Someone built a whole app last weekend. It worked, looked good, and was live by Sunday night. All they did was tell an AI tool what they wanted in plain English and watched it come to life.
On Monday morning, their first question wasn’t, “Does anyone actually need this?” It was, “How do I get users?”
Building first and looking for users later? I feel like that used to be a red flag for startups. Now — if social media is any indication — it’s just how things go.
It’s tempting to blame AI for this, but the real issue is what we start to lose when things get too easy. We skip the part where we talk to real people, test our ideas, and discover needs we didn’t even know were there.
When building is this simple, it’s way too easy to skip that step. And a lot of us seem to be skipping it.
And it’s not just about ‘vibe coding.’ It’s part of something bigger.
If you work in digital fields like UX, marketing, or product, you’ve probably spent the last few years more separated from users than ever. Remote work has its perks, but it also means we don’t bump into people or pick up on things the way we used to
It’s not our technical skills that got rusty. It’s the social stuff like reading a room, spotting when someone’s confused, or knowing the difference between what people say and what they actually mean. These aren’t just ‘soft skills.’ If you work with people, they’re crucial. They’re what separate someone who just runs a research session from someone who actually listens.
Those skills fade when you’re not around people. It’s easy to start guessing instead of really understanding, and to build what feels right instead of what’s actually needed. That’s when we forget the human part.
All of this points to a larger truth about design, marketing, or, honestly, anything: if you want it to be ‘human-centered,’ you have to approach it that way from the start.
First, find the people. Then, figure out what problem they actually have. Only after that, build something for them.
When you do things in the right order, you end up solving a real problem for a real person. That kind of clarity doesn’t come from just tweaking a bad idea. If you start with a solution and then go hunting for users, you’re building for a guess, not a person. And guesses don’t give feedback. People do.
Staying focused on people — especially now — is more about habits than tools. Talk to real users, not just look at the data. Write for an actual person, not just a group. Even just hanging out with coworkers helps you stay tuned in to how people think and react. Keep your observation skills sharp.
None of this is complicated.
Whatever we make — apps, campaigns, content, anything — there’s always a person on the other end. They have limited patience, a specific goal, and probably don’t care about our ideas of what they want. They were there before the tools got better, and they’re still there now.
We can’t design our way out of that relationship. And we shouldn’t want to. That’s the part that matters most.
I’m not a curmudgeon or anti-innovation by any means. I love what technology makes possible. But I do think we have to be careful not to rely solely on the tools and lose sight of the human side of things. The process works best when it stays as human as possible.
Made by people, for people.