The Drafts

Diya Dadlani
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The Drafts is a space for thoughtful reflection, creative exploration, and real-world insights. Each episode is a behind-the-scenes look at ideas in progress—covering design, UX, entrepreneurship, and the everyday moments that shape the way we think and work. Host Diya shares reflections, experiments, and lessons learned while navigating projects, life, and the messy middle of creation. Whether you’re building products, shaping experiences, or just curious about how ideas evolve, The Drafts offers clarity, perspective, and a little company along the way.

  1. 2d ago

    The Unstable Plateau of the AI Boom

    The AI boom, Carlota Perez, and what happens when the wrapper comes off. ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Anthropic's Claude are converging in capability while thousands of products are built on top of them and own none of the infrastructure underneath. Using economist Carlota Perez's framework for technological revolutions and the 1840s British railway mania as a guide, this episode looks at the fault lines running through OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, the "tokenmaxxing" cost crisis hitting companies like Uber and Amazon, and why AI "wrappers" built on someone else's API are structurally fragile. The turning point in every tech boom isn't the crash. It's the moment the hype quietly separates from the foundation holding it up, and this is that moment for AI. New episodes drop every Thursday. Full show notes at thedraftspodcast.substack.com. A rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts genuinely helps. All music by Madhumita Prasad.

    24 min

  2. Jul 2

    You Can't Create at the Pace of the Algorithm

    Paula has a line that comes up more than once in this conversation: I can't create at the pace of the algorithm. This episode is about what that actually means, and what it costs to protect your creativity when the platforms are designed to reward something else entirely. In part two of this conversation, Paula and I get into the influencer dream and why she let it go, what happens when social media tips from connection into marketing, why niching down does a disservice to the complexity of being human, and what she would tell a 19-year-old who wants to post more like themselves. If you haven't heard part one -- Episode 15, "Sincerely Online" -- start there. But this one holds on its own. Find Paula on Instagram at @143lements. New episodes drop every Thursday. Full show notes at thedraftspodcast.substack.com. A rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts genuinely helps. All music by Madhumita Prasad.

    32 min

  3. Jun 25

    Sincerely Online

    Most people online are doing one of two things: posting cryptically enough that no one can read them too clearly, or building a personal brand polished enough to sell. My guest Paula does neither. She posts as herself, specifically, legibly, nothing held back, and has for years. In this episode, the first ever guest conversation on The Drafts, Paula and I talk about the documentation impulse that's driven her since childhood, what it actually means to post a full version of yourself versus a held-back one, and why the response to a held-back version doesn't land the same way. This is part one of two. Next week: what happens when platforms stop rewarding connection and start rewarding performance. Find Paula on Instagram at @143lements. New episodes drop every Thursday. If today's episode resonated, a rating on Spotify or Apple Podcasts genuinely helps. Full show notes at thedraftspodcast.substack.com. All music by Madhumita Prasad.

    41 min

  4. Jun 18

    Calculated Misery: The Design of Air Travel

    After an accidental upgrade on one leg of a trip and a return to economy on the other, Diya runs an unplanned A/B test on herself and unpacks why the airport experience is not poorly designed at all. It is designed extremely well, just not for you. This episode covers Tim Wu's concept of "calculated misery," the 2016 air rage study on physical and situational inequality, Bruce Schneier's "security theatre," the design of the check-in desk and the boarding queue, the truth about airport lounges, and what airports like Tokyo Haneda and Singapore Changi prove is possible when the passenger is the actual design objective. A reflection on cognitive load, who design really serves, and why the friction we blame on each other is usually a design problem in disguise. Theme music by Madhumita Prasad.

    28 min

  5. Apr 16

    Rest Is a Skill I Never Learned

    I left my job a month ago with one plan: do less. It's been one month. I have nine projects on the go. Nobody asked me to start any of them. This episode is about what happens when you finally get the freedom you've been craving and realise you have no idea what to do with it. I talk about how hustle culture shaped my ambition and my inability to stop, a question my therapist asked that I still can't answer, the fact that I literally made an Episode 7 about rest and still couldn't take my own advice, and Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith's seven types of rest framework that's helping me understand why sleep isn't fixing anything. No tidy ending on this one. I'm still in it. References mentioned: Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity. Episode 7: Perfectionism and the Art of the Pit Stop. Theme music by Madhumita Prasad.

    13 min

  6. Apr 9

    "You Set The Benchmark" - What Happens When Educator-Creators Launch Products

    What happens when the person who taught you to see clearly asks you not to look at them? This episode is about two creator-turned-founders who built massive audiences on expertise and education, then crossed into making products - and how differently they handled it when things went wrong. Linus Tech Tips and the Lipstick Lesbians both had public stumbles on the product development front. One responded with directness. One responded with deflection. And the gap between those two choices tells you everything about what it actually costs you when you forget that your audience was paying attention. We get into parasocial trust and why influencer product failures sting differently than corporate ones, why the Lipstick Lesbians handed their community the exact rubric they were eventually marked on, what a good crisis response actually looks like versus what happened, and the design school lesson that applies to anyone who makes things for other people. All music by Madhumita Prasad.

    20 min

  7. Apr 2

    Nothing on the Internet Lasts (And That's a Decision)

    Nothing on the Internet Lasts (And That's a Decision) Have you ever said "my Instagram" or "my Twitter" without thinking twice? In Episode 11 of The Drafts, Diya breaks down the uncomfortable truth about every social platform you have ever built your life inside: you were never the owner. You were always the tenant. And the landlord can redecorate, sell, or demolish the whole thing on a Tuesday with zero obligation to you. From Vine's archive being quietly deleted, to TikTok refugees fleeing to a censored Mandarin app because the algorithm was worth more than data sovereignty, to one company owning every register of how you express yourself online. The platforms we used to call home were never ours. And the question of who was reading our mail all along has a much more complicated answer than we were told. In this episode, we cover: The Vine Demolition: What actually killed Vine, why the archive disappeared, and what it means that virality decided what was worth saving.The TikTok Migration: Why 700,000 Americans fled to a heavily censored Chinese app, and what that choice reveals about who was reading the mail on both sides.The Neighbourhood Problem: How X was bought and redecorated overnight, and what it means that one company now owns the buildings where you connect personally, visually, and publicly.The Co-op That Took VC Money: Bluesky promised a different architecture. Then it raised 100 million dollars, replaced its founder, and forgot to tell anyone for a year.All music in the show has been made and produced by Madhumita Prasad. Support the show: If you enjoyed Episode 11, please take 10 seconds to leave a rating and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It genuinely helps the show grow. 3

    20 min

  8. Mar 12

    You Are Not the User. You Are the Afterthought

    Have you ever stood in the dark because your "smart" lights lost WiFi? In Episode 10 of The Drafts, Diya breaks down the invisible, frustrating shift in modern technology: You are no longer the user. You are the afterthought. From vacuums that hold your home hostage with forced apps, to TikTok trends that hollow out physical products, to AI chatbots quietly monetizing the loneliness epidemic. The market has optimized for speed, scale, and data collection. The actual human being has been completely engineered out of the design process. As a UX designer, Diya explains exactly why your devices are getting worse, why "has an app" is a massive red flag, and how to start pushing back against the tech creep you never consented to. In this episode, we cover: The Smart Home Trap: Why tech companies force you to use an app for physical hardware (and why it ruins your WiFi). The Flattening of Culture: How TikTok virality and hyper-trends (like Dubai Chocolate and Labubus) destroy the actual value of a product. The Loneliness Economy: Why every AI product defaults to a chatbot, the massive data grab behind it, and what happens to the secrets you tell it at 3 AM. The UX Pushback: The three questions you need to ask yourself before downloading an app, buying a trend, or handing over your data. Read the full essay & references:Head over to thedraftspodcast.substack.com for all the links, sources, and extended notes from today's episode. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss a drop. All music in the show has been made and produced by Madhumita Prasad. Support the show:If you enjoyed Episode 10, please take 10 seconds to leave a rating and review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It genuinely helps the show grow. 3

    20 min
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About

The Drafts is a space for thoughtful reflection, creative exploration, and real-world insights. Each episode is a behind-the-scenes look at ideas in progress—covering design, UX, entrepreneurship, and the everyday moments that shape the way we think and work. Host Diya shares reflections, experiments, and lessons learned while navigating projects, life, and the messy middle of creation. Whether you’re building products, shaping experiences, or just curious about how ideas evolve, The Drafts offers clarity, perspective, and a little company along the way.

Information

  • Creator
    Diya Dadlani
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Diya Dadlani
  • Show Website
    The Drafts