Balsamiq

A few months ago, Giacomo Guilizzoni looked at me in our one-on-one and said "I have a crazy idea." I was bracing for another reorg or company OS. (Listen, we'd been experimenting!) Then he said: "I think you should be CEO." I spilled my coffee. Literally. And then sat there for the rest of the meeting too stunned to say a word, save for a few initial questions. Not because I didn't want it. I had "be a CEO" filed away on some vague vision board, but for about 10 years from now. After I'd somehow earned the right, whatever that meant. But in this moment I didn't feel like I'd earned it. I was literally listening to someone list ALL the reasons why I had (this rarely happens) and I still doubted myself. Because a few years before, someone I considered a mentor told me I wasn't ready to be a head of marketing. "Why do you think you can do this?" were their exact words when I said I'd gotten the job. It wasn't the first time I'd heard someone doubt me. It was probably one of the most painful. Every time I hit something I didn't know — and there was a LOT I didn't know — it came back. But I'd built my whole career on figuring things out anyway. So I talked it over with some folks, told myself to do it scared, and said yes. Same as always. Though this time would have to be different. My figure-it-outedness has gotten me from social media manager to head of marketing to CEO in under six years. That's a wild thing to be able to say, and even wilder to experience. You can't grow that fast without hitting some tough growing pains. Especially if you've always been the person that says yes. I talked about the whole journey on Growing Forward with Andrew Capland —the self-doubt, the burnout, the unlearning, and what I'd tell the version of me who thought she had to break herself to make it. It's probably the most open I've been on the internet. So even though it's cringey to hear myself talk, I hope this resonates with someone out there. Episode link in the comments ✨

We really do believe in vibe-coding... as long as you're vibe-thinking too.

I still really love sketching ideas with pen and paper. And then drawing wireframes out on Balsamiq. I hope that clarity of thought holds value, in a world where building is easier. Don't cancel me for saying this. I still want those AI meetup invites :p.

One week post launch! Here's what we're hearing so far: "It's so refreshing to see AI in-product that actually makes sense." "This makes my life easier." "This isn't just bolted on for the sake of AI." That last one? That's right where we want to be. Because we are right in the middle of the AI product debate everyone is having right now (and our team is having those same conversations internally) 🤖 Where does AI make sense in the product lifecycle? 🤖 Where does it help? 🤖 Where does it hurt? But here's what we keep coming back to: "You can't AI your way to a good product. Good products are built in the product thinking stage."- Arielle Johncox

Most PMs don't get nearly enough time with their customers...and when they do, it's often too formal, too scripted, or too late in the process. Ben Dlugiewicz, Product Manager at Capacity, says the shift happens when you stop treating customers like a single source of validation and start treating them like partners. 🤝 That relationship is what creates a path toward better prioritization, and because of that, better products. He shares more on this in the latest article from Good Product Club: "What 7 PMs wish everyone knew about product thinking." 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gzAhAkaf

Slowing down to go faster sounds like a productivity myth. It's not. The teams shipping the most aren't skipping the thinking phase... they're just making it cheaper. Idea-to-wireframe takes ~20 minutes in Balsamiq. A misunderstood spec costs 2 weeks. That's product math.

NEW: AI prototyping + the Balsamiq MCP server, now in Balsamiq Cloud. It's the product building workflow that puts your users first: 1️⃣ Start with wireframes and product thinking. Work out structure and flow by hand or with Balsamiq AI. 2️⃣ Generate an interactive prototype. It's shareable, clickable, and looks real. Want to change something? Just edit your wireframes. No prompt swirl. 3️⃣ Connect your AI tools. Our new MCP server lets Claude, ChatGPT/Codex, and more read your actual wireframes, so the feedback and code they give you reflect your UX, not a generic layout. Now, you can prototype fast, get stakeholders onboard, AND make the right product decisions. Plus, your product designs will hold up at scale. Links in the comments ✨

A day in the life of a product manager

How do I picture the learner’s journey before I start building? I wanted to think more clearly about questions like: 🟦 What will the #learner see first? 🟦 How will they move from one step to the next? 🟦 Where might they pause, wonder, or feel confused? 🟦 What may keep them engaged? 🟦 What may challenge their thinking in a meaningful way? 🟥 And how can the whole experience feel more supportive, clear, and purposeful? Because to me, designing learning is not only about putting information together in a pedagogical and logical sequence. It is also about understanding how a learner may experience that learning moment by moment. So, I started exploring different tools that could help me sketch these ideas out before building the full experience. And in that search, I came across Balsamiq (https://balsamiq.com/). What I found useful is that it gives a simple way to lay out or visualise ideas, plan the learner’s path, and make the structure of a digital experience visible before spending too much time building it. I can see this being useful not only for learning experience designers, instructional designers, and curriculum designers, but also for teachers, trainers, and even students who want to plan an idea more clearly. For example, it can help in: 🔹 planning how a learner will move through an online lesson or course  🔹 thinking through where support, reflection, or practice should appear  🔹 spotting possible confusion early  🔹 explaining ideas better to colleagues or clients  🔹 shaping digital activities in a more learner-friendly way Preparing young people for work today means more than sharing information or teaching skills separately. It means designing learning experiences that help them ❗imagine what a real work setting may feel like the tasks, the pace, the problems, the decisions, and the tools involved. Tools like these can support us in planning those learning journeys more thoughtfully, so we can place the right learning moments where they matter most. Not to make learning look fancy. Just help teams think about the structure and flow first. But to think more deeply about how learning is actually experienced. As some early experiments, I explored what this could look like in action. I did many through drawing and sketching as well as a quick oone like first imagined a learner persona for example, a migrant worker moving from Kenya to Ireland and mapped the kind of communication challenges they may face in both work and everyday life. Drafted a written learning journy environment, got the draft reviewed and improvised with the help of an AI tool, I then prepared a prompt and used it in Balsamiq AI to generate rough page sketches that helped me visualise the course journey before building it. #LearningExperienceDesign #InstructionalDesign #CurriculumDesign #DigitalLearning #YouthEmployability #FutureOfWork #TeachingAndLearning #EdTech #LearningInnovation #LearningTechnologies #TVET #LearningJouneyVisualisation