Every two weeks at OneSignal, we run one of my favorite rituals: the UI Power Hour.
A designer and engineer team up, set a one-hour timer, and hammer through small but meaningful UX or UI updates, the kinds of things that often don’t make it into a sprint or roadmap.
Why We Do It
In isolation, these changes may feel trivial; fixing misaligned components, rewriting a confusing label, cleaning up spacing. But stack them up, and the difference is huge.
You can tell immediately when a product team invests in polish: every click feels smoother, every interaction feels intentional. Those small UX “papercuts” add up, and clearing them out makes for a noticeably better product.
How It Works
- Every two weeks: A designer + engineer pair for one focused hour.
- Scope: Sometimes one larger item, sometimes three or four smaller ones.
- Backlog: We keep a list (in Asana) of potential tasks, groomed during design syncs.
- Prep: Any design decisions happen beforehand — Power Hour is for execution, not debate.
- Team size: Two people max. Keeps it lean and avoids overthinking.
This started when we were a small team. Every other Wednesday, myself and one engineer would hop on a call at the start of the day and fix one thing.
Since then, it’s scaled. More designers and engineers now run their own sessions, and the “Power Hour” concept has spread across our org.
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The Benefits
- Reduces UX debt before it snowballs.
- Protects the design system — one misused component caught early prevents it from spreading everywhere.
- Builds empathy between design and engineering. Designers see the coding tradeoffs; engineers feel the design intent.
- Immediate gratification — we ship and see results live that same day.
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The Shift With AI
Lately, we’ve noticed something new. With tools like Cursor and Claude Code, even designers who don’t typically write code can contribute directly to the codebase.
That means copy edits, design system tweaks, spacing adjustments — all the “small but meaningful” fixes — can often be handled by designers themselves.
It doesn’t replace the value of pairing with engineers, but it supercharges the Power Hour and lowers the barrier for making polish part of the workflow.
Why I Love It
It’s hands-down one of my favorite meetings. There’s something deeply satisfying about starting your day, pairing up, and shipping something that makes the product better right away.
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As our design leader, I see Power Hour as more than just fixing UI polish. It’s a signal to the team that details matter. That investing in small improvements can have as much impact on customer happiness as a big new feature launch.
👉 Does your team do anything similar? How do you address UX debt & polish?