TALK

Spiral to compass: Naming the AI and SaaS forces pulling you apart

Uday Gajendar first felt the AI-versus-SaaS pincer grip as UX director at Aurora Solar, wrangling with AI as "the new power" to drive (compel?) solar sales. It deepened as he went fractional, juggling clients amid more tensions: Perform AI theater to match their vibe, or use it for real gains? Quietly enable “shipping velocity,” or protect space for human creativity? At worsening SaaS speeds of 3-5 pulls a day, it’s easy to lose your footing!

So he wrote the forces down, mapped their relationships, and located himself inside them. What emerged wasn’t a fix, but a compass: a simple exercise you can do in 15 minutes to clarify where to spend your energy and which values to protect.

Times are tough in UX. If you’re staying, this can help you regain your footing. If you’re leaving, it can help you name what changed. 

After this talk, you’ll have:

• A sharper eye for catching AI theater in your own org, before it quietly becomes your default

• A visual tool for mapping the forces pulling you into a spiral, and reclaiming control over your work life, amid all this madness

• Vocabulary and permission to decide, deliberately, where you do—and don’t—want to spend your energy