You don’t need better UX. You need fewer decisions
Founders love to say their product needs better UX.
So they bring in designers to polish onboarding, clean up the UI, or add clever microcopy.
But the core problem remains the same: using the product still feels like work.
If you look at most products today, they feel like decision trees, especially SaaS tools.
They're packed with small choices:
Which plan should I pick?
Do I need this setting?
What happens if I click that?
And while each little decision seems harmless on its own, they add up and the product starts feeling more like a quiz than a tool.
One of my biggest hacks as a designer was to learn that you need to design for the laziest, most impatient user possible.
If it works for them, it will work for anyone.
The old playbook said:
Make decisions easier.
The new one says:
Only present decisions when they matter. Default the rest. Automate what you can.
The goal isn’t to eliminate choice but reduce the ones that don’t add value.
Give users control when it matters, not when they’re just trying to get something done.
Good UX isn’t about more clarity.
It’s about less cognitive load.
The moment you start realizing that, everything changes.
That’s also how we try to design at Lovable.
When users build with our AI, we try to handle as much as possible in the background.
While most tools expect you to set up everything manually, we flip the model.
You describe what you want and we handle the rest for you. Based on pure intent.
Want a dashboard? Say it.
Need Google login and Supabase? Say it.
Ready to publish? Just say it.
You chat and Lovable builds.
And it’s not just UI. We handle logic, backend, and integrations too.
Think about products that feel effortless in your day to day.
They constantly make smart choices for you.
Apple Pay defaults to your most-used card
Notion AI suggests starting points
Linear pre-fills fields based on context
That’s not just good UX.
It's context-aware UX.
OpenAI’s new agent is another perfect example.
You don’t click through menus or tweak settings.
You just say: book me a flight to Berlin next Thursday.
And it’s done.
People don’t want more options. They want faster outcomes.
They want control without the effort.
So here's my take:
Great UX means reducing decisions.
Hiding complexity and making the product feel like it already knows what the user wants.
Because the less someone has to think, the faster they can move.
And the best products in the world don't just pretend to look smart, but act smart.
If your product still feels like work, it’s not a UX problem.
It’s a decision problem.
So design for fewer choices and smarter defaults.
Super excited to hear your take. Comment below.
The shift from "make decisions easier" to "only present decisions when they matter" is such a crucial distinction that most teams miss. Your point about designing for the laziest, most impatient user resonates deeply. The cognitive load from accumulated micro-decisions is real; each choice feels harmless individually, but together they create friction that kills momentum before users experience the core value.
The OpenAI agent example is perfect. Instead of building another dashboard with dropdowns and toggles, they created an interface that handles complexity through intent. Users express what they want, the system figures out how to deliver it. What strikes me most is how this connects to the broader shift from tool centric to outcome centric design. Users don't want to learn our product's mental model; they want to achieve their goals with minimal friction.
One thing I'd add: the key is knowing which decisions actually matter to users versus which ones we think should matter. Often what feels like an important choice to the product team is just exposed internal complexity to the user. Lovable's approach of handling the technical complexity in the background while users just describe their intent is exactly where I think most SaaS tools need to head. Less configure your settings and more tell me what you're trying to accomplish. Overall great post 👍🏾!
Hick’s Law meets Occam’s Razor: fewer choices mean faster outcomes.