My prototype didn't need a Twilio integration

AI makes building stuff stupidly easy these days. Almost too easy (that's a topic for another time).

You sit down, "I need a simple landing page to test this idea" and three hours later you've built a full candidate tracking dashboard with fake profile generators and real-time analytics. Because now, you can. An LLM will happily build whatever you ask for.

It's intoxicating! As someone who went from front-end to UX, I suddenly feel like I found a mojo I never thought existed in the first place. I can prototype ideas that used to take weeks in a single afternoon.

Just because you can...

Once again: just because you can build it doesn't mean you should build it.

-> We're back to square one of product thinking.

All the fundamental questions still matter: what problem are we actually solving, who's asking for this feature? How do we know people want it? The technology got really good, but the discipline of building the right thing didn't change.

-> Scope creep is now measured in minutes, not months.

You start with "let me quickly test this user flow" and end up with a full SaaS platform because hey, why not add user authentication while we're here? And a billing system? And push notifications?

Before you know it, you've spent two weeks building features for a concept you haven't even validated yet.

Product thinking never left

If you're a product person or designer using tools like Lovable or Figma Make, stick to these two rules:

• Build tiny test pages. Something you can put in front of real users to validate an idea. Not a full product. Just enough to test your hypothesis.

• Build focused POCs for stakeholders. When you need to sell an idea internally, a working prototype beats a dozen slides. But keep it laser-focused on the one thing you're trying to prove.

That's it. Resist the urge to build the full vision just because you can. Save that energy for after you know people actually want what you're making.

The technology is incredible though.