Field notes and essays on making complex products clear and beautiful — data-heavy interfaces, health platforms, AI-native ways of working, and building things properly.
A blank "ask me anything" box feels natural, but the research says it raises cognitive load and lowers people's sense of control. Better health interfaces design the question, not just the answer.
11 July 2026 · 5 min read
An open chat box assumes a user who already knows what to ask. Most people arriving at a health product don't. The blank prompt hands the hardest job to the least-expert person.
"AI-hostile" is a real property of software now. You can score it in an audit, and it decides how much of your team's work can be delegated to AI.
A practitioner platform wanted validated depression screeners next to glucose data. Holding the line between helpful tool and medical device came down to a series of product decisions — including removing question nine.
AI repriced production work and left judgment alone. What one AI-native senior now covers, where a team still wins, and the two questions that tell you who's worth hiring.
The cornerstone essay behind how I work. What my mum's pond, the city of London, and the octopus taught me about foundations, amplification, and why I've stopped believing you can wall technology off from life.
