Failure Friday #5: Lessons from a SaaS Design Failure
Summary
In the early days of SaaS, Harry Max was hired to design a pioneering consumer finance app. Instead of starting with the founder’s vision, he dove into a methodologically-heavy process, hoping rigorous persona development would reveal the answers. It didn’t—progress was slow, clarity never emerged, and the strategy never materialized. Join Harry to explore how neglecting vision can lead to a painful failure, and why aligning with leadership from the outset is crucial for innovation and success in uncharted territory.
More Videos
"Garrett Hardin’s tragedy of the commons theory says ownership and regulation are needed to save ambiguous resources."
Amy ThibodeauOpening Keynote: Process and Ambiguity
October 23, 2019
"The difference between the way people talk about how things are done and how they are actually done reveals unconscious assumptions."
Carl TurnerYou Can Do This: Understand and Solve Organizational Problems to Jumpstart a Dead Project
March 28, 2023
"Weave in great user stories that exemplify your key points to maximize engagement."
Bruce GillespieLearning from journalism: Balancing impactful communication with compassionate storytelling
March 13, 2025
"Design managers need predictable roadmaps and healthy teams to meet project goals and timelines."
Aurobinda Pradhan Shashank DeshpandeIntroduction to Collaborative DesignOps using Cubyts
September 9, 2022
"Tags are a balance; project tags are wild and flexible, global tags must be controlled to avoid chaos."
Taylor Jennings Joe Nelson Alex KnollRepository Retrospective: Learnings from Introducing a Central Place for UX Research
March 9, 2022
"Safety is your number one concern, privacy is your number two, and usability is number three."
Daniel J. RosenbergDigital Medicine Design
September 26, 2019
"Design influence is messy and requires clear articulation of how we serve business and customer success."
Jack MoffettUX Metrics That Matter and The Future of our Design at Scale Conference: A Community Conversation
September 22, 2022
"If I stop doing it, it stops, and I'm the human in the loop, or the monkey in the middle."
Christian CrumlishThe Pygmalion Effect: In Which a Vibe Coding Experiment Becomes a Million Lines…
August 14, 2025
"We aimed for a fifth grade reading level to make materials accessible."
Alexia Cohen Adriane AckermanIncreasing Health Equity and Improving the Service Experience for Under-Served Latine Communities in Arizona
December 4, 2024
