Month one, issue four - you're officially part of the inner circle now! Since today's topic is all about understanding what users really think vs. what developers assume, I'm sharing my UX Discovery Call Playbook with you. It's the step-by-step guide I use to help founders figure out where their products are actually confusing users. Grab it at the bottom after you've read about why letting developers design your UX is costing you customers...

I was on a call with a client yesterday when she casually dropped something that made me wince:

"We do not have any UX designer as of now... we give a very rough concept to the developers and they will come out with whatever looks best for the screen."

My heart literally sank. Because I knew exactly what was coming next - confused users, frustrated developers, and a founder wondering why nobody 'gets' their brilliant product.

If you're nodding along thinking "that sounds familiar," we need to talk. Because this approach is costing you far more than you realise - in user adoption, in development time, and ultimately in your product's success.

I’ll be frank — developers are brilliant at what they do. Truly. But expecting them to also be UX designers is like asking your dentist to perform heart surgery. Different specialties exist for a reason.

When developers create interfaces based on "rough concepts," they're making hundreds of micro-decisions about how your users will interact with your product. And they're making these decisions through the lens of what's easiest to code, not what's easiest for your users.

You'll recognise these warning signs:

The result? Products that technically "work" but that users struggle to use effectively.

I get it. Not every startup can afford a full-time UX designer (though I'd argue you can't afford not to have one). But there are ways to improve your product's usability even with limited resources:

This is exactly what I told my client yesterday. I said, "I'm not like ✨ the best✨ at visual design necessarily. So a lot of what I do are the UX concepts."

What I meant is that the core of good UX isn't about pretty buttons or fancy animations. It's about:

These conceptual elements matter far more than whether your buttons have rounded corners.

If you already have a product with established fonts, colours, and basic UI components, leverage these. Your developers already have these elements in their toolkit.

As I told my client: "As long as it matches, because the fonts will already be loaded, the colours are already loaded in the code… the developers will probably know what to do with it."

This approach means you can focus on improving the user flow without getting bogged down in visual design decisions.

One approach I'm using with this client is creating a Loom video explaining the UX concepts and walking through how users should interact with the feature.

This visual explanation helps developers understand the why behind design decisions, not just the what. It bridges the communication gap that often exists between non-technical founders and development teams.

Nothing beats watching real users interact with your product. I told my client:

"What I’d really love to do is watch one of those client-onboarding workshops... understanding that entire flow means that we can then signal the right steps and simplify. It's probably only a bit of wording, the order, and some help icons that need to change."

You don't need fancy usability labs. Just sit with users (in person or virtually) and watch them use your product. Note where they hesitate, get confused, or make mistakes. Update the product as necessary.

You don't need to hire a $80K UX designer tomorrow. But you do need to stop treating UX as an afterthought. Here's the exact process I walk my clients through:

This framework ensures that even without a dedicated UX designer, your product remains user-centered rather than developer-centered.

Your developers are brilliant at building functionality. But asking them to also design the user experience is setting them up for failure—and your product too.

Instead, focus on providing clear UX concepts, work within your existing design system, create visual walkthroughs, and most importantly, observe real users. These approaches cost far less than a full-time UX designer but deliver significant improvements in usability.

Because ultimately, it doesn't matter how well your product works if users can't figure out how to use it.

Want to see this in action? I've put together the UX Discovery Call Playbook I mentioned - it's the exact script and framework I use to help founders uncover these UX blind spots. It's usually part of my paid toolkit, but since you've been with me from the beginning, it's yours free. 🎉

PS — If you know someone struggling with user engagement in their app, forward them this email.

More UX goodness in plain English for founders.