From catching employee theft with a no-code app to salsa dancing, Airbnb hosting, and building AI-powered hiring tools — Michael Rurka’s career journey is anything but ordinary.In this episode of the Design QA Podcast, I sit down with my friend Michael, who started as a designer and is now a Director of Product. We talk about:→ Why he still thinks like a designer (even as a PM)→ Letting go of control and trusting your team→ The messy reality of building products and making unpopular decisions→ How he reduced employee theft by 99% with a system he built himself→ The role of gut instinct in product and design decisions→ Lessons from salsa dancing and Airbnb hosting that apply to building products→ The future of design in an AI-driven world→ Why apps and websites as we know them might soon disappearIf you’re a designer, PM, or just someone who loves hearing real stories from people building interesting things, you’ll enjoy this one.⸻🔗 Links & Resources👋 Connect with me (Mahdi Farra):LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mahdif/Twitter/X – https://twitter.com/mahdifDesignQA – https://designqa.com👋 Connect with Michael Rurka:LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelrurka/Amori – https://amori.life🎙 Listen to the podcast on your favorite platform:Podcast Website: https://designqa.com/podcastSpotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7338K2AkncE4ms1d7zFXRnApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-designqa-podcast/id1823275839Pocket Casts: https://pocketcasts.com/podcasts/c40bc7d0-35ab-013e-985d-0affe3af2217Overcast: https://overcast.fm/itunes1823275839/the-designqa-podcastAmazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/543c75b1-0cea-4fc0-9775-014018425e1b/the-designqa-podcastChapters00:00 Intro 01:09 Michael’s background: from design to Director of Product 03:25 Transitioning from Design to Product Management 05:19 What he had to “unlearn” moving into product 07:56 Navigating product decisions and mistakes 10:04 Rebuilding products and lessons from failures 12:39 Reducing employee theft by 99% with a custom-built system 14:55 The importance of user experience 18:01 One product truth that’s constant across all industries 19:48 Trusting your gut (but only when to do it) 22:21 Salsa dancing & Airbnb hosting lessons for product building 24:55 Exploring new roles and future aspirations 29:19 The power of curiosity and being a generalist 31:44 Advice for designers moving to PM 33:18 How AI will impact design and product management 36:41 Apps without interfaces — the coming shift 40:10 Emotional connection with AI assistants 43:40 Why AI lacks “personal experience” 44:12 Rapid-fire questions 54:55 Closing thoughts & future projects ----✉️ Want to be on the show?Got strong opinions about design QA? Reach out: ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠---

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