26. e17 Career ladders chart a path for the team's growth
  27. e16 Getting deeper with well-formed user interview questions
  28. e15 Pair design leads to better design collaboration
  29. e14 Building great design teams with a purposeful hiring process
  30. e12 Articulating design decisions makes design work transparent
  31. e11 Design intent clarifies what a design aims to achieve
  32. e10 Design principles set the foundation for good design
  33. e09 What is good design
  34. e08 Writing experience stories for better portfolios

2022

  1. e07 Player-coach leaders
  2. e06 Delight is great UX
  3. e05 Teams of T-shaped designers
  4. e04 Writing great job ads
  5. e03 Structuring research notes
  6. e02 Brag doc - Keeping track of wins
  7. e01 Design critique - a core practice for design teams
  8. Newsletter on Design Leadership
  9. Welcome to 9am26
  10. UX Coffee Hours FAQ

2021

  1. My knowledge workflow 2021
  2. Personas are for aggregation or for alignment
  3. Design is business

2020

  1. #stretchcon 2020 impressions
  2. Designing the Growth Path for UX Leaders and UX Managers

2018

  1. Plan to learn — on well designed research plans

2017

  1. Designing AI products
  2. Making sure your UX home assignment hits the mark
  3. Tipping is sexy

2016

  1. #stretchcon 2016 impressions
  2. The 4x4 Mini-Design Brief
  3. #amuseconf 2016 impressions
  4. Why Doing Design Research is Imperative
  5. UX Quotes to the Rescue
  6. Designing for Mobile Engagement
  7. Design Camp Adventures
  8. Drawing Houses
  9. Clashing Design Principles to Annoy You
  10. How Might We — Hogyan tudhatnánk
  11. From design to product design
  12. #watchlearn Designing How We Design — Kim Goodwin
  13. About Ford’s faster horses

2015

  1. #stretchcon 2015 impressions