About

I’ve spent many years either managing teams of user experience designers or as a user experience designer myself. Linkedin provides a good chronological view of my career. Or, you can find the cheat sheet version of my skills below

In my spare time, I write fiction. Sometimes what I write gets published.

Skills Cheat Sheet

Leader:

People manager for a team of Interaction Designers, User Researchers, and Information Architects
Collaborate with business and engineering teams to establish strategic direction for multiple products
Facilitate collaborative design sessions between designers, engineers, and product managers
Developed a peer review process for UX organization
Managed projects for UX team in an agile model. Served as scrum master on multiple projects
Responsible for keeping executives and other stakeholders aware of deliverable progress
Worked with local university to identify co-ops and sponsor class projects
Served as a coach for a team of design interns located in a remote office

Designer:

Over 15 years experience as an interaction designer and usability expert
MS in Human Factors and Information Design from Bentley University
Designed enterprise applications for client, web, and Interactive Voice Response systems
Created story boards, low and high fidelity prototypes, and technical specifications that enabled engineering to implement designs
Conducted user interviews, developed personas, conducted remote and onsite usability tests, and performed heuristic evaluations
Led a cross functional team that included engineers and product managers to develop UI standards
Worked with large design teams and as a solo Human Factors Engineer
Authored/co-authored multiple patents
Proficient with HTML, CSS, Photoshop, Axure, Sketch

Communicator:

Presented designs and concepts to executive stakeholders
Presented to customers and partners at large conferences
Corporate blog contributor
Wrote documentation for Financial software, APIs, and other complex systems

Permalink to:Right Person, Right Place, Right Time

Right Person, Right Place, Right Time

On paper, management is easy. My job is to put the right person, in the right place, at the right time. What’s so hard about that? It’s only when you attempt to put it in practice that you learn that Read More ...

Permalink to:Think: Design

Think: Design

I have used Design Thinking on many projects over the years, such as the IBM Mail Onboarding Manager (a.k.a. M.O.M. – best acronym ever!), and I am an unabashed fan. In addition, I’ve also trained teams in the use of Design Read More ...

Permalink to:Let’s Take this Puppy for a Spin!

Let’s Take this Puppy for a Spin!

There is nothing more telling than taking a design or piece of software out on the open road. I have never run a usability test and not walked away with a nice little nugget of information. Sometimes it’s radical (“Crikey, Read More ...

Permalink to:It Lives! MWAHAHA!

It Lives! MWAHAHA!

Prototypes are one of my favorite tools for collecting feedback. Playing with a prototype allows the users to really put themselves in the mindset of interacting with the designs. I’ve used both click-through and high fidelity prototypes to great effect. Read More ...

Permalink to:A Favorite

A Favorite

All designers have a favorite creation. One of my mine was the ability to show new invitations in users’ calendars. As a feature it was simple, elegant, and directly addressed a customer pain point. Early on in the redesign of Read More ...

Permalink to:You Can Lead a Horse to Water…

You Can Lead a Horse to Water…

and sometimes he will drink! One of the greatest challenges a designer can face is introducing changes to an existing system. Altering features and streamlining an experience is frequently viewed as “rework” and not considered to be as compelling as Read More ...

Permalink to:My AHA! Moment

My AHA! Moment

In the beginning, I was a technical writer. There were many things I liked about technical writing, and I look back fondly on those days. But I also remember very clearly the moment I decided to become a designer, and Read More ...

Permalink to:Test Drive: Building a Co-op Program

Test Drive: Building a Co-op Program

A good co-op program is the single most effective recruiting device a manager has in the toolbox. It is also the biggest benefit for a prospective employee. Having operated a co-op program for several years now, I have developed an Read More ...

Permalink to:Useful Stuff

Useful Stuff

These are some of my favorite tools and sources of information. While there are plenty of others, these are the ones I find myself returning to time and again. News and tips: Techcrunch – news about startups Read More ...