UX Stories Podcast

What happens when vibe coders skip user research? You build the wrong thing — fast. Dave Powell, Director of UX at QGenda, shares how his team does real usability work inside one of the most complex, HIPAA-restricted industries in the world.

From Figma prototypes shown to hospital staff before a single line of code is written, to the moment a "warm" customer meeting turned ice cold — this is what serious enterprise UX actually looks like.

🎙️ Guest: Dave Powell, Director of User Experience @ QGenda

🏥 Industry: Healthcare SaaS | Enterprise UX | B2B Product Design

⏱️ Timestamps

0:00 - Intro: Why AI made user research more urgent, not less

1:14 - Dave's background: 8 years fixing healthcare's broken software

1:53 - "Every piece of software they touch doesn't work for them"

2:01 - Why healthcare usability testing is uniquely hard (HIPAA, secure networks, union rules)

4:42 - How Dave navigates access: CX teams as research liaisons

6:22 - The prototype-before-code workflow that makes customers feel heard

7:04 - Piggybacking on CX calls to run usability sessions

8:18 - When listening turns into hard business commitments (not flowery promises)

9:00 - Dave's hiring philosophy: designers who understand humans first

9:36 - "We have a captive audience" — why tolerability matters in enterprise

10:17 - How AI and vibe coding are reshaping UX & product roles

12:56 - Two-phase prototyping: solutioning vs. high-fidelity component work

13:30 - Why enterprise complexity is hard to vibe code your way through

14:54 - "Prototyping with live ammunition" — the danger of skipping validation

16:39 - Customer story: when a warm reception turned into a cold landing

18:16 - Dave's usability toolkit: Maze, Pendo, Google Forms & in-house polling

19:01 - Magic wand question: the one human data point Dave wishes he could measure

20:00 - Closing thoughts: why understanding users is the skill AI can't replace

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UXResearch #HealthcareUX #ProductDesign #VibeCoding #UserTesting #QGenda #EnterpriseUX #AIProduct #UXUI #SaaSDesign

In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Apurva Garware, SVP and Head of Product at Invisible Technologies — the company behind 80% of the world's AI companies. From Microsoft Azure to Amazon to EdTech, Apurva shares how first principles of teaching humans apply directly to training AI models, why hybrid human-AI teams are inevitable, and how vibe coding is transforming the product building process.

🔥 What you'll learn:

✅ How training AI models mirrors teaching children

✅ Why product building is 10x faster with vibe coding & prototyping tools

✅ The future of product teams — convergence of PM, design & engineering

✅ Hybrid teams: AI agents working alongside humans

✅ Why listening to real users still beats AI personas

✅ The "magic number" for user research interviews

👤 About the Guest:

Apurva Garware is SVP and Head of Product at Invisible Technologies, where she works with Frontier AI Labs and enterprises to build AI enablement products. Previously, she held product leadership roles at Microsoft, Amazon, Chegg, and Upwork.

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 — 👋 Welcome & Introduction

1:16 — 🎯 Apurva's Career Journey: Microsoft, Amazon, Chegg, Upwork & Invisible

3:43 — 🧒 Is Training AI Like Teaching a Child?

4:11 — 🧠 How Reinforcement Learning Gyms Work

7:29 — 🛠️ How Has Product Building Changed with AI?

8:38 — 💡 From Weeks to Hours: The New Speed of Prototyping

15:41 — 🏗️ The Future of Product Teams: Convergence of Roles

15:49 — 🔮 Prediction #1: Roles Will Converge but Expertise Stays

17:55 — 🤖 Prediction #2: Hybrid Human-AI Teams Are Coming

18:49 — ⚡ Rapid Fire: Always-On Usability Monitor?

20:25 — 🧪 AI Personas vs. Human Feedback in User Testing

22:06 — ❤️ Most Fulfilling Part of the Work

23:41 — 🙏 Closing Thoughts & Key Takeaway

📢 Subscribe for more UX Stories!

ProductManagement #AI #UXResearch #InvisibleTechnologies #VibeCoding #ProductDesign #AIAgents #HybridTeams #UserTesting #TechPodcast

In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Naveen Mohan, Product Manager and Head of Monetization at Otter.ai, to unpack the art and science of pricing in the age of vibe coding. 🚀

Naveen shares how his data science background at Carnegie Mellon shaped his product instincts, reveals a pricing experiment that looked like an early win but turned into a 20% revenue loss 😬, and breaks down why "clear, easy, and feels fair" might be the golden rule of pricing.

They also debate: in the era of vibe coding, is usability testing still worth slowing down for? 🤔

🔑 Key Takeaways:

How to build and test pricing hypotheses using surveys, A/B testing & live data

The "Calculator Rule" — if customers need a calculator, you've failed 🧮

Why conversion spikes can be misleading without churn data

When to do usability testing vs. just shipping it

The difference between what users SAY they'll pay vs. what they ACTUALLY pay

🕐 Timestamps:

0:00 — 👋 Intro & Meet Naveen Mohan

1:21 — 🧠 From Data Science to Product Management

2:50 — 💡 Data as a PM Superpower in Monetization

3:56 — 💲 How Do You Test a Pricing Model?

5:03 — 📊 Traditional Methods: Surveys, Van Westendorp & Competitor Research

6:57 — 🧪 Lihong's Pricing Testing Story: 11 Rounds in 7 Months

8:23 — 👥 Testing Pricing with Real Target Users

10:15 — 🗣️ "The Calculator Rule" & 3 Principles of Good Pricing

11:28 — 🔄 Predictability & Battle-Testing Your Pricing Model

12:31 — 💥 The Pricing Experiment That Backfired (20% Revenue Drop!)

14:10 — ⚠️ Don't Jump to Conclusions — Wait for the Churn Data

15:36 — 🔁 How Price Changes Impact Renewals & Legacy Customers

16:12 — 🏷️ Handling Public Pricing Pages & Rollback Challenges

17:12 — 🎧 Does Otter.ai Use Usability Testing?

17:52 — 🧪 Prototypes, Lo-Fi Mocks & A/B Testing at Otter.ai

19:00 — 🤖 Vibe Coding vs. Usability Testing: Should You Still Test?

20:28 — 📏 Defining "Big" vs. "Small" Features by User Impact

22:00 — ⚡ Is Usability Testing Still Worth Slowing Down For?

23:20 — 💬 When Your ICP Is Very Different From Your Team

23:55 — 🏷️ Is Pricing Worth Usability Testing?

25:30 — 🎯 First-Time Pricing vs. Iterating on Existing Prices

26:16 — ⚡ Rapid Fire: Go-To Usability Toolkit

26:45 — 🔮 The One Dashboard Metric Naveen Wishes Existed

27:09 — ❤️ Most Fulfilling Part of Being a Product Builder

27:48 — 👋 Outro & Where to Find SAID Stories

🎙️ About the Guest:

Naveen Mohan is a Product Manager and Head of Monetization at Otter.ai with a Carnegie Mellon background in data science and computer science.

🔗 Links:

Start free user testing → theysaid.io

ProductManagement #Pricing #Monetization #OtterAI #UserTesting #VibeCoding #SaaS #ABTesting #ProductStrategy #UXStories

Mike Bal, Head of Product at David's Bridal, joins Lihong Hicken on UX Stories to talk about building digital experiences for one of the most emotional customer bases on the planet — brides.

From merging deep legacy retail expertise with modern product thinking, to why he believes formal usability testing isn't always necessary, Mike shares how his lean team ships fast, gathers scrappy feedback, and keeps the customer experience at the center of everything.

🔑 Key topics:

* How a self-confessed "product nerd" ended up in wedding retail

* Why David's Bridal stylists already set a high bar for CX

* Shipping incremental improvements vs. big-bang releases

* The problem with vibe coding without vibe testing

* Why "they did it wrong" is always a product team problem

* Instagram's early usability testing discipline that led to a $1B acquisition

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 — Welcome & Introduction

0:29 — Meet Mike Bal, Head of Product at David's Bridal

1:08 — Core philosophy: Building for an emotional customer base

5:24 — Bringing digital transformation to a legacy brand

9:19 — Ensuring great experiences through feedback

9:40 — Usability testing approach at David's Bridal

12:20 — Remote vs. in-person testing methods

13:04 — Why formal testing isn't always necessary

16:38 — The vibe coding problem: Shipping without testing

23:35 — Current usability testing tech stack

24:57 — Magic wand: Capturing frustrated user feedback

25:46 — Wrap-up

#ProductManagement #UserExperience #DavidsBridal #WeddingTech #VibeCoding #UsabilityTesting #UXResearch #ProductStrategy #DigitalTransformation

🔥 Mazen Letayf, Head of Product at Alkami Technology, delivers a masterclass on why vibe coding is creating a tsunami of low-value software — and what builders should do instead.

With experience leading product at Capital One, Cox Automotive, and Credit Acceptance, Mazen makes a compelling case: the real bottleneck isn't code speed — it's deeply understanding your customer. He shares how his team went from 1% to 5% conversion by obsessing over the full customer journey, why most features go unused, and why NPS might be the worst metric in product history. 🎯

🎙️ Host: Lihong Hicken, co-founder of TheySaid & former co-founder of UserTesting.com

⏱️ TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 — Welcome to UX Stories

1:18 — What drives Mazen as a product builder

2:22 — His obsession with fixing auto & finance

4:35 — How China leapfrogged US in auto & mobile payments

6:26 — Why Chinese EVs are beating legacy automakers

8:02 — Balancing regulation vs. customer-centricity in vibe coding era

13:43 — Why most code is low-value — the real challenge of vibe coding

15:04 — Einstein's 59/1 rule: Stop coding, start listening

17:20 — "NPS is the worst thing that happened to products"

20:21 — The mocha pot analogy: Why intent ≠ experience value

23:42 — The "Temu-ification" of software

29:56 — How Cox went from 1% to 5% conversion in months

33:08 — Can AI-moderated testing replace in-person research?

35:15 — Final thoughts & wrap-up

🔑 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

💡 Vibe coding lowers the barrier to entry — which means more crappy products, not better ones

💡 Understand your customer at an anthropological level before writing a single line of code

💡 Product differentiation comes from services, relationships & data — not UI customization

💡 The best NPS scores come from fixing bad experiences — a perverse incentive

💡 Quantity has a quality in and of itself — AI-moderated testing could be a game changer

🔗 Visit TheySaid.io — Sign up for a free account and start testing with real users today!

📢 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and hit the bell! 🔔

ProductManagement #VibeCoding #UX #CustomerExperience #DigitalBanking #NPS #AI #Startups #UserResearch

Jonathan Abon, a seasoned CPO and engineer with 30 years in AI/neural networking, joins Lihong Hicken to discuss the real challenges facing B2B software companies in the age of vibe coding. They explore why speed without direction is dangerous, how to balance rapid prototyping with proper user feedback, and Jonathan's "Usability Index Scoring" framework for measuring user experience in near real-time.

Jonathan shares his process for turning around underperforming product portfolios and why he still believes in jobs-to-be-done, customer needs mapping, and usability testing — even when everyone else is "just shipping."

Timestamps:

0:00 — Welcome & Introduction

1:04 — Jonathan's Background: Engineer Turned CPO

2:38 — What's Wrong with B2B SaaS Today?

3:21 — SaaS vs. AI-Centric Applications Explained

4:23 — How AI Is Changing Product Development (3 Ways)

5:11 — The Scaling Problem: Speed vs. Stability

8:49 — Vibe Coding & The New Way of Building Products

10:13 — Does Vibe Coding Replace User Research?

11:01 — Feedback Fatigue: When Users Get Overwhelmed

11:42 — The Danger of "Throw It at the Wall" Product Dev

13:22 — Finding the Right Balance: Strategy + Speed

13:48 — Why Usability Testing Still Has Value

14:06 — Customer Needs Mapping & Jobs to Be Done

16:13 — Where Vibe Coding Actually Helps (Surgical Innovation)

17:32 — Tech Stack for Feedback: NPS & Beyond

17:58 — Usability Index Scoring: The 4-Part Framework

19:48 — Why Traditional Usability Testing Is Getting Harder

20:09 — The Rise & Fall of UserTesting.com (Private Equity Problem)

24:27 — Magic Wand: What Would Make Feedback Dramatically Easier?

26:26 — Most Fulfilling Moment as a Product Builder

🔗 Try TheySaid.io — 5 free user tests/month: https://theysaid.io

Jodi O'Prandy, VP of Product at 1stDibs, joins host Lihong Hicken on UX Stories to break down what luxury e-commerce and travel booking have in common — and where they diverge.

They discuss how trust factors differ between a $500 flight and a $50,000 piece of fine art, the TripAdvisor filter redesign that failed because it skipped user testing, why hyper-personalization is the future of e-commerce, and what tools like Sprig are doing for modern product teams.

🔑 Topics covered:

Trust signals in high-value vs. commodity purchases

Why cruise shoppers rejected Google Flights-style filters

How AI agents, image search, and natural language are reshaping shopping

The case for moderated user research in the AI era

Rapid fire: go-to testing tools and gathering customer feedback at scale

⏱️ Timestamps:

0:00 - Intro & Jodi's background

1:37 - $500 flight vs. $50K art: How trust differs

3:58 - How long does it take to buy a $50K art piece?

5:52 - Designing for conversion, not just looks

7:00 - How 1stDibs tests new features (focus groups + A/B testing)

7:42 - Why in-person & moderated research still matters

8:42 - The value of body language & behavioral cues

9:57 - Story: The TripAdvisor filter redesign that crashed and burned

13:07 - Lesson learned: Know your users before you build

13:27 - The future of e-commerce: AI agents, image search & personalization

14:48 - Why one-size-fits-all no longer works in e-commerce

16:22 - Image search, AI agents & serving every customer segment

17:02 - Hyper-personalization at 1stDibs

18:03 - Rapid fire: Go-to user testing tool (Sprig)

19:16 - Magic wand: Making feedback gathering easier at scale

🎙️ Guest: Jodi O'Prandy — VP of Product Management at 1stDibs, formerly TripAdvisor & Priceline

🎙️ Host: Lihong Hicken — Co-founder of TheySaid, former UserTesting team (zero to IPO)

Subscribe for more conversations with product leaders on building great user experiences.

Dan Breyre has built products at Amazon, Apple, and JW Player during the internet's biggest shifts. Now as Head of Product at Sofar Ocean, he's applying big tech wisdom to ocean intelligence—helping scientists and governments make better decisions about our planet's most critical, least understood data set.

In this episode of UX Stories, we dig into:

• The fundamental truth about users Dan learned at Amazon that he still uses today

• Why "vibe coding" doesn't mean you should skip user testing

• The 14-pound product lesson that changed how he thinks about requirements

• How to do usability testing when you don't have time (but know you need it)

• Using AI tools to multiply research capacity without losing human insight

• The "torture room" that executives couldn't stay away from

Key Takeaways:

[00:00] Introduction - From Amazon to ocean intelligence

[05:45] The biggest lesson from Amazon & Apple

[12:30] Why product teams are changing (and what's being lost)

[24:15] The danger of optimizing for the wrong metrics

[31:22] How customer expectations are evolving faster than ever

[39:15] The 14-pound lesson in empathy

[48:20] Building a "torture room" for continuous user observation

[01:04:15] Rapid fire: Dan's research toolkit

About the Guest:

Dan Breyre is Head of Product at Sofar Ocean, where ocean data collected by autonomous buoys helps scientists, engineers, and policymakers make informed decisions about weather and ocean health. Previously, Dan held product roles at Amazon, Apple, and JW Player.

Resources:

• Sofar Ocean: https://www.sofarocean.com/

• Connect with Dan on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-breyre/

• Learn more about They Said: https://theysaid.io

ProductManagement #UserResearch #UXDesign #VibeCoding #AI #ProductStrategy #AmazonPM #ApplePM

AI has made product development 10x faster—but user research is stuck in the past. How do modern builders ship products users love when traditional testing can't keep pace?

In this episode of US Stories, Lihong Hicken (former UserTesting executive who scaled the company from zero to IPO) sits down with Arvind Duhan, Chief Product Officer at DispatchTrack, for an honest conversation about the speed mismatch between "vibe coding" and user feedback.

🎯 KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Why the software development lifecycle has been "completely turned upside down"

• How to prototype and ship 10-20x faster using AI tools

• The problem with $30K+ enterprise user testing platforms

• Building products with "hyper-agile" methodologies that compress traditional testing cycles

• Real strategies for collecting qualitative feedback without slowing down

• The future of AI-powered usability testing vs. human feedback

💡 HIGHLIGHTS:

• [1:52] - How AI fundamentally changed the product development lifecycle

• [6:07] - "Now usage becomes the feedback" - The shift from testing-first to ship-first

• [7:11] - Why traditional agile is now "hyper agile"

• [10:08] - The torture room: Why watching users is irreplaceable

• [18:35] - The real disruption: How AI is breaking SaaS seat-based pricing models

• [28:50] - Arvind's wishlist for AI-powered user testing tools

• [32:20] - TheySaid's vision: AI moderators + real user testing in under 2 hours

ABOUT THE GUEST:

Arvind Duhan is a product leader with 12+ years of experience building products across logistics, fintech, and education technology. Currently Chief Product Officer at DispatchTrack, Arvind advocates for first-principles thinking and solving customer problems at scale using the right technology stack.

ABOUT THE HOST:

Lihong Hicken co-founded TheySaid to solve the speed gap between building and learning. After helping scale UserTesting from zero to IPO, she's on a mission to make user research affordable and fast enough to match modern AI-powered development speeds.

TIMESTAMPS:

0:00 - Introduction: The 10x speed problem

0:52 - Arvind's background in product management

2:32 - How AI changed product development forever

4:53 - From CRM surveys to instant customer feedback

7:11 - The shift from agile to "hyper agile"

10:08 - The power of the "torture room" for executives

17:44 - Instagram's usability testing success story

20:00 - Why user testing became unaffordable

23:02 - Unexpected customer insights from logistics

28:50 - Arvind's wishlist: AI agents as customer personas

32:20 - TheySaid's hybrid approach: Real + AI testing

35:38 - Wrap-up and final thoughts

#ProductManagement #AI #UserResearch #ProductDevelopment #SaaS #UXResearch #Startups #AgileDevelo

Steven Lamb, Product Leader at Addepar, reveals the hidden tension in modern product development: we can build 10x faster with AI, but user testing is still stuck in the past. In this episode of UX Stories, we explore how wealth tech companies balance rapid innovation with zero margin for error when managing trillions of dollars.

Key Topics:

• Why "vibe coding" is outpacing traditional user testing methods

• The reality of B2B user testing: 3-day turnarounds vs 24-hour expectations

• Synthetic user personas and AI-powered usability testing experiments

• When to use deterministic systems vs AI in financial products

• The critical difference between user feedback and usability testing

• How Instagram shipped twice daily with rapid testing (and why that's rare today)

Timestamps:

0:00 - Introduction: The speed problem in product development

3:15 - Balancing AI innovation with financial accuracy at Addepar

8:42 - Why traditional user testing is too slow for modern development

15:30 - Synthetic personas and "vibe usability testing"

22:18 - The B2B user testing challenge: context vs speed

28:45 - Steven's vision for 100% tested products by 2026

Steven Lamb leads product innovation at Addepar, a platform tracking trillions in assets for sophisticated investors. He shares hard-won lessons about maintaining trust while innovating at AI speed.

Resources:

• Visit TheySaid.io to start vibe testing your products

• Connect with Steven Lamb on LinkedIn

ProductManagement #UserTesting #AIProduct #B2BSaaS #WealthTech #UXResearch #ProductDevelopment