Rosenfeld Media

I'm back from vacation, tanned, rested, and ready for more free Rosenverse events--hope you are too. Join us Thursday (11am-noon ET) as Uday Gajendar and Adam Richardson take aim at AI with their session "From AI to Zeitgeist: Theory as the design antidote to AI hype". Then stick around for our monthly mixer, run by Jess Vice (they/them) and me, from 12-12:30pm ET. Feel free to attend one, the other, or both, and invite your friends to join. Registration info in comments below; see you soon!

Heidi Trost, author of?Human-Centered Security: How to Design Systems That Are Both Safe and Usable was just a guest on the Design Better Podcast! In this episode, Heidi shares her vision for shifting the focus from blaming humans as the weakest link to designing more secure and resilient systems. They also explore metrics for evaluating security experiences, the pitfalls of login/password recovery systems, and innovative approaches to user testing for security. Listen here: https://lnkd.in/eKD56mAk Buy Heidi's book: https://lnkd.in/etsfYe-U

OK, look…I’ll admit that the book probably should have been called “everything you could ever possibly need to know about #UX”… but let’s be honest here — that does kinda *lack* a little in the catchiness dept. ??????

Book milestone:? The last piece of “Stop Wasting Research” was the foreword, and Louis Rosenfeld connected with John Cutler, the insightful author on all things product development at “The Beautiful Mess.” When John’s foreword arrived in my inbox, I was blown away – I couldn’t have asked for a more compelling way to start the book! Here’s some snippets: “I have long maintained that the biggest ‘asset’ of any team is its collective knowledge and insights about its customers…” “...This is why Stop Wasting Research is such an important book right now. Burghardt offers a way to break the curse. The approach isn’t a silver bullet, but it also is within reach of almost any internal research community. It focuses on things like identifying research sources, creating a groundswell of interest in reducing research waste, sparking interest among researchers, tools, organization, meta-analysis and summary, and progressively expanding the research sphere into various company decision-making rituals. The details are great and highly actionable, but you can take this book at another level. Stop Wasting Research is a change agent masterclass…” Wow, thanks so much, John! … Not quite ready to announce the “Stop Wasting Research” book pre-orders – but watch this space :) If you want the book launch announcement in your inbox, sign up for my monthly newsletter (link in comments). … More about “Stop Wasting Research” book, coming soon from Rosenfeld Media: UX research, market research, data science, CX analysts, and other insight-generators fuel decisions in today’s product organizations—yet many of their most crucial customer insights fail to drive what’s next. Stop Wasting Research identifies root causes for this waste, then explores action ideas to increase the impact of siloed research resources. Use it to enhance collaboration, amplify learning, and drive research-informed launches. ... #Productmanagment #productdevelopment #customerresearch #UX #marketresearch #datascience #VOC #customerinsights #productops #researchops #designops

As a designer turned sustainability champion, Chris Hammond has played a pivotal role in embedding sustainability into IBM’s product strategy. ?? In next week's Rosenverse session, he’ll share how a thought leadership initiative led to company-wide awareness and adoption—culminating in CEO Arvind Krishna integrating sustainability into IBM’s business approach! Chris will walk us through the building blocks of this transformation, from executive sponsorship and grassroots momentum to the small wins that paved the way. Register to attend: https://lnkd.in/eNs7xAMf

As demand for research grows, so does the need for smarter systems, sustainable workflows, and real influence. ? That’s why we’re hosting an Ask Me Anything (AMA) with ResearchOps pioneer Kate Towsey on 9 April. Kate’s helped the world’s biggest orgs embed research at scale—and now, she’s taking your questions. Register below! ??

It was such a pleasure to meet Erin Weigel at the Conversion Boost Conference in Copenhagen today! ?? I have been looking forward to getting this book and reading it for a while now and I am so glad I waited for this moment to buy it from Erin herself! ?? Erin Weigel , if you are as talented in writing as you are in public speaking, then I know that I am in for a great read. No doubt about it!?? Thank you for the amazing speech and for the nice conversation!

?? ???????? ??????????: ???????? ????????????'?? ???????????????????? ???????????? ?????????????????? ???? #cboostdk Still buzzing from Erin Weigel's absolutely brilliant talk at ConversionBoost earlier this week! ?? Her "Design for Impact" session on Tuesday perfectly captured what's been missing in our industry for years. ???????? ?????????????????? ???? ????????? When I first saw Erin's animated Conversion Design Process diagram a year ago, my face apparently showed what can only be described as "digital vertigo" - I had complete visual cognitive overload! ???? Rather than getting defensive about my rather unconventional feedback, Erin took it completely on board. Fast forward to Tuesday, and I was blown away by how she'd transformed those visuals - making them significantly more accessible while preserving their depth. That's someone who truly practices what they preach about user experience and feedback loops! ?? ????, ???????? ???? ???????????????????? ????????????? Erin's Conversion Design framework sits beautifully at the intersection of three disciplines: ? ?? Design (human-centred problem-solving) ? ?? Science (proper experimental methodology) ? ?? Business (value creation mechanisms) She brilliantly explained how most organisations waste resources through poor experimental design - no control groups, low sample sizes, dodgy randomisation, and crappy hypotheses. Sound familiar? ?? ?????????????? ???????????????? > ???????????? ???????????????? One of the most thought-provoking aspects of Erin's framework was her challenge to traditional linear thinking in product development. She brilliantly contrasted the step-by-step, simple relationship approach of linear processes with the dynamic, complex interconnections of systems thinking. As Edward de Bono might say, we've been trapped in vertical thinking—logical, sequential steps that miss lateral connections. We need to embrace lateral thinking by allowing teams to use a more realistic workflow that captures the messy reality of product development. ?? "With systems thinking, it's a tool set to help us more accurately represent the world around us," Erin explained. "The process is designed to help you embrace the complexity of the real world while also methodically extracting simple cause-and-effect relationships through hypothesis testing." ???????? ???? ?????????????? ???????????????????? Most product backlogs mix good, neutral and actively harmful ideas - Erin showed how proper testing helps identify and ship only the positive ones, creating genuine improvement rather than random change. "It's not just any kind of change that we want to make... We want to craft improvements for the purpose of making things better, not simply different." Who else was there? What resonated with you? I'd love to hear your takeaways! ?? #ConversionDesign #ExperimentalDesign #SystemsThinking #DataDrivenCulture #ABTesting #ProductDevelopment #OrganisationalChange #UXDesign #cboostdk

Design Leadership & the Art of Driving Change — I had the chance to chat with Maria Giudice, founder of Hot Studio and design leader extraordinaire, about the art of leading change through design. Maria’s journey — from building Hot Studio to leading design at Facebook and Autodesk — has shaped her perspective on what it takes to make a design impact in large organizations. ?? Watch the full interview here: https://lnkd.in/eA_uVb8V ??? Read an edited transcript here: https://lnkd.in/eJykXBVF

I came across Closing the Loop: Systems Thinking for Designers by Sheryl Cababa (published by Rosenfeld Media) on my tiny dorm bookshelf—a thoughtful birthday gift from my friend Hung-Hsiang Chen, IDSA, d.MBA in 2023. I ended up finishing the book during a long round-trip journey to give a job talk, making the most of the airport transfers and extended travel time. ? The book is helpful for designers looking to deepen their understanding of systems thinking. It introduces foundational frameworks and tools such as the causal loop diagram (CLD), Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory (including the individual, microsystem, mesosystem, exosystem, and macrosystem layers, P103), the fishbone diagram, and the iceberg model—all of which can be applied meaningfully within design contexts. ? CLDs allow designers to map relationships between nodes, directions, and values (P124), revealing how challenges and solutions are interconnected and often underpinned by power dynamics. The fishbone diagram—introduced in Dr. Kaoru Ishikawa’s Guide to Quality Control (1972)—is a visual tool for identifying the root causes of issues. Originally structured around the 6Ms: manpower, method, machine, material, mother nature, and measurement, the diagram supports comprehensive discussions on contributing factors. On the other hand, the iceberg model provides a way to articulate different levels of systemic influence—from visible behaviors to institutional structures and deeply held mindsets (P140). It’s a potent tool for unpacking how power operates within systems. ? No matter which tools are used, Cababa emphasizes that effective systems maps should address three essential aspects of systems thinking: causality, connectedness, and wholeness (P99). What visible and invisible relationships trigger causality? How do we connect physical, virtual, informational, and social elements? And how can we cultivate a comprehensive perspective to reframe, readdress, and refine complex socioeconomic and technological challenges? ? These questions resonate with a key insight from David Peter Stroh in Systems Thinking for Social Change (2015): solutions from the past can become the problems of today (P125). In an era shaped by relational design (Arturo Escobar, Michal Osterweil, and Kriti Sharma, 2024), interconnectivity, and computational complexity, embracing a systems-thinking mindset is no longer optional—it’s essential. More books and inspiration: https://lnkd.in/eCskR5yE