Join us to learn all of the juicy secrets of tech leaders - their biggest successes (and failures) - on our quest for gaining that all-important technology edge.

I went from 105-hour weeks and near-divorce to a 40-hour workweek, zero turnover, and no missed deadlines.

That crisis forced me to rebuild everything—my leadership style, my team, and my life.

Now, I teach technology executives how to do the same.

I’ve coached executives from startups to Fortune 500s, helping them turn overwhelmed teams into high-performance A-Teams.

I’m Mike Mahony, a 20+ year CTO, Executive Coach, and creator of the Decentralized A-Team Method. 

My mission: help leaders escape firefighting mode, build autonomous teams, and scale without burnout.

Through executive coaching, digital products, and consulting, I guide tech leaders to:

	•	Cut hours without sacrificing results
	•	Develop teams that deliver without micromanagement
	•	Eliminate chaos and streamline operations

I also serve as a Fractional CTO and NetSuite specialist, where I translate messy systems into clear business wins—whether that’s automations, API integrations, or optimizing data workflows.

And as host of “Gaining the Technology Leadership Edge”, I sit down with top executives, founders, and disruptors to reveal the real stories behind successful teams—the hard lessons, surprising wins, and the strategies they wish they’d known sooner.

Here’s how we can work together:

🔹 Want to apply the Decentralized A-Team Method to your leadership style? DM me “COACH”

🔹 Have a story for the podcast? DM me “PODCAST”

🔹 Need a NetSuite Developer or Fractional CTO? DM me “NETSUITE”

👉 Listen to the show: https://gtle.show

📘 Grab the book: TopTierCoachingServices.com/dcatbook

Mike Mahony

Pavle Lucic

Senior UI/UX Designer @ Toptal | Prototyping, Branding, UI Development

I am a Senior UI/UX Designer at Toptal, a network of the world's top 3% of software engineering, design, and finance talent. With over 10 years of experience in the design industry, I have a proven track record of creating visually engaging and user-friendly interfaces for in-car navigation systems, SaaS apps, and marketing websites.

My background in business and economics gives me a unique perspective on how to design UX and UI that are not only aesthetically pleasing, but also functional, efficient, and user-friendly. I am passionate about solving complex problems, collaborating with diverse teams, and learning new skills. I am also Adwords Search Certified, which demonstrates my ability to optimize the online presence and performance of my clients. My goal is to help tech companies increase their revenue by improving the user experience of their products.

Senior UI/UX Desiger

Nobody talks about the work behind the work.

So let me.

For every design I ship, there are 30 that died.

Ideas I had to let go.
Sketches nobody saw.

Hours on things nobody thinks about.

Error states.
Empty states.
Loading screens.
And so on and on....

But hardest part isn't design. It's the conversations.

Defending a decision.
Moving back and forth.
Rebuilding after a last-minute pivot.

The final design looks simple. 

That's the point.
But simple was never easy.

If your work feels invisible...

You're probably doing it right.

♻️ Repost for every designer whose work goes unseen.

P.S. What's the hardest part of your work that nobody sees?

Senior UI/UX Product Designer | UX Strategy | Figma

2 tools that will replace entire product teams in 2026

(designers can do the development now)

1/ Claude → Your thinking layer 
↳ Industry analysis in 15 minutes 
↳ Competitive breakdowns in 20 minutes
↳ User journeys mapped instantly
↳ Feature priorities without PMs 
↳ Strategy without strategists

2/ Figma → Your design AND development layer 
↳ Systems, not screens 
↳ Components that scale 
↳ Figma to code pipelines 
↳ AI-assisted building 
↳ Ship without developers

Old model: 

PM + Strategist + Designer + Developer 4 people. 
4 weeks. 4 handoffs.

New model: 

Designer + Claude + Figma 1 person. 
2 days. 0 handoffs.

Strategy. Design. Development. One designer.

The handoff era is over.

Repost this ♻️ if you're building this way.

P.S. Are you still handing off or already shipping?

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Senior UI/UX Designer

Senior UX Designer

UI / UX designer & UI Developer

Visual Designer

UI/UX Designer

English

Serbian

How I USED to make case studies:

Step 1: Open Figma
Step 2: Stare at blank canvas
Step 3: Look for "inspiration"
Step 4: Copy a layout from it
Step 5: Realize my content doesn't fit

Then… ( it’s not finished )

Step 6: Start over
Step 7: Give up again
Step 8: Tell myself "next weekend"

(sound familiar?)

How I make them NOW:

Step 1: Open Claude Code
Step 2: Describe my project
Step 3: Gamma generates the deck
Step 4: I am finally Done with case study

3 minutes vs 3 weeks of procrastination.

Same quality.
Zero stress.

Look…

Hiring managers don't care about your case study's typography.
They care about your thinking.
Show them that instead.

Save this. Try it today.

P.S. Tag a designer who needs this 👇

P.P.S. What's YOUR excuse? (I've heard them all 😇)

Here's a proven way to stand out as a UX designer in 2026.

(Without adding another certification to your wall)

Stop focusing on "designing screens". 
Focus on "designing outcomes".

When you present work to stakeholders?

Your job is not to show how pretty it looks. 
It's to show why it matters.

This is the main "metric" of everything you design"

1. User pain points → Connect them to cost
2. Redesigns → Show the numbers behind them
3. They need a solution → Be their strategic partner

Stop hiding behind "I'm just the designer".

Share the "why" → Not just the "what"
This builds irrevocable trust.

Don't just push pixels. 
Push thinking. 

Make sure your seat at the table stays. 

When restructuring comes? 
(And it will) You'll still be there.

Pretty? No. → "Impactful". Always.

(Repost this for your network ♻️)

P.S. Do you notice some designers hiding behind Figma files? Avoiding the business conversation entirely?

Every designer should SAVE this Accessibility Checklist: 

1. Images include alt text
2. Buttons have clear labels
3. Body text is 16px or larger
4. Text contrast is at least 4.5:1
5. Click targets are minimum 44px
6. Forms show clear error messages
7. Icons are never used without labels
8. Navigation works with keyboard only
9. Animations can be reduced or disabled
10. Focus states are visible for keyboard users

Follow this checklist, and you'r already ahead of 90% of products online.

Accessible design isn’t complicated.
It’s just intentional.

Save this post for your next UI review.

(Repost for other designers ♻️)

P.S. Which one do you check last before shipping a design?

Junior designers add design elements. 

But senior designers remove.

One rule that fixed 80% of my designs:

Take your finished screen.
Start deleting things. One by one.

In practice:

That extra icon? Remove.
That extra border? Remove.
That extra shadow? Remove.

Keep going until something breaks. Stop there.

Everything you deleted before that? Never needed.

Took me years to trust subtraction over addition. 
Now it's the first thing I do on every project.

💾 Save this for your next design review.

P.S. What element do you always overuse?

How to choose UX research method as a junior?

Need to know HOW MANY users have the problem → Quantitative.
Need to know WHY the problem exists → Qualitative.

Before choosing qual or quant, ask one question: "What do I need to learn?"

I want to know why users churn → Qualitative
I want to understand user emotions → Qualitative
I want to explore a new feature idea → Qualitative
I want to know what percentage of users churn → Quantitative
I want to count how many users have the problem → Quantitative
I want to measure if a redesign improved task success → Quantitative

If you're picking a method before knowing your question...
You're solving the wrong problem first.

Every junior designer can learn this. It's not as hard as you think.

1 question at a time → 1 method at a time

P.S. Repost this if you find this useful ♻️ and save this guide.

Here's the truth about designing intuitive UX...

You first start to design → some users may get it.
You design consistently → a lot of users will get it.
You start to give your 100% → everyone will get it.

But what comes after that stage?

When you add more features → a lot of users will struggle.
When you start to "assume" → most users won't follow.
When you expect them to adapt → most will churn.

Unless...You help them "feel" confident at every step.

You offer a sense of "clarity" in every interaction.
You provide more than functionality → You give them ease.

So what is "intuitive UX" exactly?

It's when a user opens your product for the first time and already knows what to do. No tutorial needed. 

The layout, the labels, the flow...Everything just "makes sense." 

Always remember:
Users may use your app for the features.
But they stay for the experience → the effortless, intuitive one. ❤️

(90% of churned users cite "too confusing" as their reason for leaving)

Help them "flow" → not just "function" .

Repost ♻️ if you agree with this

There's  2 types of designers.

The "creative" and "disciplined" designer:

Creative designer:

Always has the wildest idea in the room → sometimes too wild to ship
Portfolio is beautiful → but their project delivery is unpredictable
Pushes boundaries → but sometimes pushes deadlines too
Gets praised in brainstorms → but panics during execution
Gets noticed → but doesn't always get rehired

The "disciplined" designer:

Shows up every day with the same energy → Day 1 or Day 100
Delivers on time → even when the work isn't "groundbreaking"
Communicates progress clearly → no surprises for stakeholders
Portfolio shows shipped work → real products, real outcomes
Gets paid → consistently, repeatedly, and without chasing

(Bonus) 

Type 3: 
The rare designer who has both → They run the industry :)

Creativity is the spark.  Discipline is the engine.

One gets you in the door. 
The other builds your career. ❤️

(Invest 3 seconds into reposting this one, will you?) ♻️

P.S. Which type are you right now? Be honest.

Unpopular opinion: Figma is the last tool you should open.

Not the first.

Here's the process I use for every project:

Phase 1 → Discovery (1 week)
Research. Competitors. Customer Journey.
↳ You can't solve what you don't understand.

Phase 2 → Prototyping (2 weeks)
Architecture. Flows. Wireframes. Testing.
↳ You can't design what you haven't structured.

Phase 3 → Design (5 weeks)
UI Concepts. Final UI. UI Kit. Handoff.
↳ Now you design. Not before.

8 weeks total. 

"But that's too slow."
No. 

Redesigning a product 3 times because you skipped research is slow. 

Arguing with devs because there's no handoff doc is slow. 
Rebuilding flows because nobody tested the wireframe is slow.

Process isn't slow.

Skipping process is slow.

(Save + Repost for others ♻️)

P.S. Do you follow a process or wing it?

"Good designers have a natural eye for color."

No they don't.

They have a system.

And most of them use the same one:
60-30-10.

60% of the screen is one neutral 
30% is one supporting tone 
10% is one accent

It's simple a ratio.

You could pick ugly colors and still make a clean UI with this rule.
You could pick beautiful colors and still make a mess without it.

The "eye" people talk about? It's pattern recognition.

And pattern recognition comes from systems.
Not talent.

Start with the system.

♻️ Repost or Save if you're tired of the "natural talent" myth.

P.S. Talent or system what matters more? 👇

I've been studying dark UX patterns for a while now.

Here's everything I see on one Temu product card:

"Deal" badge → urgency without a deadline
"17K+ sold" → social proof replacing analysis
1,180 reviews → volume creating false authority
Fake "original" price → anchoring your perception
Cart icon right next to the price → reducing friction
Product image with dimensions → implying precision
Everything above the fold → no scrolling needed to buy
Percentage shown in orange → framing savings over cost

8 design decisions.

But...0 of them are about helping you choose.
All of them are about helping you click.

Feel free to repost this ♻️ 

But my ask is:
Next time you shop online, count the tricks first. Then decide.

P.S. Which one surprised you (1-8)? Anything I missed? 👇

My non-negotiable rules for writing button copy.

(7 micro-copy rules every junior designer needs to know)

Lead with the outcome e.g. "Get Your Free Guide"
"Sign Up" = vague → "Start for Free" = clear value
Keep it to 2-5 words → Longer than that? Rewrite it.
Never use "Submit" → Nobody wants to "submit" anything
Never write what the system does → Write what the user gets
Kill the # 1 objection inside the button e.g. "Try It, No Credit Card"

Read it out loud → If it sounds like a robot wrote it, it's wrong.

Bonus: 
Never use "Submit" on a button because you ran out of ideas. 

If you can't describe the value in 5 words, you don't understand the feature well enough.

Bad CTAs describe the process. 
Good CTAs describe the outcome = That's the whole game.

(Save + Repost for others ♻️)

P.S. Do you follow UX copy rules?

2 years ago I was handing off Figma files.

Today I push code to GitHub.

Same person. 
Same skills. 

One new tool. AI.

I didn't hire a developer.
I didn't go back to school. 
I didn't learn computer science. 

I just started "building."

Backend? AI. 
Databases? AI. 
The scary stuff? AI.

Design, UX, how it feels?

That's still me.
Always will be.

Turns out, a designer who builds the "whole thing"?
Pretty powerful.

♻️ Repost if you know a designer who needs to hear this.

P.S. Which idea have you been sitting on? Tell me below. 👇

Here's something I never post about.

(it starts with a DM I almost ignored)

Last week someone messaged me on Linkedin.

"Hey, do you do branding?"

My first instinct: no.
My second instinct: why not?
My third instinct: LinkedIn says I'm a product designer.

I replied anyway. "What do you need?"

She said: 
"Logo for pilates studio".

I quoted the project. She said yes.
I sketched directions in Procreate on the couch.
I opened Adobe Illustrator. Not Figma. Illustrator.

My iPad on my lap. Coffee getting cold.

She wrote back 4 words.
"Don't change a thing."

And I just sat there.

Because I almost said no.
Because I convinced myself that product designers don't do this kind of work.

I thought:

That it wasn't my lane. 
That I needed to be a "brand designer" first.

That night I scrolled through my files.

Logos I made and never showed anyone. 
Brand identities sitting in folders named "personal" and "side work."

Years of work that never made it to my portfolio.

Because I thought it didn't count.
It wasn't "product design" so it wasn't real work.

That's the dumbest thing I've ever believed.

It's design. 
It counts.

P.S. The coffee was cold. The logo was good. Fair trade.

Top negotiators use this hack. It's called "echoing."

(here's how designers can use it on every feedback call)

So how it works?
Repeat the client's own words back to them.

That's why it's called the "Echo" method.

People trust their own words more than yours.
So make sure you use that.

Here's how it looks:

Client says: "I want it clean and minimal." 
Then later: "Add more icons, a banner, and a pattern." 
You say: "You wanted clean and minimal. Which of these fits that?"

Client says: "The homepage should feel premium." 
Then sends a reference that looks like a discount flyer. 
You say: "You said premium. This reference feels promotional. Let's find a better match."

Client says: "I love version 2." 
Two days later: "Actually, let's go back to version 1." 
You say: "You approved version 2 last week. What changed?"

No arguing. 

No "I told you so." 
Just their words "Echoing".

What if the client hasn't said anything specific?

Then quote the brief. 
The approved direction. 
The project goals defined.

Why this works: people respect their own words more than yours.

Use playback → fewer revisions, faster approvals.
Start quoting your clients back to them 😇

P.S. Repost this ( Save ⭐ this and Repost ♻️ )

No one will taught you this at any design workshop.

Your clients used to find you like this:

1. Search Contra ( or other freelance platforms )
2. Check your portfolio
3. Like your vibe
4. Read your bio
5. Send a message

Every step there was a real person deciding with their gut.

Do they like you.
Will they hire you.

But, software is now doing that process. 

Browsing profiles. 
Comparing freelancers. 
Choosing who to hire. 

Without a human in the loop.

Now:
AI agents entered the freelance market. 

Which means...

1. A new buyer category that evaluates without messaging you first
2. Profiles being scanned by software, not just humans
3. Less "let me think about it" - more instant decisions
4. More freelancers who have no idea this is happening
5. A new competitor category that delivers work 24/7

The point I want to make is:

Most freelancers don't fall behind because of skill. 
They fall behind because of awareness. 

I really hope YOU won't. 

(Repost further for others ♻️)

P.S. I created a playbook on how to attract these AI agents. 

P.P.S. Comment “AGENT” and I’ll send it your way. 

( Make sure we’re connected first ❤️ )

Dark patterns are the biggest scam in tech.

And nobody's talking about it.

Today I tried to buy an CapCut app subscription.
Price on screen: €59.00/month.
Price at checkout: €299.99.

That's 30x markup.

This isn't a bug.
It's a feature.

It's called "bait and switch"one of the most common dark patterns in UX design.

Here's why it keeps working:

1. The purchase screen looks trustworthy
2. The real price only shows at the very last step
3. Most users tap "confirm" without reading

I teach designers to reduce friction.
But some companies use that skill to reduce your attention.

This wasn't some sketchy app.

It was in the App Store.
Processed through Apple.

If you're building products:

- Transparent pricing isn't a "nice to have"
- Transparent pricing is the bare minimum

Dark patterns are a tax on user trust.

And trust, once broken, doesn't come back.

♻️ Share this with someone who builds digital products.

CapCut

I never even dreamed I'd be writing something like this.

As of last week, I have my own design tool.

(If you want to stop reading here, go ahead, because I'm about to get a little emotional )

What funny is:

1. I'm a designer. Not an engineer.

I don't write code. I've never opened a terminal. Every design tool I've ever used was built by someone else. Until now.

2. It took me 2 minutes.

I described what I wanted to Replit. A user flow generator with wireframe screens. It built the whole thing. I sat there in disbelief.

3. It does in seconds what used to take me half a day.

I type in any product idea. Full flow. Every screen. Wireframed. I change things by talking to the sidebar. It rebuilds instantly.

The best part is what I realized:

Any designer can do this. 
Right now. Today.

Audit tools. 
Spec generators. 
Component naming tools. 
Client feedback organizers. 
Whatever your workflow is missing.

Designers don't have to wait anymore.

Not for engineers.
Not for product teams.
Not for someone to "prioritize" our request.

We can build it ourselves now.

That changes everything. 
And I mean everything.

Link to try Replit in the comments. 👇

P.S. What's YOUR "tool that doesn't exist"? Drop it below. I'm genuinely curious.

taplio

The Battle

Mike Mahony

Pavle Lucic

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The Battle

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Pavle Lucic

Followers

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