Brendan Rohan

Are IC enterprise designers unintentionally sabotaging their portfolios in this AI-obsessed market? If you’re a Product Designer updating your case studies… you’ll probably want to read this... I’m actively hiring two Sr-to-Lead Product Designers, and after reviewing a lot of portfolios recently, a pattern keeps repeating: 👉 Too many portfolios are leading with AI chatbot projects. Not sprinkled in… leading with them. Often multiple ones in the same portfolio as Case Study #1 and #2. Here’s the problem👇 AI chatbots are important, but they’re not the center of gravity for most enterprise / SaaS product teams. In the last six-nine months, many of these patterns are already shipped and commoditized. And now with agentic flows, the UI work becomes more about reviewing, validating, and confirming work AI has already completed behind the scenes. Which means… “Old school” multi-step, end-to-end product flows are still valid – with a twist. Because every IC job post right now is calling for “high craft” or “consumer-grade design” – it’s no longer acceptable for flows to simply “get the job done.” Hiring panels want to see refinement and polish in the final output.  Otherwise you’ll get the feedback we give far too often: “The design thinking is great… but the visual design is just… [sigh/meh]… not quite there.” Visual craft always matters. Everywhere. At every company. Whether D2C or B2B or Enterprise. So if you’re refreshing your portfolio, here’s my ask as someone hiring in this tough market: Don’t over-index on AI chatbots just because they’re hot right now. Show me your complex, nuanced, multi-stage flows—the kind that prove you can handle the real product work most teams need. Just make sure they’re polished (ie. That “high craft” buzzword again), intentional, and tight. Because that’s what will actually differentiate you in 2025 and into 2026. And now the proverbial 🔌: If you’re a high-performing Sr. or Lead looking to innovate in the HR and Comp tech space, holler at me in my DMs or Comments. Thanks! 🙏

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Most companies say they want design maturity. But too often, they treat it like a vibe shift. Hire a design exec. Run a few workshops. Roll out a component library. Then wonder why the customer experience still feels fragmented. Real design maturity isn’t surface polish. It’s systemic coordination. And it only works when you fire on all four cylinders: 1️⃣ Strategic 2️⃣ Operational 3️⃣ Tactical 4️⃣ Cultural Miss one, and the system breaks down. In my latest essay, I outline: 🔹 What each dimension looks like at scale 🔹 Litmus tests for executive alignment 🔹 Why design is more than a function, it’s an operating model 🔹 How to build compounding advantage over time This one’s for the design execs, product leaders, and founders serious about making design indispensable, not decorative. 👇 Read the full piece “The Four Dimensions of a Mature Design Practice” https://lnkd.in/gt97SnJH #DesignLeadership #ProductDesign #DesignOps #EnterpriseUX #DesignSystems #OrgDesign #CustomerExperience #StrategicDesign #DesignMaturity #UXStrategy #CrossFunctionalTeams #DesignExecution

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