Designers are uniquely positioned in this moment to grow software businesses and make them profitable. They know what it takes to make new products effective, and they have the combination of product vision and technical savvy to play out ideas with speed and rigor. LLMs have only accelerated the designer's ability to move their businesses forward.

In some ways, it hasn't. I'm still interviewing customers every chance I get and using the knowledge I gain to help my organization chart a smarter path forward. I'm also still building prototypes, sketching concepts, and facilitating workshops. Software development has always been a team sport, and the dynamics that help teams succeed are unchanged at their core.

My toolset has expanded in a big way, however. Now, I use models to help synthesize interview data. I play out concepts in code over Figma. I set up scheduled queries to gather market research and compile it into briefs for me that I share with my team. The goal of shipping the best possible product hasn't changed, but the path to getting there has gotten a lot faster.

By doing the same things I'd do in person: solve problems together with teammates, build prototypes, interview customers, share knowledge, and be visible. Building a high performance team isn't a location challenge, it's a culture and communication challenge. Teams that want to win will find ways to win from anywhere, and I help distributed teams spark and maintain that energy.