Survival Guide to User-Focused Product Development: Methods Against Madness
My book for CRC Press (Taylor & Francis Group), ‘Survival Guide to User-Focused Product Development: Methods Against Madness’ (ISBN 9781032878805) will be published in August 2026.
Order from publisher with 25% discount from retail price with code SGUFPD25 at checkout!
Guest Authors
- Yann Wermuth, Partner, Vendbridge AG
- Jim Kalbach, Chief Evangelist, Mural
- Sarah Reeves, Senior Product Operations Manager, The Stepstone Group
- Kamila Ćwiakowska, Senior Product Operations Manager, The Stepstone Group
- Simon Lingard Woods, Design Director & Accenture Song Scotland Lead, Accenture
- Jared Huke, Managing Principal, Energy Consulting, EPAM Systems & Founder, Daito Design
- Rob L’Esperance, ex-Vice President Corporate Communications, The Stepstone Group
- Jason Beck, Senior Group Design Manager, Deliveroo
- Johannes Robier, CEO, youspi Consulting GmbH & Founder of the World Usability Congress
Thank you to Kuldeep Kulshreshtha and Jan Binczyk for contributing their ‘madness stories’ to the book.
We need methods against madness in UX and product development!
Have you ever felt that product development is madness? Did you witness irrational decisions, not based on data or user research insights? Have you ever seen millions wasted on the wrong products that fail to address user needs?
When a product doesn’t address user needs, it fails. People often prefer not to discuss failed products, instead sweeping them under the rug. As a result, they miss all opportunities to learn and do it differently next time. That’s why they often use the same flawed methods when creating a new product, which consequently fails as well. This perpetuates the cycle of madness in product development. Doing the same thing over and over again with the same poor results, and not changing course, is the definition of madness. We often see that in product development. And often, UX people suffer.
My book ‘Survival Guide to User-Focused Product Development: Methods Against Madness’ helps you stay sane by providing solid frameworks, illustrated by examples and case studies, and complemented by multiple perspectives from 9 guest authors.
Did you also experience madness in UX and product development? What are your ‘methods against madness’?