Episode 17

Spilt Soup: Sonos

Published on: 24th March, 2026

In this installment of our Spilt Soup series, exploring the reasons behind product and service failures, we review the spectacular faceplant of Sonos. In 2024 Sonos pushed a "courageous" (not our word) app update that broke several core features, not to mention its users' trust. We analyze how Sonos lost $600 million in market cap overnight, and what product teams can learn from this failure.

In Condensed Soup, we cleanse our palette by sharing stories of app updates done right.

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About the Podcast

UX Soup
Bite-sized human-centered design insights
Join Chris Schreiner, Derek Viita, and Lisa Schreiner from User Driven Strategies as they discuss the latest developments impacting the user experience, whether in the car, at home, or on the go. Examine the state of the UX and human factors professions, listen to interviews from leading practitioners in industry and academia, and hear the team discuss the latest products and services from a human-centered design perspective.

About your hosts

Chris Schreiner

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Chris has 25 years of experience in automotive HF and UX, working for automotive OEMs, suppliers, academic research institutions, and consultancies, providing objective and actionable guidance impacting design.

Chris has over 20 years of experience in UX and human factors research, and has successfully led projects globally for clients in the automotive and wireless industries.

Derek Viita

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Derek is a human factors expert who helps tech companies, research orgs, and consultancies build safe and useful things. His passion is automotive UX, with 2 decades of specialized expertise. Beyond cars, his work has spanned mobile devices, physical workstations, virtual telecom platforms, mobile payment, and more.

Derek has produced live research, workshops, and conference presentations on 3 continents, and is a named author on over a dozen peer-reviewed papers and technical reports.