Summary
Bill begins by recounting his experience at Netflix, where he led multiple simultaneous experiments and learned that 95% of UI code was thrown away, which shifted his mindset to designing for throw-away ability and viewing the UI layer as an experimentation layer. At PayPal, he confronted legacy technology stacks and a resistant culture, but with top-down support, he initiated cultural and technological transformations focused on rapid, user-centered iteration. Bill highlights the power of co-locating engineers, designers, and product folks to maintain weekly user studies and iterate checkout experiences, significantly improving customer satisfaction and business results. He introduces the concept of shearing layers in software stacks to separate stable, secure core layers from volatile experimentation layers, allowing calculated risk-taking. Bill stresses the need to shift organizational culture from delivery-centric to learning-centric, enabling teams to be empowered with continuous customer feedback and collaboration. He discusses democratizing engineering by leveraging internal open source (GitHub) and creating KrakenJS, an open-sourced Node.js framework, which increased developer engagement and reduced onboarding overhead. Bill critiques Agile’s lack of strategic direction and describes how integrating lean UX practices alongside Agile gives it a “brain” by grounding backlogs in real customer problems. He concludes with three essential lessons: achieve shared understanding via a common vocabulary, foster deep collaboration across disciplines, and maintain continuous customer feedback to keep teams aligned with user needs. Throughout, Bill emphasizes embracing failure as incremental learning and the importance of engineering infrastructures designed expressly for learning and change.
Key Insights
-
•
Netflix’s experimentation approach led to discarding around 95% of UI code annually, requiring design for throw-away ability.
-
•
Engineering’s highest value is enabling learning, not just building durable systems.
-
•
At PayPal, slow legacy stacks forced months-long changes that impeded innovation and led to cultural resistance.
-
•
Introducing shearing layers in software stacks helps separate stable secure components from volatile experimental layers.
-
•
Rapid user testing with co-located teams catalyzes accelerated learning and better product outcomes.
-
•
Democratizing innovation through internal open source practices like GitHub and KrakenJS enabled wider participation and faster adoption.
-
•
Agile alone lacks strategic direction; combining it with lean UX grounds backlog creation in real user problems.
-
•
Smaller, autonomous 'two-pizza' sized teams promote faster, higher-quality development than large monolithic teams.
-
•
Continuous customer feedback and embedding user context within teams prevents disconnected, misguided solutions.
-
•
Failure should be incremental and small to enable learning and avoid costly big mistakes.
Notable Quotes
"I started thinking of the UI layer as the experimentation layer."
"Engineering’s number one goal should be to enable learning."
"Organizations contain antibodies — people who resist change but often have good intentions."
"We locked ourselves away for 12 to 18 weeks with customers every week — the rhythm was incredibly powerful."
"Most organizations have a culture of delivery, but they need to move to a culture of learning."
"Great teams, if given enough context, will do smart things."
"We democratize the code base internally to create an intersourcing model, like open source inside the company."
"Agile needs a brain — without user context, it’s just a machine cranking out code."
"Failure is inevitable, but failing in small increments is the key difference."
"Continuous customer feedback soaks your teams with the context of the customer and problem set."
Dig deeper—ask the Rosenbot:
















More Videos

"UX research needed to be a team sport involving all disciplines rather than the few learning on behalf of the many."
Monty HammontreeThe Future of UX Research (Videoconference)
December 3, 2020

"There are never truly conflicting futures between donors and communities—your job is to find the bridge that unites them."
Liz EbengoThe Burden on Children: The Cost of Insufficient Post-Conflict Services and Pathways Forward
December 4, 2024

"Leave your new feature in the context of how people will see it so it’s easy for stakeholders to understand."
Billy CarlsonTips to Utilize Wireframes to Tell an Effective Product Story
June 6, 2023

"Making bite-sized secondary research accessible allows busy designers to start right away without additional workload."
Saara Kamppari-MillerInclusive Design is DesignOps
September 29, 2021

"Communication is mundane but key: sending an email full of mistakes to an executive changes their entire impression of you."
Ian SwinsonDesigning and Driving UX Careers
June 8, 2016

"Just because you can solve a hard technical problem doesn’t mean you’re solving a real problem for real people."
Jonathon ColmanHow to Maximize the Impact of Content Design
January 8, 2024

"We need processes that accommodate design instead of designers becoming the hamster in the agile wheel."
Maria SkaadenContinuous Design: One eye on the horizon and the other on the next wave
November 8, 2018

"We are trying to do it ethically with this body of data that we have with the Austin cemeteries."
Bryce Benton[Demo] AI-powered UX enhancement: Aligning GitHub documentation with USWDS at Austin Public Library
June 4, 2024

"The average salary in the Netherlands might be quite high compared to Europe or the US, but you have to dig deeper to see if seniority is skewing the data."
Marc FonteijnFirst Insights from the 2025 Service Design Salary(+) Report
December 4, 2024