Dan Hiester
@majtom2grndctrl.bsky.social
Lighthearted takes on UX, creativity, and other goofy things—by a technology wunderkind who grew up to be a product designer, and former agency developer.
Was really into Poppins before it went mainstream.
Currently in Seattle.
Was really into Poppins before it went mainstream.
Currently in Seattle.
Pinned
Dan Hiester
@majtom2grndctrl.bsky.social
· Apr 13
As skeptical as I am of generative AI, every now and then it genuinely surprises me.
Like this quote, from ChatGPT:
“Resilience isn’t stoicism. It’s adaptation + support.”
Like this quote, from ChatGPT:
“Resilience isn’t stoicism. It’s adaptation + support.”
So, here’s a thing I said today: “This salary range (for a 6-month contract for a mid-level UX Designer role located in-office in Seattle) is actually low enough to qualify for housing support from the city government.”
This was the budget the client’s stakeholders aligned on.
I passed.
This was the budget the client’s stakeholders aligned on.
I passed.
November 14, 2025 at 1:59 AM
So, here’s a thing I said today: “This salary range (for a 6-month contract for a mid-level UX Designer role located in-office in Seattle) is actually low enough to qualify for housing support from the city government.”
This was the budget the client’s stakeholders aligned on.
I passed.
This was the budget the client’s stakeholders aligned on.
I passed.
After years of proficient em-dash usage, I think I’ve finally come to accept that most of the time, in sentences that have only one em-dash? The em-dash could just as easily be a period. Instead of making a run-on sentence, we could make it a two-sentence paragraph.
November 11, 2025 at 12:41 AM
After years of proficient em-dash usage, I think I’ve finally come to accept that most of the time, in sentences that have only one em-dash? The em-dash could just as easily be a period. Instead of making a run-on sentence, we could make it a two-sentence paragraph.
I always try to reflect on whether something is a bad idea or just a bad implementation of a potentially good idea.
Agile seems like it died the same fate in the corporate world that UX did.
www.instagram.com/reel/DQeoSHa...
Agile seems like it died the same fate in the corporate world that UX did.
www.instagram.com/reel/DQeoSHa...
transformationprincess on Instagram: "Does this match up with what your experience was? #corporate #agile #it #projectmanagement #digitaltransformation View all 200 com…"
Does this match up with what your experience was? #corporate #agile #it #projectmanagement #digitaltransformation 
www.instagram.com
November 2, 2025 at 6:23 PM
I always try to reflect on whether something is a bad idea or just a bad implementation of a potentially good idea.
Agile seems like it died the same fate in the corporate world that UX did.
www.instagram.com/reel/DQeoSHa...
Agile seems like it died the same fate in the corporate world that UX did.
www.instagram.com/reel/DQeoSHa...
The fine print at the bottom of the screen says no endorsement is implied… but I don’t knoooowwww… I certainly feel like an endorsement has been implied here. 🙃
October 28, 2025 at 6:51 PM
The fine print at the bottom of the screen says no endorsement is implied… but I don’t knoooowwww… I certainly feel like an endorsement has been implied here. 🙃
I’m starting to consider that maybe I don’t need to make a big effort to maintain relationships with people who like to complain about “late stage capitalism” but also tell people in their community who are down on their luck “you don’t need a support system you just need to get a job.”
October 20, 2025 at 12:06 AM
I’m starting to consider that maybe I don’t need to make a big effort to maintain relationships with people who like to complain about “late stage capitalism” but also tell people in their community who are down on their luck “you don’t need a support system you just need to get a job.”
So, uh, (1) I thought enterprise b2b already *was* a circular economy and (2) increasing efficiency within the existing circular economy is going to cause headcount to crater, forcing a shift away from per-seat licensing (which has already started).
Am I wrong?
youtu.be/kcICMXz_n3Y?...
Am I wrong?
youtu.be/kcICMXz_n3Y?...
AI's circular spending problem? Activate CEO Michael Wolf on the circular AI economy
YouTube video by CNBC Television
youtu.be
October 12, 2025 at 6:06 AM
So, uh, (1) I thought enterprise b2b already *was* a circular economy and (2) increasing efficiency within the existing circular economy is going to cause headcount to crater, forcing a shift away from per-seat licensing (which has already started).
Am I wrong?
youtu.be/kcICMXz_n3Y?...
Am I wrong?
youtu.be/kcICMXz_n3Y?...
I have questions about my decision making process after reading several of this account’s Skeets without first searching for “Poster’s Madness.”
I did get some good laughs, though!
I did get some good laughs, though!
Good evening. "Jerry Chen" was a 27-month sociological experiment studying Poster's Madness conducted by Quinnipiac University. We are now complete with our study; thank you for your time.
October 6, 2025 at 5:55 AM
I have questions about my decision making process after reading several of this account’s Skeets without first searching for “Poster’s Madness.”
I did get some good laughs, though!
I did get some good laughs, though!
Watching women on social media express their exquisite disappointment with the new Taylor Swift album feels weirdly similar to watching dudes express their exquisite disappointment in every Apple keynote.
Does anyone else see a resemblance?
Does anyone else see a resemblance?
October 5, 2025 at 9:32 PM
Watching women on social media express their exquisite disappointment with the new Taylor Swift album feels weirdly similar to watching dudes express their exquisite disappointment in every Apple keynote.
Does anyone else see a resemblance?
Does anyone else see a resemblance?
I’ll keep saying it over and over again: Code is a user interface. Being good working with it does not make someone less creative. It just means they work with a different file format.
www.instagram.com/reel/DOytI_s...
www.instagram.com/reel/DOytI_s...
Login • Instagram
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www.instagram.com
September 28, 2025 at 5:50 PM
I’ll keep saying it over and over again: Code is a user interface. Being good working with it does not make someone less creative. It just means they work with a different file format.
www.instagram.com/reel/DOytI_s...
www.instagram.com/reel/DOytI_s...
What’s the word for that feeling where you’re reading a new tech book and the book name drops someone doing some exciting work and then you think “Oh wait, I’ve DM’d with that person on LinkedIn, right? Oh! I have!” but then you’re also convinced your career is a dumpster fire in its closing chapter
September 21, 2025 at 5:18 AM
What’s the word for that feeling where you’re reading a new tech book and the book name drops someone doing some exciting work and then you think “Oh wait, I’ve DM’d with that person on LinkedIn, right? Oh! I have!” but then you’re also convinced your career is a dumpster fire in its closing chapter
I might be biased because I’m a dog parent, but I kind like the idea of reading through what AI code generators write while they “talk to themselves,” and imagine it in the voice of a Golden Retriever working their way through the code.
September 18, 2025 at 10:32 PM
I might be biased because I’m a dog parent, but I kind like the idea of reading through what AI code generators write while they “talk to themselves,” and imagine it in the voice of a Golden Retriever working their way through the code.
I’m all for experimentation, innovation, and trying new things. But apparently, there is a line I’m not willing to cross, and that line is replacing the toolbar with floating tools on Finder. 😅
September 18, 2025 at 7:40 PM
I’m all for experimentation, innovation, and trying new things. But apparently, there is a line I’m not willing to cross, and that line is replacing the toolbar with floating tools on Finder. 😅
Hot take on Figma’s forthcoming Prompt to edit:
Cogsci > taste
The bigger question I have is: How many people in this field are so uneducated that they’re using “taste” as an umbrella term covering a handful of skills including cogsci?
Cogsci > taste
The bigger question I have is: How many people in this field are so uneducated that they’re using “taste” as an umbrella term covering a handful of skills including cogsci?
September 16, 2025 at 10:15 PM
Hot take on Figma’s forthcoming Prompt to edit:
Cogsci > taste
The bigger question I have is: How many people in this field are so uneducated that they’re using “taste” as an umbrella term covering a handful of skills including cogsci?
Cogsci > taste
The bigger question I have is: How many people in this field are so uneducated that they’re using “taste” as an umbrella term covering a handful of skills including cogsci?
Whelp. I wrote a prompt instructing an AI orchestrator to delegate each task to “an appropriate agent.”
And now I’m imagining one of my AI agents is Bricktop from Snatch, explaining what nemesis means. 🙃
And now I’m imagining one of my AI agents is Bricktop from Snatch, explaining what nemesis means. 🙃
September 2, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Whelp. I wrote a prompt instructing an AI orchestrator to delegate each task to “an appropriate agent.”
And now I’m imagining one of my AI agents is Bricktop from Snatch, explaining what nemesis means. 🙃
And now I’m imagining one of my AI agents is Bricktop from Snatch, explaining what nemesis means. 🙃
Ruin a book by adding Tom Clancy’s to the title.
Tom Clancy’s The User Experience Team of One
Tom Clancy’s The User Experience Team of One
Ruin a book by adding Tom Clancy's to the title
Tom Clancy's The Feminine Mystique
Tom Clancy's The Feminine Mystique
August 28, 2025 at 3:50 AM
Ruin a book by adding Tom Clancy’s to the title.
Tom Clancy’s The User Experience Team of One
Tom Clancy’s The User Experience Team of One
This was also a thinly veiled critique of UX. To be more opaque:
With the right culture, and right craftspeople, yes you can build a system without letting the system become a rationale for bland repetition.
With the right culture, and right craftspeople, yes you can build a system without letting the system become a rationale for bland repetition.
I am low-key obsessed with this new interpretation of Closer. If you know the original studio track well, you’ll recognize what layers they kept, what they added, and what they moved around.
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
Nine Inch Nails - Closer live at Xcel Center, St. Paul, MN 2025
YouTube video by M. Scott
youtu.be
August 22, 2025 at 3:05 PM
This was also a thinly veiled critique of UX. To be more opaque:
With the right culture, and right craftspeople, yes you can build a system without letting the system become a rationale for bland repetition.
With the right culture, and right craftspeople, yes you can build a system without letting the system become a rationale for bland repetition.
I am low-key obsessed with this new interpretation of Closer. If you know the original studio track well, you’ll recognize what layers they kept, what they added, and what they moved around.
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
Nine Inch Nails - Closer live at Xcel Center, St. Paul, MN 2025
YouTube video by M. Scott
youtu.be
August 22, 2025 at 2:06 PM
I am low-key obsessed with this new interpretation of Closer. If you know the original studio track well, you’ll recognize what layers they kept, what they added, and what they moved around.
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
The changes seem to assume that too much consistency leads to bland repetition.
youtu.be/J1Jppq1Fe0c?...
See also: What it feels like to have been a UX Engineer since before the rush to AI-generated prototypes in 2025.
Matt Berry is the voice of Bane in the new ‘LEGO BATMAN’ game.
August 20, 2025 at 1:11 AM
See also: What it feels like to have been a UX Engineer since before the rush to AI-generated prototypes in 2025.
I just saw some “Fresh Scent Vinegar” in the cleaning aisle grocery store and immediately thought “I KNOW WHAT VINEGAR SMELLS LIKE! You can’t fool me.”
August 18, 2025 at 5:07 AM
I just saw some “Fresh Scent Vinegar” in the cleaning aisle grocery store and immediately thought “I KNOW WHAT VINEGAR SMELLS LIKE! You can’t fool me.”
I remember over a year ago I noticed a study implying that while PMs were less impacted by layoffs than other roles, they shouted the loudest about being impacted more than any other role.
I speculate that maybe the PMs doing that were actually projecting what they would do onto others.
I speculate that maybe the PMs doing that were actually projecting what they would do onto others.
August 12, 2025 at 4:29 AM
I remember over a year ago I noticed a study implying that while PMs were less impacted by layoffs than other roles, they shouted the loudest about being impacted more than any other role.
I speculate that maybe the PMs doing that were actually projecting what they would do onto others.
I speculate that maybe the PMs doing that were actually projecting what they would do onto others.
So, I just stayed up writing technical specs for a React component project with Claude Code. Eventually, I asked it to imagine it’s a UX Engineer and review the specs, and it straight up said it looks like these specs were written by a backend engineer.
Amazing. Like… how did it not do that before?
Amazing. Like… how did it not do that before?
August 11, 2025 at 7:06 AM
So, I just stayed up writing technical specs for a React component project with Claude Code. Eventually, I asked it to imagine it’s a UX Engineer and review the specs, and it straight up said it looks like these specs were written by a backend engineer.
Amazing. Like… how did it not do that before?
Amazing. Like… how did it not do that before?
I got GPT-5 to kind of agree with me that the idea that all humans have worth regardless of any form of external validation is at least partially solipsistic.
It even went on to say the notion of shared human values are a cultural consensus hallucination.
Anyway. I promise I’m fun at parties. 🙃
It even went on to say the notion of shared human values are a cultural consensus hallucination.
Anyway. I promise I’m fun at parties. 🙃
August 11, 2025 at 3:40 AM
I got GPT-5 to kind of agree with me that the idea that all humans have worth regardless of any form of external validation is at least partially solipsistic.
It even went on to say the notion of shared human values are a cultural consensus hallucination.
Anyway. I promise I’m fun at parties. 🙃
It even went on to say the notion of shared human values are a cultural consensus hallucination.
Anyway. I promise I’m fun at parties. 🙃
So, funny story. I used ChatGPT to help me hastily paraphrase the “there is no spoon” quote from The Matrix for a LinkedIn comment yesterday. And as a former student journalist / “kinda trained” writer, its punctuation bugged me.
It overused ellipses. I replaced one ellipsis with an em-dash.
It overused ellipses. I replaced one ellipsis with an em-dash.
August 5, 2025 at 11:17 PM
So, funny story. I used ChatGPT to help me hastily paraphrase the “there is no spoon” quote from The Matrix for a LinkedIn comment yesterday. And as a former student journalist / “kinda trained” writer, its punctuation bugged me.
It overused ellipses. I replaced one ellipsis with an em-dash.
It overused ellipses. I replaced one ellipsis with an em-dash.
Prediction: The push for everyone to become a manager for agentic AI teams will fall apart when companies realize that the cost of LLM tokens makes team meetings cost exponentially more than meetings with humans.
That’s just math. 😜
That’s just math. 😜
August 5, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Prediction: The push for everyone to become a manager for agentic AI teams will fall apart when companies realize that the cost of LLM tokens makes team meetings cost exponentially more than meetings with humans.
That’s just math. 😜
That’s just math. 😜