One week only: Get $150 off tickets to Shift UX 2026

Shift UX 2026, Rosenfeld’s newest two-day, hybrid conference (plus an optional day of workshops) for people who care deeply about how products and services actually work in the world, is fast approaching!

On September 24-25, we’re looking forward to bringing together professionals who currently work as designers, researchers, product managers, content designers, data scientists, and adjacent practitioners who know UX is more important than ever—even as traditional UX roles blur or disappear.

And this is your last chance to join us either in-person in New York City or virtually.

For five days only, you can get $150 off your ticket to Shift UX 2026.

Unlock access to the first-ever conference dedicated to the future of the profession for user experience designers, researchers, PMs, and others just like you. You’ll see two days of talks jam-packed with the latest insights on the state of UX from speakers hailing from companies such as IBM, InVision, Dalberg Design, Dropbox, and more!

Want to dive deeper? Attend one of our in-person expert-led workshops on September 23!

And guess what? There’s no discount code needed — the $150 is already reflected in the flash sale ticket price. Register by September 18th at 11:59 pm EST to lock in your savings!

 

 

VIP and low-cost tickets are excluded from this promotion.

From information architecture to sensemaking with Abby Covert

As UX roles and titles continue to shift, the ability to make sense of complexity may matter more than ever. Lou talks with information architect, author, and longtime collaborator Abby Covert about how her work evolved from information architecture into the broader practice of sensemaking—and why she believes that work extends far beyond people with “IA” in their job titles.

Abby also offers a preview of Shift UX, Rosenfeld Media’s hybrid conference on September 24–25, where she is one of the main curators. She explains how the event itself is being redesigned to move away from “design theater”: speakers will share the stage, dedicated sensemakers will connect ideas across talks, and the audience will become part of the conversation.

The conversation explores Abby’s Sensemakers Club, the importance of creating genuine community, and her new book, Timeless Sensemaking for Modern Sensemakers. Throughout, Abby makes the case that sensemaking isn’t simply about organizing information—it’s also about understanding people, adapting how we communicate, and helping others turn complexity into something they can actually use.

What You’ll Learn from this Episode:

  • How information architecture led Abby to the broader practice of sensemaking
  • Why UX skills may outlast traditional UX roles and titles
  • How Shift UX is rethinking the traditional conference experience
  • Why sensemaking is personal—and looks different for everyone
  • How intentional discussion can turn connection into genuine community
  • Why adapting how you communicate can make your work more effective

Q&A with Abby Covert

This interview has been edited for clarity and length from Abby Covert’s appearance on the Rosenfeld Review Podcast, “From Information Architecture to Sensemaking.” Responses are adapted from the podcast discussion and should not be treated as verbatim quotations.

Q: UX is shifting. What do you think is changing most fundamentally about the work?

A: Titles are changing, organizations are uncertain, and conventional UX boundaries are less stable. Shift UX is positioned as a place to work through that change—not merely observe it.

Q: Why is sensemaking such an important skill for UX practitioners now?

A: So much of the work is not simply about making a screen, a service, or a piece of content. It is about helping people understand complex systems, competing priorities, changing information, and different points of view. Sensemaking gives us a way to work with that complexity instead of pretending it is not there.

Q: What can information architecture teach people beyond the IA field?

A: Information architecture has always involved more than navigation or menus. It is about how people understand information, how language affects that understanding, and how systems are structured. Those are useful concerns for anyone working in design, research, content, product, operations, or leadership.

Q: Why is this the right moment for a new UX conference?

A: We are in a moment where people are asking real questions about what UX is, where the work belongs, and how it needs to evolve. Those questions are bigger than any one discipline or role. We need spaces where people can come together, compare what they are seeing, make sense of it, and think about what comes next.

Q: What could someone gain from attending Shift UX that they may not get from watching talks alone?

A: The value is not only in the content of any individual talk. It is in what happens when people gather around the ideas: the conversations, the connections, the different perspectives, and the chance to make sense of what matters to you. A meaningful event gives people a way to participate in the work of understanding, not just consume someone else’s conclusions.

Q: How can Shift UX help someone whose role no longer fits neatly under “UX”?

A: You do not have to fit neatly into one label to contribute to this work. Many people are already working across boundaries: research, content, design, product, operations, technology, and organizational change. If your work involves helping people make sense of complex situations and building things that work better in the world, you belong in the conversation.

Q: What is the most important idea you want people to take from this conversation?

A: Sensemaking is not simply about organizing information. It is about understanding people, adapting how we communicate, and helping others transform complexity into something useful. That work matters whether you call yourself an information architect, a UX practitioner, a researcher, a content strategist, a designer, or something else entirely.

About our guest

Abby Covert is an information architect, writer, and community organizer who specializes in helping people make sense of messes. She has written three books on sensemaking. How to Make Sense of Any Mess (2014), Stuck? Diagrams Help. (2022), and Timeless Sensemaking for Modern Sensemakers (2026).

In 2020, she left a 20-year consulting career to focus on independent publishing and community building. Since then, she launched Makesensemess, a beloved annual storytelling event celebrating sensemakers, and founded The Sensemakers Club. Abby now serves as the Chief Sensemaker of 170+ sensemakers globally, reporting on discussion trends, identifying and training new discussion leaders and mentoring a growing list of Sensemakers in Residence producing experiments in Community-Powered Education.

Quick Reference Guide:

0:16 – Meet Abby

2:29 – Sense-making as part of information architecture; placemaking vs sensemaking

5:31 – More on the term sensemaking

9:46 – More on placemaking; moving away from performance and toward disclosure; experience design

16:09 – 15% off on two books: What Your Machines Should Do by Stephanie Hutka and Body Talk by Dane DeSutter and Stephanie Scopelitis

17:17 – Sensemaking is personal

19:11 – What sensemaking will look like at the Shift UX conference

21:22 – Sensemakers Club and Abby’s book

26:27 – More on Abby’s book

30:34 – Abby’s gift for listeners

31:33 – Check out the Rosenverse

Resources:

How to Make Sense of Any Mess by Abby Covert 

Shift UX conference – September 23-25, 2026

Timeless Sensemaking for Modern Sensemakers by Abby Covert

Extra Bold, Feminist, Inclusive, Anti-Racist, Non-Binary Field Guide for Graphic Designers by Ellen Lupton, Farah Kafei, Jennifer Tobias, Josh A. Halstead, Kaleena Sales, Leslie Xia, Valentina Vergara 

 

Join Abby Covert at Shift UX 2026.
Attend live in New York City or participate online, September 23–25, 2026. Shift UX brings together practitioners working across UX, research, design, product, content, data, technology, and organizational change to explore how products and services can work better in the real world.

Attending Shift UX 2026 remotely? Here’s your virtual social events rundown

On September 23-25, we’re bringing together professionals who currently work as designers, researchers, product managers, content designers, data scientists, and adjacent practitioners who know UX is more important than ever—even as traditional UX roles blur or disappear.

We just announced a killer schedule of activities for our in-person attendees, but that doesn’t mean we’re skimping on the experience for our remote conference-goers!

The highlights of the Shift UX 2026 conference aren’t limited to the stage…It’s in the connections you’ll make!

See what we have in store for all of our remote attendees on the first day of the conference, September 24:

Pre-conference Warmup

9:30-10:0am: Kick the day off with an informal virtual warm-up session, hosted by virtual emcee Frances Yllana. Come say hello, meet fellow remote attendees, and get comfortable before the day’s programming begins—pet photos highly encouraged. No agenda, no pressure, just a friendly way to feel like part of the room even when you’re not in it.

Cozy Juicy Real virtual boardgame/networking session

5:15-6:30pm: Whether you’re looking to expand your network, meet your next client, or connect with collaborators, this is your opportunity to make it happen.

You’ll experience Cozy Juicy Real, a simple, effective board game that’s been played in 71 countries. It’s proven to create stronger team bonds at the world’s most successful organizations—including Google, Adobe, and the UN.

“You will connect. Cozy Juicy Real is the best way to foster connection online.”
– Marcia Goddard, Chief Culture Officer, The Contentment Foundation

 

Not registered for the groundbreaking Shift UX conference yet? Register now before it’s too late!

8 can’t-miss off-stage experiences at Shift UX 2026

On September 23-25 in New York City, we’re bringing together professionals who currently work as designers, researchers, product managers, content designers, data scientists, and adjacent practitioners who know UX is more important than ever—even as traditional UX roles blur or disappear.

But the highlights of the Shift UX 2026 conference aren’t limited to the stage…It’s in the connections you’ll make in New York City!

Our incredible team has been hard at work curating a lineup of fun activities for you to do between inspiring keynotes.

Because Shift UX isn’t just about the amazing program lineup and guest speakers; it’s about the people you meet while you’re there!

See what we have in store for all of our in-person attendees.

Wednesday, September 23

VIP reception

6:00-8:00pm: Some of the best conversations at Shift UX happen off the agenda. Sponsored by Nava, the VIP Reception is an invitation-only evening for speakers, sponsors, and VIP Conference Ticket holders—director-level leaders and above—following the UX Leadership Salon. It’s a rare chance to unwind and connect candidly with your peers shaping the field’s direction, away from the crowd. Space is reserved exclusively for this group. VIP Conference Tickets include entry to both Wednesday events.

Dinner groups

6:00pm: Skip the solo takeout and dine with fellow attendees. We’ve reserved tables for small groups of 10 at three spots: an Italian trattoria, a Thai favorite, and historic Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington delivered his farewell address. We make the reservation; you just sign up (keep an eye on your email after you register!). Spots are limited and first-come, first-served, so claim your seat and your restaurant early.

Thursday, September 24

Morning group run

6:30-7:30am: Led by Stef Hutka, join us for a no-drop run along the iconic Two Bridges route, taking you across the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges (3.78 miles)! We’ll start and end in McLaughlin Park in Brooklyn, at the corner of Jay and Tillary. All paces welcome. We will stop at Confucius Plaza Statue (1 Bowery) around 7am if you want to join from the Manhattan side.

Read more about the run here (note: the meeting/ending point is NOT #1 on the map)

Book signings

Meet some of your favorite authors on the conference floor during breaks in the program:

Opening reception

5:30-7:30pm: Cap off day one at our Opening Night Reception, sponsored by Bloomberg L.P. After a full day of sessions, join the entire Shift UX 2026 community—attendees, speakers, and sponsors alike—for drinks, food, and the kind of hallway conversation that’s as valuable as anything on the agenda. Open to everyone at the conference, no extra ticket required; just show up and dive in.

Games night

8:00-10:00pm: Looking for an escape from the digital world? Time to get tactile! Join host Dan Brown and your fellow Shift UX attendees for some friendly tabletop gaming. Whether you prefer deep strategy or casual fun, we have a wide selection of games for you to choose from including Wingspan, Azul, Flip 7, Splendor, Spaceteam, and many more!. Come meet colleagues, enjoy a refreshment, and play a great game or two. No experience necessary!

Friday, September 25

(More) Book signings

Meet some of your favorite authors on the conference floor during breaks in the program:

Sunrise yoga

7:00-8:00am: Start your day with a moment of calm: Conference curator Jem Ahmed will lead a session of gentle morning yoga and breathwork with a view of the Manhattan skyline. Whether you’re an experienced yogi or have never stepped onto a mat before, join us for a moment to connect with yourself before the second day of the conference begins.
Jem Ahmed is a classically trained yoga, breathwork and meditation teacher. She’ll draw on the ancient, interconnected practices of yoga and Ayurveda. Beginner and injury friendly. Mats and lovely views provided!

Dinner groups

6:00pm: Close out the week with a dinner group of 10 fellow attendees, exploring what NYC does best. Choose from Chinese, Korean, or a trip to Brooklyn’s legendary original Junior’s for cheesecake worth crossing a bridge for. We handle the reservation; you just need to sign up. Groups are small and spots go fast, so grab yours before they’re gone.

 

Not registered for the groundbreaking Shift UX conference yet? Register now before it’s too late!

Meet the sponsors that make Shift UX 2026 possible

From AI to the global economy, everything is changing everywhere all at once, and the job you had yesterday may not resemble your role today, much less tomorrow. Which is why, instead of treating UX as a job title, Shift UX 2026 frames UX as a powerful toolkit for everyone to use to solve complex problems in any setting, ranging from finance and healthcare to education and transportation.

Let’s meet the sponsors that make the first-ever Shift UX 2026 conference possible.

Platinum

The UX practice at Bloomberg brings together researchers, product designers, data visualization experts, and prototypers to create intuitive experiences for clients navigating the global economy. We turn complex data into clear, useful insights by understanding user needs and designing thoughtful, human-centered products that help solve our customers’ complex, real-world problems. Learn more »

 

Palladium

Nava is a public benefit corporation on a mission to make government services work better for the people they’re meant to serve. Federal, state, and local government agencies across the country have trusted Nava to modernize critical public services over the last decade. We combine our deep technology and domain expertise to help government agencies improve how people access essential services, reduce administrative burden, and build systems that are flexible to constant improvement. Learn more »

 

Gold

Justworks helps small and growing businesses take care of their people and run with confidence. Its platform brings payroll, benefits, HR tools, and compliance support together in one place, simplifying the essential administrative work behind building a great team.
By pairing straightforward technology with expert support from real people, Justworks gives business owners more time to focus on their employees, their customers, and the work that moves their organizations forward. Learn more »

 

Design at Amazon spans devices to fashion, logistics to streaming, voice to retail—creating experiences that touch customers everywhere. With curiosity, rigor, and care, we design from every perspective and scale, from smallest moments to largest systems. Learn more »

 

Silver

Aboard is a solution engineering firm. We combine AI-accelerated software delivery with the skills and craft we developed across two decades of software consulting. AI is powerful, but only if you manage the risks. And that’s why we don’t put AI in charge—we put it to work, to help us build reliable custom software for industry leaders in a fraction of the time it used to take. We typically partner with clients for a year or more to clear their roadmaps, integrate AI into existing data and workflows, and ship platforms that actually fit their needs. Learn more »

 

Supporting Sponsor

The Sensemakers Club is a community-powered education space where curious people come to grow without performing or pretending to have it all figured out. Learn more »

 

Ready to meet these sponsors? Join us September 23-25, 2026 in New York City (or remotely)!

Taking back control of UX and research: An interview with Shift UX curator Jemma Ahmed

Jemma Ahmed has been working for two decades in the space where consumer, design, product, marketing and cultural insight meet. A mixed methods insight practitioner, her work focuses on how technology can empower minority Global communities. With expertise in data science, market research and user research, she has delivered projects at scale which have had significant business and societal impact.

We sat down with her to ask why she believes this conference is essential for all UXers—regardless of whether they have “UX” in their titles.

Why is Shift UX needed right now?

I could tell you everything that every other conference is talking about right now.

I could tell you that you need to think about the skills that are needed as we march forward in an AI-mediated environment.

I could talk to you about the importance of coming together when the social contract of work is changing. I could talk to you about the importance of community and agency.

That would all be true. And I hope that anyone who attends the conference will walk away with those things.

But for me, Shift UX is so important right now because it is a space that will cut through the noise with honesty.

In a world where everyone is an AI or LinkedIn influencer and everyone and their mother with a blue tick is offering a perspective, there is just so much noise and clutter and—often AI generated—opinion going on out there. And that doesn’t help anyone.

A curated conference like Shift UX is trusted because everyone who steps on that stage has researched their topic and is a deep expert in what they are talking about and has worked with other people with deep expertise.

What you’re hearing from the speakers is about as accurate a signal as any of us can give right now. And in a world that is just so cluttered and noisy, making decisions off information that you can trust really matters right now.

Is UX dead?

Absolutely categorically not.

UX, when you kind of slip it all back, is about figuring out what a human need is and building something which helps that human and reduces harm to them. That skill has been going on since the days when we were trying to figure out like why a wheel is round and not square. That is a perennial skill and it’s not going anywhere. The shape of it might shift, the job title might shift, the spaces it’s practiced in might shift, but that fundamental isn’t dead and it isn’t going anywhere.

If we need UX more than ever, why is it so freaking hard to get a job right now?

I am job hunting and I have got all the feels for this question. From my vantage point and the people that I’ve spoken to and the people that I conducted research with going into Shift UX is that…Yeah, in some spaces there is a downturn of traditional UX jobs.

But that doesn’t mean that they are going away.

Some of them require different skills. A lot of them are going under different job titles, like in research. You might not be being called user researchers anymore. You might be called strategists. Your work might be sitting in policy teams, but the work is still going on, perhaps in different places with different titles and different spaces than it has been before.

What are you most excited about from the Research As Strategy track at Shift UX?

We are actually completely decoupling research as a profession and research as a skill. If anything, I’m going to ban the word research because we’re not living through that anymore.

Organisations are functioning as a knowledge economy. From very, very rigorous research being conducted by specialised teams, all the way through to lived experience, AI generated lit reviews, and everything in between, we have got more insight or sometimes insight-shaped things than ever. But how you function in a knowledge economy is very, very different. And I’m excited to get into this.

I’m excited to help people understand how you collate that volume of information and signal and yet stop people becoming data blind. Identify those hinge questions.

I’m curious about helping people understand the different spaces and places and consequences of working in a knowledge economy means for a researcher and their role, and how people who are doing research contribute back up to that knowledge economy.

I’m ready to dig into what it actually means to help an organisation metabolise the knowledge that is collecting. That is not having a seat at the table, my friends. That is using relational power when you might not have those institutional power markers anymore to make your voice heard.

I’m also really curious to dive into what the skills are that are needed to actually help organizations consume and ingest knowledge well. Often those conversations can be hard-hitting and difficult. That’s often the role of knowledge: to add friction and to have difficult conversations. That’s predicated on psychological safety on non-suppression of voices and we are going to be understanding how to have those conversations.

Regardless of whether you’re a researcher or a person who does research… these matter. I don’t care whether you are a user researcher, a market researcher, a data analyst, whether you are working in-house as a consultant or a contractor or you are an agency.

This space, regardless of whether you have got UX in your title or not, is for you.

If you work in spaces where you are creating and designing for humans, this conference is for you. I hope it will help you learn some of the fundamental shifts in skills that we’re seeing: how you metabolize knowledge, how you stop seeing operations as admin and start seeing it as strategic orchestration, and how you actually go about working with sense-making. These are skills that—regardless of whether your title is UX or not— if you are building human-centered things, matter moving forward.

What worries you if user experience designers and researchers (UXers) as a field don’t get on top of what’s happening right now?

So I think there has been a very, very human toll of the changes that we’ve seen in our field. I have friends, peers, mentors who’ve been long-term unemployed as a result of the shifts that we’re seeing. I don’t want that for them. I don’t want that for you.

Equally, I have seen people feel devalued, feel like this is being something that is done to them, that their career is not in their hands anymore. And let’s face it, if you get into this work, it’s because you more often than not care about the human at the end of it.

I want, if nothing else, for people to walk away with a sense of agency.

I want our field to start having agency and start making the decisions that affect us rather than it being a thing done to us.

So, what worries me is that if we don’t get our handle on this, there is a very, very human cost—to jobs, to worth, to identity. I hope Shift UX gives us a space to really start taking back control.

 

Low-cost tickets now available for the Shift UX 2026 conference

The world has always needed people who take responsibility for humanizing systems, services, products, and technologies. In 2026, that need is exploding…and demand will inevitably catch up. Are you prepared for the new wave of user experience?

That’s exactly what Shift UX 2026 is all about, and why we want to make sure it’s accessible to as many UXers as possible.

Our team has been hard at work shaping Shift UX 2026 into the groundbreaking event it’s meant to be, and we can’t wait to see so many of your faces there!

But we know that not everyone has the budget or circumstances that allow them to attend conferences like ours, which is why we’re offering exclusive low-cost tickets to the first-ever Shift UX conference.

Attend virtually on Sep 24-25 and obtain access to the conference session recordings, notes, and slide decks!

You’re eligible for this lower-priced ticket if you’re…

  • Unemployed
  • A full-time student
  • Reside in one of the following countries: Ukraine, India, Pakistan, Nigeria, Brazil, Indonesia, Philippines, South Africa

Join us at Shift UX in just a few short weeks by registering here.

See you soon!

 

Unlock new user insights with Body Talk

Ever shipped a product or feature that tested well, seemed obviously right, and then just… didn’t land? There’s a decent chance the missing signal wasn’t in anything anyone said. It was in the room — in a shrug, a leaned-in posture, a hand that traced a shape nobody wrote down. A new book from Rosenfeld Media makes the case that this overlooked layer of communication deserves a seat at the table in human-centered design, and it’s now open for pre-order.

Body Talk: Using Gestures to Rethink Human-Centered Products, by Dane DeSutter and Stephanie Scopelitis, is available to pre-order now through October 20, 2026 at 15% off. Here’s what it covers and why it matters.

What does “body talk” actually mean?

People think, communicate, and coordinate with more than words. Gestures — hand movements, posture, gaze, the way someone orients toward or away from another person — carry meaning that speech alone can’t capture. DeSutter and Scopelitis walk through the entire product lifecycle showing how tuning into gesture, both the user’s and your own, deepens research, sharpens ideation, strengthens design validation, and makes it easier to ground fast-moving technology in real human experience.

Is gesture just about the hands?

No, and this is one of the book’s core reframes. A gesture can be a hand movement, sure, but it’s also a shifted posture, a held gaze, a turned shoulder, a lifted chin, or a raised eyebrow in context. The book treats gesture as any visible bodily action that helps people make meaning while they think, talk, and work together. If you’ve only been watching what users say and click, you’ve been missing a whole channel of data.

Who should read this book?

If you talk to users or customers, shape product design or strategy, or lead the people who do, this book is likely speaking directly to you — whether your title is researcher, designer, engineer, or product manager. It’s also built for leaders, educators, healthcare professionals, and facilitators whose work depends on reading people accurately and getting things done together.

If you’ve ever wondered why a promising idea fizzled in the room, the answer may have been sitting in gestures nobody was trained to notice.

What will I actually be able to do after reading it?

The book is hands-on, not just conceptual. You’ll come away able to:

  • Recognize how gestures reveal people’s mental models and help them think.
  • Read the meaning in gestures that words leave out entirely.
  • Understand how the thinking, communicating, and coordinating body work as one system.
  • Actually spot the gestures that matter, instead of missing them.
  • Evaluate and analyze gestures for their communicative impact.
  • Use gesture to build trust and belonging within teams, and collaborate more richly as a result.
  • Read gesture in context — tied to your goals, your relationships, and how ideas move through a group.
  • Prototype and build the right thing, together, faster.
  • Analyze and interpret gestures captured on video.
  • Use AI and software to search video at scale and locate movement patterns.

What’s inside, chapter by chapter?

The book moves from foundational theory into applied practice across eight chapters — starting with why gesture-awareness matters, into how to actually “see” it, how to analyze gesture data, and finally how to build stronger teams and design better products by paying attention to what bodies are already telling you.

What are people saying about it?

Early readers across design, research, and academia are calling it a genuine shift in perspective — from design leaders praising its focus on understanding human needs beyond words, to researchers highlighting how it grounds gesture in real practice, to reviewers noting that even in an AI-saturated moment, human-centered products still start with old-fashioned human observation.

Order a copy before October 20 to save 15%.

About the authors

Dane DeSutter is an embodiment and gesture scientist who has spent over a decade studying how the body externalizes and supports complex cognition and putting those insights to work in product development. He uses spontaneous co-speech gestures to probe the fine details of people’s mental models across domains as varied as spatial reasoning in science, physician-patient dynamics in clinical environments, wearables, developer experience, and human-AI interaction. He is currently a Senior Product Researcher at Microsoft. Read more »

Stephanie Scopelitis is an educator, learning scientist, and qualitative researcher. Her life as a professional dancer carried her into a deeper study of human interaction and the body. She has built her work on a fundamental belief: we understand and navigate the world through our bodies. Read more »

 

Learn to automate intentionally with What Your Machines Should Do

Every team building with AI eventually runs into the same wall: it’s easy to automate something, but much harder to know if you’re automating the right thing, at the right time, in the right way. That gap (between what’s technically possible and what actually serves people) is the subject of a new book from Rosenfeld Media, and it’s now open for pre-order.

What Your Machines Should Do: The Science and Strategy of Human-Centered Automation, by Stefanie Hutka, is available to pre-order now through November 10, 2026 at 15% off. Here’s what the book covers and who it’s for.

How do I decide what to automate — and what to keep human?

That’s really the central question the book sets out to answer. Hutka’s argument is that AI isn’t a brand-new phenomenon requiring brand-new thinking — it’s the latest stage of a much longer automation story, and there’s decades of hard-won research in human factors, cognitive science, and systems design that already tells us how automation succeeds or fails.

Most organizations skip that research. They chase full automation because it’s exciting or because a competitor is doing it, without checking whether their team is actually ready or whether it will genuinely improve the customer experience. Hutka calls this mismatch the Automation Strategy Gap, and the book is a practical toolkit for closing it: how to set direction on purpose, roll things out in the right sequence, and make sound calls in the day-to-day work of building automated systems.

Who should read this book?

If any of these sound like you, this one’s for your shelf:

  • You’re an IC trying to manage up. You want your team and leadership to have a realistic, grounded sense of what the technology can (and can’t) actually do — instead of hype-driven assumptions.
  • You’re a manager making the calls. Every week you’re deciding what gets automated, what gets adopted off the shelf, and what stays firmly in human hands.
  • You’re a senior leader setting strategy. You need technical capability and customer/business value to actually line up, not drift apart.

What are the key takeaways?

By the end of the book, you’ll walk away able to:

  • Weigh customer value, organizational readiness, and technical maturity to prioritize what to automate and how.
  • Build real intuition — through hands-on exercises — for the technology’s actual capabilities and limits.
  • Judge an automation solution at three levels: the user, the task, and the wider ecosystem it lives in.
  • Surface the assumptions already baked into your organization, since automation just accelerates whatever system you already have.
  • Treat automation as a way to reinforce strategy rather than let it quietly replace strategy.
  • Spot likely downstream consequences early, so you can head off risk and catch opportunity.
  • Design systems that expand what people can think and do, instead of hollowing it out.
  • Evaluate automated systems honestly, both before launch and after.

What’s covered chapter by chapter?

The book moves from mindset to method across 11 chapters, starting with why intentional automation matters, through frameworks like the Autonomy Decision Matrix and building “could we / should we” judgment, into setting direction, anticipating consequences, and finally evaluating and adapting your systems over time.

Order a copy before November 10 to save 15%.

Who is Stefanie Hutka?

Stef Hutka helps teams bring useful, usable AI, XR, and robotics products to market. She is the founder of Sendfull, a boutique consultancy for emerging technology teams. Previously, Stef led design research and strategy for 0-to-1 product launches at Adobe, Meta, and DAQRI. Stef also teaches UX and systems thinking at UC Berkeley, and writes the leading Substack on emerging product design research (sendfull.substack.com). She holds a PhD in Psychology from the University of Toronto, focused on cognitive neuroscience. Read more »

Announcing the Conference Program for Shift UX 2026

We are thrilled to announce the program for Shift UX 2026, a hybrid conference for designers, researchers, product managers, content designers, and adjacent practitioners navigating a moment when traditional UX roles are blurring or disappearing.

Key Highlights

  • Keynotes from industry leaders: Hear from Catt Small, Staff Product Designer at Dropbox & Author of The Staff Designer, in the opening keynote, and Jesse James Garrett, AI Transformation Consultant & Private Leadership Advisor at Intentional Associates, in the closing keynote.
  • Live sensemaking sessions: Watch ideas get synthesized in real time across three dedicated sensemaking blocks — on research and knowledge, on moving from operations to orchestration, and on human-centered tooling — led by practitioners like Dan Brown, Co-founder of EightShapes, and Sophia Prater, UX Strategy Consultant and Coach at OOUX.
  • Two focused day-long tracks: Day one centers on strategic research and knowledge sensemaking into the operating models organizations need to remain human-centered in a post-AI era, while day two explores tools that extend human capability, then brings the conference’s ideas together through live sensemaking and a closing keynote.
  • Practical talks on AI-era operations: Sessions like “From Operations to Orchestration,” “Shared Accountability in Enterprise UX,” and “The Judgment Layer: Operations After Throughput” dig into how design orgs coordinate and stay accountable as workflows become more automated.
  • Networking built into the schedule: In-person attendees get topic-table lunches and multiple coffee breaks, while remote attendees get dedicated chat sessions plus a remote social (Cozy Juicy Real)  and remote after-party — giving both formats structured time to connect.
  • Flexible attendance formats: The full schedule is mirrored for both in-person (New York City) and remote attendees, so highlights and access to speakers aren’t limited to those on-site.

Why attend?

  • Future-proof your skillset by diving into four forward-focused practice pillars that resist automation: strategic research, sensemaking, operations as orchestration, and human-centered tooling
  • Uncover new opportunities by exploring the intersections between these pillars — spaces where UX practitioners are uniquely positioned to add value
  • Gain language and frameworks that make your skills, experience, and impact more visible and valued, whatever role you’re in or moving toward
  • Connect with peers and talent navigating similar shifts — blurred roles, evolving team structures, and new ways of measuring UX impact
  • Learn from expert-led workshops and the Leaders Salon designed to help you translate your experience into what’s next, whether that’s growing in your current role, leading a team, or branching into coaching, consulting, or teaching

Join us at Shift UX 2026 as we navigate this exciting frontier together. Stay tuned for more announcements!

View the program »