Weekly news and trends - 24-31 July 2025

Here's some of the most noteworthy news and opinions from the past week I came across on the web:

UX Design:

a. UX Generalist on the Rise

NN/g reports AI is reviving the role of the UX generalist: people who can navigate everything from research to visual design, wielding broad strategic thinking as tools automate niche tasks (Nielsen Norman Group). This echoes our community’s mission—designers expanding into leadership and strategic influence, not just execution.

b. Strategic Curiosity as a Leadership Skill

UX Collective shared how top design leaders use structured curiosity (e.g., reusable journey-maps, tool experimentation) to drive team innovation (UX Collective.)

c. A future without UI?

An opinion piece posted by Tony Moura (Head of Design) at IBM about the future where there will either be no interfaces or interfaces generated on the fly. Read more here.

2. Product:

Inside the Mind of a Global Product Leader

Product Coalition’s podcast episode with Alex Blinoff (global product exec) explores communication, cross-functional leadership, and navigating technological shifts ( Product Management Today). Real-world leadership is about influencing through shared vision—an ideal topic to dive into for our PMs and designers exploring softer leadership skills.

3. Digital Channels, CX and AI:

a. Fix Your AI CX Before Customers Bail

DesignRush cautions that AI-powered CX fails without strategy, data hygiene, and human empathy (DesignRush). Digital transformation can't neglect the softer side—data governance, empathy, and design-thinking must lead every AI initiative.

b. CX + AI: a Decade of Potential

Eglobalis explores how early-stage AI in CX (ML, NLP, GenAI) is evolving into leader roles like CAIO, demanding strategic frameworks Eglobalis. For digital and CX leaders: this is your heads-up to advocate for executive-level AI oversight integrated into business strategy.

c. CX Platforms Ship Agentic AI

CX Today reports on Salesforce, Genesys, AWS, and more launching AI agents that manage tasks proactively across systems (CX Today). As PMs and designers, we need to design agentic workflows that feel intuitive—and respectful of human trust and boundaries. For most people AI is still difficult to trust and understand - we can help to bridge that gap and make it more accessible to all.

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