There’s a noticeable shift happening in how software gets built.
It’s called “vibe coding” - it’s fast, intuitive, AI-assisted development where ideas go from concept to working product in hours, not weeks.
And it’s genuinely really powerful, as well as exciting.
It has made barriers to entry lower than ever:
- You don’t need a huge team to get something live.
- You don’t even need deep technical expertise in the same way you used to (although you’ll go a lot further if you do).
Speed doesn’t equal usability
Just because you can build something quickly doesn’t mean people will understand it. Or use it. Or come back to it. That’s the gap.
Vibe coding optimises for output. UX optimises for outcome.
And those are very different things.
What gets lost when you move too fast
When products are built rapidly, a few things tend to get skipped:
- Understanding real user behaviour
- Defining clear user journeys
- Thinking through edge cases
- Validating assumptions before building
- Iterating based on actual feedback
Instead, decisions are made on instinct.
Sometimes that works. Most the time it doesn’t.
Because users don’t experience your product the way you imagine it. They experience it in fragments:
- A confusing first step
- A moment of hesitation
- A lack of clarity
- A broken expectation
And that’s usually enough for them to drop off.
UX is what makes products usable, not just possible
Good UX isn’t about polish.
It’s about making something:
- Understandable
- Navigable
- Predictable
- Trustworthy
Without forcing the user to think too hard, it answers questions like:
- “Is this for me?”
- "Is this what I need?”
- “What do I do next?”
- “Why am I here?”
- “Is this working?”
That doesn’t happen by accident. And it definitely doesn’t happen just by moving fast.
The real shift: building is no longer the advantage
For a long time, the hardest part of software was building it.
That’s no longer true.
Now:
- Tools are better
- AI accelerates development
- Templates and frameworks do a lot of the heavy lifting
Which means the competitive advantage has moved. It’s no longer about who can build.
It’s about who can build something people actually use.
Where UX fits in now
UX becomes the filter between something that works and something that works well.
In a world of vibe coding, UX is what:
- Slows things down just enough to think
- Validates decisions before they become expensive
- Turns rough ideas into coherent experiences
It doesn’t fight speed.
It makes speed more effective.
Vibe coding is here, and it’s not going anywhere. But if everyone can ship quickly, then speed stops being the differentiator.
Clarity does. Usability does. Experience does.
And that’s exactly where UX delivers its value.