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Yuriy Balaka

I find what a product’s users will pay for, and I build it until it works: with the owner on the money, with the engineers in the code, with no handoff in between.

Designing products since 2009. Now at WebPros on Riva, an AI-visibility product, since its first version.

Projects

send me the updated flow before the demo

Hold fn, speak, release

Say in Place — voice typing for Mac

I wanted to type by voice in Russian and English without an AI rewriting my words.

4,960 dictations in 15 days
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Every finding gets a decision: do it, test it again, or not, with the reason.

Riva — a redesign built on what users pay for

Riva was built without knowing how its users see the product.

8 sessions · 6 competitors
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Tools

1.26:1 ✕ fails, needs 3:1

shadcn-wcag-compliance
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Thu 06 Nov 2026, 18:40
RULE  answer short
TASK  Dana - send the July test results

bro

A recorded session: time, event, what happened
00:04 click
Add a site
00:10 error
Not reachable
00:24 job done
Site connected

User-test recorder
- --primary
- --primary-foreground
Prototype panel

Writing

What people actually paid me for

In July 2026 I read every client review and LinkedIn recommendation I had, from 2016 to 2025. They paid for understanding before drawing, judgment on what to build, and hard technical work made easy to use.
Between a sketch and ready-to-build sits ownership, not visuals

The gap between a manager’s sketch and a prototype you can build is a chain of product decisions. Whoever fills it owns the solution.
A check should guard against a risk, not a ritual

The difference between a check that protects against something real and a check that only records that it was passed.
AI makes doing cheaper and inconsistency more expensive

The total cost of product work does not fall. It moves from making things to keeping them consistent.
All writing

Past

SdamInfo2013–2015
Reconnect2016–2018
QWEP2017
NG&E2018–2021
MarineCFO
WebPros2021–