Jensen Harris

I’m becoming more convinced the future isn’t PMs, designers, or engineers. It’s product people. High-agency, high-taste individuals who uncover problems, create concepts, and ship solutions. Fast. The disciplines we’ve relied on? They were just constructs. Useful scaffolding—until they weren’t. AI collapses the scaffolding. The builders are what matter now. A product person isn’t a job title. It’s the engineer embedding with a customer. The designer prototyping ideas before anyone asks. The CS rep turning feedback into a feature. AI makes it possible for anyone to build. If you’ve ever blurred the lines and just made it happen—you’re probably a product person.

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The next frontier for enterprises is not digital innovation. It is governance of the digital, AI included. Design is the connective tissue here: mapping the terrain, orchestrating accountability, embedding responsibility. This isn’t design as a support function. This is design as governance, a core enterprise capability. We are crossing a threshold. The question is not whether design will be at the table. It’s whether designers will step into the messy middle, where technology, compliance, and human conscience collide. And finally make a difference.

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🌱 THOUGHT LEADERSHIP WARNING 🌱 As a design systems leader who’s build high-craft libraries at scale, I knew I had to disrupt my own learning methodology. After months of stakeholder alignment sessions and design token frameworks, I made a bold strategic decision. I would take my expertise to the ultimate testing ground. Nature’s original design system. I’m talking about touching grass. Actual grass. With my hands. The insights were transformational. Here are 5 design system lessons I learned from this unconventional user research: 1️⃣ Consistency doesn’t mean identical Every blade of grass follows the same growth pattern, but no two are exactly alike. Your components can share DNA without being carbon copies. 2️⃣ Scalability happens naturally A lawn doesn’t need a roadmap to grow. It just needs the right conditions. Stop over-engineering your system’s future and focus on healthy foundations. 3️⃣ Maintenance beats perfection Grass doesn’t grow in straight lines, but regular mowing keeps it functional. Your design system needs consistent care, not perfect documentation. 4️⃣ Adaptation is survival Grass grows differently in shade vs sun, wet vs dry. Your components should flex for different contexts instead of breaking. 5️⃣ Root systems matter more than what’s visible The real work happens underground. Your design tokens and naming conventions are more important than your Figma library looking pretty. Side effect: I can now identify 12 different grass species and my Vitamin D levels are no longer concerning my doctor. 10/10 would recommend this UX research method. #DesignSystems #TouchGrass #ModelHopping

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Wrote a little piece about how AI is changing the job market for designers. Something similar happened in 1995, and there is a clear way through it if you stay curious. 💡 https://lnkd.in/dXy5spdr

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You've likely seen the headlines of executives issuing AI mandates for internal teams, some of which hasn't landed well internally (or externally). Prior to these headlines making a splash we opted to take a slightly different approach. A set of expectations for the entire Design org: 1. You’ll experiment with AI and share what you’re learning. 2. You’ll become proficient at prompting. 3. You’ll stay alert to opportunities for which AI can improve the products, services, and workflows you’re responsible for. 4. You’ll maintain a very high bar for design quality, regardless of whether humans or bots do the work. 5. You’ll never lose touch with the ability to craft with your hands, mind, heart, and gut. How are we making these actionable so they're not just frothy maxims? One of the ways we're doing this is through a monthly series called "AI Playdates" where volunteers or delegates present on design-related AI topics to the entire org. Today was the second instance in our series, with four presenters sharing their experimentation with Lovable, Bolt, Replit, v0, and ChatGPT for generating UI concepts and complementing their design workflows. Through Playdates, we're directly chipping away at 1 and 2 above, and indirectly at 4 and 5. Expectations (or guiding principles) such as these aren't likely to make headlines. In fact this post isn't likely to garner much attention either. Yes, sometimes we need to act boldly as leaders, and yes even with mandates. But there is also wisdom, sometimes greater wisdom, in acting with more thoughtful judgment and more flexible guidelines. Slow and steady. Measured and principled. These don't make headlines as much, but gosh they sure can be an effective way to lead. #ai #design #leadership

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If I have to explain a feature, the UX still needs work. Me understanding how it works does not matter. It also does not matter if it only makes sense after I have explained it. A feature proves itself when someone new looks at it and just gets it without extra explanation. That is why I value every “is this a bug?” question. If something looks like a bug, even when it is intentional, that is a sign the experience is still wrong. If users are confused, it is not their fault. It is ours. Features are not finished when they work technically. They are finished when they work intuitively.

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I’ve been leading design-led innovation at scale for a while and wanted to share what truly works in large, traditionally engineering-driven organizations. First, trying to sell a new process for driving change likely won’t work, but rallying people around a clear, impactful result can lead to the influence you envision. Innovation isn’t just about cool ideas—it’s about building momentum, solving the right problems in the right ways, and delivering tangible outcomes. When results lead, adoption follows. Success comes from focusing on a human-centered approach, exciting customers, engaging internal champions, driving cross-functional alignment, and applying emotional intelligence throughout. Here are five key insights I’ve found that help drive innovation successfully in big tech. https://lnkd.in/gC5p2_Pz

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GV (Google Ventures) have a long history of hiring former designers and design leaders to support their portfolio companies. Folks like Jake Knapp, John Zeratsky, Kate Aronowitz, Daniel Burka, Braden Kowitz, Vanessa Cho, and Tom Hulme. In my latests podcast interview, Kate Aronowitz explains why this is, and what designers bring to the table. Interestingly it's not about craft, but rather the way they see the world with a beginners mind.

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One of the most exciting and most challenging aspects of building AI-first experiences is keeping pace with an industry that evolves so rapidly. At Toast, we're addressing this challenge by sharing our insights frequently, tailoring our communication to reach different audiences effectively. Over the past few months, you’ve likely been hearing more and more about Model Context Protocol (MCP) and the way it’ll reshape how we create AI-first experiences. If you're a designer who's heard MCP mentioned, it might have seemed like technical mumbo jumbo or an underlying tech that didn't feel essential to your role. However, MCP represents a fundamental shift that impacts not only how we build experiences but also what we build. This is a short explainer video Brenna (our lead Designer on Sous Chef, our AI assistant for operators) and I worked on together last week. I hope it helps more designers get closer to the way MCP will shape their future experiences and it may also be helpful for many non-Design non-technical teams within your company! Note: this video is provided for informational purposes only and any Toast specific details are subject to change. https://lnkd.in/gt9k-Qav

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