What if UX was never about the interface at all?
That’s the question I explored in a recent talk I gave at the Dublin UX meetup, now available as a re-recorded video podcast episode here and on YouTube (or any of your podcast listening locations)In this talk, I go deeper than the usual discussion around UX buttons, spacing and visual polish. Instead, I trace the broader experience - across internal tools, invisible workflows, and the systems that support product development.
The central idea: Good UX starts long before a user clicks a button.
You’ll get some context on my own path - from civil engineering to customer support, and eventually to platform product management. I talk about where I’ve seen UX misunderstood or ignored, and how I’ve learned to practice UX in some of the least expected places.
Why this talk, and why now?
Historically, UX was treated as a design domain. If you didn’t work in Figma or touch the product UI, you most likely weren’t “doing UX”, or being considered to “do UX” even if you were.
With the introduction of AI and the User experience often associated with it (a chat window), I think we’re past that now - or at least, we should be.
This talk makes the case that
Platform PMs, internal tooling teams, ops leads - anyone shaping how work gets done - is also shaping UX.
Whether you’re designing a flow for your customers or a Slack automation for your team, you’re creating an experience. That deserves the same thoughtfulness we give to screens and user journeys.
Inside the talk
The talk is broken into three parts:
Why UX Is Bigger Than You Think
I kick off by challenging the traditional view of UX as something you “see.” Like many PMs, I started out thinking good UX meant polished interfaces. But through customer support and platform work, I learned that real UX lives in infrastructure, systems and processes - often in places no one’s looking.
UX in the Unseen Places
This section covers what happens behind the curtain: the messy Jira workflows, duct-taped internal tools, undocumented handovers. I show how internal users (like sales, support and ops) suffer from poor UX - and how fixing their experience makes the entire product better.
Solving the Right Problems the Right Way
I end by walking through real-world examples - some good, some terrible. A toddler puzzle that teaches the danger of poor feedback loops. An ATM disabled for check lodgements just because it’s out of cash. And a beloved pair of headphones whose invisible UX failures drive me mad.
Through these chapters and the stories within, I explain how to build up a UX mindset, not just for users - but for your team, your process, and your product’s architecture.
NOTE: If you just want the slides, they can be found here.
If you’re in internal product, platform, or ops…
This talk is especially for you.
If you’ve ever been told “UX isn’t part of your job” because you don’t work on the customer-facing side of the product, this talk is my case that you are doing UX - and it matters.
I share the exact templates and processes I’ve used at Toast, from building AI-friendly Miro boards, to mapping internal user journeys, to designing ways of working that reduce burnout and bottlenecks. If you’re curious, check out the QR code in the video or search the blog for the template numbers from the slides.
“So start looking for UX everywhere.
Because the moment you start seeing it,
is the moment you start changing it.”
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