UX Stories Podcast

Lihong Hicken
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Management

If you want to understand your customers more deeply and unlock growth that doesn't rely on guesswork, this series is for you. Founders, operators, and product leaders tune in to learn how real conversations shape better products, better decisions, and better outcomes. In each episode of UX Stories Podcast, you'll explore how fast-growing teams uncover meaningful insights using smarter feedback loops and authentic user conversations. Inspired by the approach behind TheySaid, this show digs into why traditional surveys fall short and how modern teams gather richer, more actionable signals that drive real business impact.

  1. From Engineer to Storyteller: Building Trust in Cybersecurity Products

    6d ago

    From Engineer to Storyteller: Building Trust in Cybersecurity Products

    🔐 What does it take to build trust in a product users hope they never have to use? In this episode of They Said, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Ashish Malpani — Head of Product & Alliance Marketing at Corelight — a rare blend of cryptography patent holder, published novelist, and cybersecurity PMM. Ashish shares how he went from applications engineer → product management → product marketing, and why big-picture storytelling is the secret weapon in enterprise tech. They dive deep into the future of AI-powered user feedback, the challenge of building B2B products users actually trust, and why getting candid customer truth is harder than it looks. 💡 What you'll learn: Why cybersecurity marketing has been destroying customer trust for years How to collect meaningful B2B product feedback at AI speed The difference between knowing what users do vs. why they do it When AI interviewers are better than humans (the data will surprise you) Why agentic systems aren't about saving money — they're about spending time on what matters ⏱️ Timestamps: 00:00 – Welcome & Ashish's background: engineer, novelist, cybersecurity PMM 01:49 – Why cybersecurity vendors have eroded user trust 03:11 – The 300-million record breach at Progress (MOVEit) 06:15 – How to build feedback into your product, not bolt it on 11:15 – The skill gap, AI mandate & focusing on high-risk threats 14:23 – Corelight's UX challenge: too much data, too complex 19:26 – Designing for both power users and novices 20:53 – AI's role in gathering & analyzing qualitative feedback 25:18 – Why B2B usability testing is a black box 28:00 – Should AI interview your customers? (Honest take) 33:13 – 75% of people prefer AI interviews — here's why 38:27 – Rapid fire: most honest feedback channels right now 42:53 – The magical wand: frictionless, automated customer truth 46:53 – AI agents: it's not about saving money 48:21 – The most fulfilling part of the job: big-picture storytelling 🌐 Visit They Said: https://theysaid.io If you found value in this episode, *like, subscribe, and leave a comment below — we'd love to hear how your team collects user truth!* 👇

    31 min
  2. A/B Testing Secrets from LaunchDarkly | Why Data Can't Replace Human Curiosity

    May 21

    A/B Testing Secrets from LaunchDarkly | Why Data Can't Replace Human Curiosity

    What if your dashboard is lying to you? 📊❌ In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Aaron Montana, Head of Experimentation & Product Analytics at LaunchDarkly, to explore the real intersection of engineering, A/B testing, and user research — and why the future of testing might include machines testing for machines. 🤖 Whether you're a product manager, engineer, or UX researcher, this conversation will challenge the way you think about features, data, and what it really means to understand your users. 🕐 TIMESTAMPS 00:00 – Welcome & Introduction 01:20 – What a dashboard can never fully explain 💡 02:05 – The role of human curiosity in experimentation 03:05 – What is LaunchDarkly and who uses it? 03:27 – Why feature flags are the best foundation for A/B testing 05:45 – Bridging the gap between engineers and marketers 08:25 – Quantitative vs. qualitative: what's the right sequence? 09:25 – How to design a research study from scratch 11:15 – Qualitative finds problems; quantitative solves them 15:48 – The psychological challenge of killing your own feature 😬 18:45 – Why high-velocity teams are already running experiments — just badly 22:14 – Vibe coding vs. vibe testing: the speed gap 🚀 24:50 – Is qualitative research becoming too expensive? 26:20 – Synthetic data and AI panels — promise vs. reality 🤔 28:08 – Early-stage vs. late-stage testing: when to use AI 30:00 – Are we about to test for machines, not humans? 🤯 32:31 – The future: machines running experiments for machines 💬 If technology is the rain and our ecosystem is a garden — more jobs, more testers, more ecosystems to validate. 🌱 Like, Subscribe & hit the 🔔 if you're building products and want to ship with confidence — not just speed. UXResearch #ABTesting #LaunchDarkly #ProductManagement #UserTesting #VibeCoding #FeatureFlags #Experimentation #StartupGrowth #UXStories

    20 min
  3. She Built an AI That Predicts What You Need BEFORE You Ask

    May 12

    She Built an AI That Predicts What You Need BEFORE You Ask

    What if your phone knew what you needed before you did? 🤯 In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Alina Hernandez Porrello, Director of UX Engineering at AgileEngine — the mind behind the groundbreaking Contextual Eruptive Forecasting Model (CIFM), built on Robert Rosen's anticipatory systems theory. Alina's framework doesn't just react to users — it anticipates them. No stereotypes, no generalizations. Just AI that adapts to you, uniquely. 🔥 What you'll learn: What the CIFM model is and how it predicts user behavior Why standard UX personas are broken — and what comes next How adaptive interfaces could replace traditional usability testing The future of accessibility, elderly UX, and personalized AI Could you lease your AI persona and get paid for user testing? 🤑 Why AI won't kill UX jobs — it'll multiply them ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 – Introduction & Who is Alina? 2:45 – The problem with user personas & AI generalization 6:30 – Robert Rosen's anticipatory systems theory 10:15 – How the CIFM model actually works (doctor example) 16:00 – Personalized AI vs. generalized AI 20:30 – Could you lease your AI persona for usability testing? 24:00 – Will AI kill UX jobs? The garden analogy 26:30 – Rapid fire: favorite tools, feedback challenges 27:45 – What's most fulfilling about Alina's work 📣 If you're a UX designer, product manager, or AI enthusiast — this one is a must-watch. 👍 Like, subscribe, and hit the bell so you don't miss the next episode of UX Stories. ⚠️ Note: The CIFM paper is forthcoming — watch for it from Alina, Enrique Soto Astorga (UNAM), and Yuri Sa (AgileEngine). #UX #UserExperience #AIDesign #UXResearch #ProductDesign #AdaptiveUI #ArtificialIntelligence #UXStories #AgileEngine #FutureOfWork

    29 min
  4. Why "User-First" Beats "Product-Led" Growth

    May 5

    Why "User-First" Beats "Product-Led" Growth

    What separates great product leaders from the rest? According to Rana Mumtaz — veteran CPO who led product at GoDaddy and Spin, and now advises next-gen AI startups — it all comes down to one word: users. Not customers. Users. In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Rana to unpack how a "user-first" mindset drives real growth, why freemium models win, and what most AI-era founders are getting dangerously wrong. 🔔 Subscribe for more conversations with product and growth leaders building the future. ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 – Intro: Meet Rana Mumtaz 0:35 – Why Rana calls herself "user-first," not product-led 1:35 – The difference between users vs. customers (especially in B2B) 2:05 – The craft of listening to users is being forgotten 2:47 – GoDaddy's freemium experiment: why 30-day trials failed small businesses 7:13 – How they tested the freemium model (user testing + A/B testing) 8:00 – The right A/B test sample size — and how Bayesian stats changed the game 10:30 – AI usability testing: can you do 100 tests in a day? 11:07 – The importance of real human panels vs. synthetic audiences 11:25 – Lihong's story: using user testing to de-risk a career move 15:55 – Using customer words to build your website copy 17:44 – Why entrepreneurs skip user research and go straight to building 18:45 – The danger of putting 60% of your team on AI features nobody uses 22:10 – The real cost of "feature-first" (aka feature effing 😅) 24:35 – Tools Rana recommends: UserTesting, Gong, Zendesk, Magic Patterns, Figma 25:30 – Zero-to-one advice: talk to your first 1,000 users in person 26:44 – The future of feedback: a copilot that connects all your data channels 28:08 – Closing: growth is about understanding the human on the other side of the screen 🔗 Links & Resources Mentioned: TheySaid.io (AI-powered usability testing): https://theysaid.io #ProductManagement #ProductLedGrowth #UserResearch #StartupGrowth #GoDaddy #AIProduct #UXResearch #UserTesting #ProductStrategy #Freemium

    30 min
  5. The Invisible UX: How Cybersecurity Powers Every Tap, Swipe & Payment

    Apr 28

    The Invisible UX: How Cybersecurity Powers Every Tap, Swipe & Payment

    What happens after you tap your card? Most people never think about it — until it breaks. 💳 In this episode of UX Stories, host Lihong Hicken sits down with Manish Upasani, Head of Product Management & Strategy at Utimaco, to uncover the hidden world of cryptography, hardware security modules, and the invisible trust layer powering the global digital economy. From a dramatic Black Friday payment meltdown to why "enough testing" doesn't exist in cybersecurity — this conversation is a fascinating look at how the most critical UX is the one you never see. 🛡️ 🔑 Key Topics: Why trust is the ultimate user experience How HSMs (Hardware Security Modules) protect every payment Why key management matters more than encryption itself Navigating regulatory compliance as a product manager The tension between speed of building and speed of validation Using AI in air-gapped, high-security environments Why backward compatibility is the #1 priority in security products ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 — Intro: The invisible UX problem 0:16 — Vibe coding vs. vibe user testing: the speed gap 1:55 — What it feels like when payments just work 4:16 — What is Utimaco's real product? 5:00 — Hardware Security Modules explained simply 5:58 — Why key management is more important than encryption 9:43 — Backward compatibility: the non-negotiable rule 10:44 — 🚨 Black Friday horror story: when payments go down 12:43 — 3 hours of payment downtime & the human error behind it 17:12 — Regulatory approval: you can't ship without it 19:19 — Quantum computers: the next frontier for security 22:08 — AI in security: air-gapped and on-premises only 29:08 — "Do it once, do it right, forget it forever" #CyberSecurity #ProductManagement #UXDesign #Payments #HardwareSecurity #TrustUX #UXStories #Fintech #Cryptography #AIinSecurity

    31 min
  6. The UX Designer's Secret Weapon in the Age of AI Agent

    Apr 22

    The UX Designer's Secret Weapon in the Age of AI Agent

    What happens to UX design when AI can adapt to every user individually? Jason Levine — Head of UX for Agentic AI at AWS and 14-year UX professor at the University of Washington — joins host Lihong Hicken to unpack how agentic AI is reshaping product design, user research, and the future of the UX career. Jason shares how AI enables truly personalized experiences at scale, why human intuition is still irreplaceable in research, and how he's building AI teaching tools for his own university classes — all without months of engineering effort. Whether you're a designer, product manager, or builder riding the vibe-coding wave, this episode will change how you think about building for users. ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 — Intro: The gap between building speed and listening speed 1:39 — The one UX constant that never changes, even with AI agents 2:57 — Personalized UX at scale: giving every user a VIP experience 5:05 — Building custom AI apps with steering docs (no engineers needed) 7:48 — How Jason's new research methodology works with agentic AI 10:04 — Why the human must always stay in the loop (the trumpet story) 13:57 — Should research studios slow down vibe coding? Jason's take 17:07 — Using AI to democratize analytics and find UX insights faster 20:43 — Unmoderated testing at scale: the case for async user research 30:05 — "Your field is going away" — Jason's answer to UX career anxiety 30:55 — The #1 advice for designers navigating the AI wave #UXDesign #AgentAI #AWS #ProductDesign #UserResearch #VibeCoding #AITools #UXCareers

    33 min
  7. From Lab Bench to UX Lead: Why Scientists Make Better Designers

    Apr 14

    From Lab Bench to UX Lead: Why Scientists Make Better Designers

    What happens when a biochemist becomes a product design leader? Nate Patrick, Head of Product Design & Research at CAS, shares how his scientific background shapes how he builds tools for the world's most advanced chemical and biology discovery platform — and what the AI revolution really means for UX teams. 💡 In this episode: Why AI gives scientists (and designers) superpowers — not pink slips How CAS balances speed with rigorous user research The "vibe research vs. real research" debate Whether the product builder role will absorb design, research & engineering How to future-proof your UX career in the age of vibe coding ⏱️ Timestamps: 0:00 - Intro: Why AI has outpaced user listening 2:29 - What Nate's team builds at CAS (SciFinder, BioFinder, IP tools) 6:05 - How AI has flipped scientific discovery (Nobel Prize, proteins, DNA) 7:34 - AI as superpower vs. barely keeping up 9:39 - How AI fits into product building today 16:32 - Observing users in the wild: surprising behavior stories 18:52 - Rapid fire: go-to user testing toolkit 19:44 - How to convince leadership that user research still matters 21:32 - When design absorbs research: the new "product builder" role 28:29 - Is vibe coding creating a quality crisis? UXResearch #ProductDesign #AIandUX #VibeResearch #UserTesting #UXPodcast #CAS #DesignLeadership #ProductManagement

    31 min
  8. How Healthcare UX Gets Done Right (When AI Is Building Everything Wrong)

    Apr 10

    How Healthcare UX Gets Done Right (When AI Is Building Everything Wrong)

    What happens when vibe coders skip user research? You build the wrong thing — fast. Dave Powell, Director of UX at QGenda, shares how his team does real usability work inside one of the most complex, HIPAA-restricted industries in the world. From Figma prototypes shown to hospital staff before a single line of code is written, to the moment a "warm" customer meeting turned ice cold — this is what serious enterprise UX actually looks like. 🎙️ Guest: Dave Powell, Director of User Experience @ QGenda 🏥 Industry: Healthcare SaaS | Enterprise UX | B2B Product Design ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 - Intro: Why AI made user research more urgent, not less 1:14 - Dave's background: 8 years fixing healthcare's broken software 1:53 - "Every piece of software they touch doesn't work for them" 2:01 - Why healthcare usability testing is uniquely hard (HIPAA, secure networks, union rules) 4:42 - How Dave navigates access: CX teams as research liaisons 6:22 - The prototype-before-code workflow that makes customers feel heard 7:04 - Piggybacking on CX calls to run usability sessions 8:18 - When listening turns into hard business commitments (not flowery promises) 9:00 - Dave's hiring philosophy: designers who understand humans first 9:36 - "We have a captive audience" — why tolerability matters in enterprise 10:17 - How AI and vibe coding are reshaping UX & product roles 12:56 - Two-phase prototyping: solutioning vs. high-fidelity component work 13:30 - Why enterprise complexity is hard to vibe code your way through 14:54 - "Prototyping with live ammunition" — the danger of skipping validation 16:39 - Customer story: when a warm reception turned into a cold landing 18:16 - Dave's usability toolkit: Maze, Pendo, Google Forms & in-house polling 19:01 - Magic wand question: the one human data point Dave wishes he could measure 20:00 - Closing thoughts: why understanding users is the skill AI can't replace 📌 If you enjoyed this episode: → Like & subscribe for weekly conversations with UX and product leaders → Share with a product designer or researcher on your team UXResearch #HealthcareUX #ProductDesign #VibeCoding #UserTesting #QGenda #EnterpriseUX #AIProduct #UXUI #SaaSDesign

    21 min
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About

If you want to understand your customers more deeply and unlock growth that doesn't rely on guesswork, this series is for you. Founders, operators, and product leaders tune in to learn how real conversations shape better products, better decisions, and better outcomes. In each episode of UX Stories Podcast, you'll explore how fast-growing teams uncover meaningful insights using smarter feedback loops and authentic user conversations. Inspired by the approach behind TheySaid, this show digs into why traditional surveys fall short and how modern teams gather richer, more actionable signals that drive real business impact.

Information

  • Creator
    Lihong Hicken
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Lihong Hicken
  • Show Website
    UX Stories Podcast