Paul Bakaus

By 2020, software will return to a cottage industry with bespoke apps made by many.

we will discover the value of authorship.

I mean, seems like you might have been a few years early in your prediction, but it seems like we're getting there now.

I mean, is that how you see the world playing out?

Many more small apps that are all sort of more unique and opinionated?

Paul, do you think there's an opportunity to start to shape the design mind through something like Impeccable?

Because it feels like it touches on a part of the solution that no other design tool does.

So Paul, question for you on taste.

Right now, automating things away, goals and loops, multi-agent orchestration, that's what everybody is talking about.

But the question that nobody seems to be asking is, where does it all lead?

Are we sort of, as you said, surrendering human intent?

And what is the role of human intent and taste more broadly in these products we're creating?

Yeah, it's really interesting.

If you sort of substitute the word taste for humanity, it sort of carries the same meaning, perhaps even in a more powerful way.

John, do you think taste is innate, or is it something that's cultivated a bit?

Yeah, that's absolutely fascinating.

Here's a comment from your recent blog, Janna, that I think I'll read.

So the hard truth is that in rooms where decisions actually happen, taste is a whisper and velocity is a megaphone.

It's almost impossible to defend a design nuance or instinct against a looming deadline.

Engineering isn't the villain here, incentives are.