Thanks for the article. This piece really resonated with me, something I've been struggling with myself
I have been in product for 12 years, the last 7 as a user experience researcher
Being a UXer always felt not good enough because everyone has an opinion about the users, empathy and being able to listen carefully and interpret user needs feel like secondary skills to technical skills for example
I always wanted to learn more new things and did many courses and I finally settled on what actually matters and what I'm good at. Your article was a great reminder of that
One thing I was thinking is: what will that look like in a world where more and more companies are built by solopreneurs that need to juggle multiple skills?
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Barbara, this is such a hot topic at the moment.
While people do seem to want to believe that AI makes it possible for anyone to do anything, I do think it's helpful for solopreneurs to understand exactly which parts of their work are differentiated and add value, and where work is merely necessary to keep the business moving forward.
AI is great for the latter area but more limited on the former. It's like a new manifestation of the old build versus buy decision; you wouldn't outsource the truly critical parts of your business to a third-party tool, but nor would you want to waste resources reinventing something that wasn't core to the value you provide that you could just get off-the-shelf.
That said, AI is definitely enabling people to go it alone and it's great to see more and more people pursuing projects that truly excite them (a couple of whom actually helped inspire this piece).
Thanks for the article. This piece really resonated with me, something I've been struggling with myself
I have been in product for 12 years, the last 7 as a user experience researcher
Being a UXer always felt not good enough because everyone has an opinion about the users, empathy and being able to listen carefully and interpret user needs feel like secondary skills to technical skills for example
I always wanted to learn more new things and did many courses and I finally settled on what actually matters and what I'm good at. Your article was a great reminder of that
One thing I was thinking is: what will that look like in a world where more and more companies are built by solopreneurs that need to juggle multiple skills?
Thanks for your thoughtful comment, Barbara, this is such a hot topic at the moment.
While people do seem to want to believe that AI makes it possible for anyone to do anything, I do think it's helpful for solopreneurs to understand exactly which parts of their work are differentiated and add value, and where work is merely necessary to keep the business moving forward.
AI is great for the latter area but more limited on the former. It's like a new manifestation of the old build versus buy decision; you wouldn't outsource the truly critical parts of your business to a third-party tool, but nor would you want to waste resources reinventing something that wasn't core to the value you provide that you could just get off-the-shelf.
That said, AI is definitely enabling people to go it alone and it's great to see more and more people pursuing projects that truly excite them (a couple of whom actually helped inspire this piece).