Values & Skillset
How I see design, my current focus & guiding principles
Values & Skillset
Why design is important
Customer Delight
The “Aha” moment when a customer uses your service to complete an important job. Word spreads fast when an organization does this well and that translates directly to measurable growth.
Retention & Growth
Investing in a culture of quantitative experimentation cultivates priceless visibility on the impact of your efforts post release while illuminating how to retain existing customers and gain new ones.
Risk Reduction
Testing your ideas reduces risk and informs opportunity. Making research a first class citizen of your backlog, takes little to no time and costs a fraction of that failed six or seven figure initiative. Period.
Operational Efficiencies
How you conduct design directly impacts your ability to measure the ROI of your investment in design. A "co-design" culture driven by experimentation multiplies organizational value at lighting speed.
My current focus
Problem Discovery
Problem Discovery
Journey Visualization
Journey Visualization
Participatory Design
Participatory Design
Research & Experimentation
Research & Experimentation
Design Systems & UI
Design Systems & UI
Design Operations
Design Operations
Principles are timeless.
Lead through inquiry.
No matter what your role or title, presenting empowering questions, as a primary means of “getting things done” helps cultivate a safe space for communication, collaboration and creativity.
On the other side of the spectrum telling people what to do, as a primary means of getting things done, may stifle collaboration, slow progress and could have a negative impact on your organization.
One of my favorite books “Multipliers” digs into this in great detail… See More
Leverage the collective.
Use your intelligence to amplify the smarts and capabilities of the people around you. You can have a resoundingly positive and profitable effect on organizations – getting more done with fewer resources, developing and attracting talent, and cultivating new ideas and energy to drive organizational change and innovation… See More
Know the organization.
Understanding your organization’s level of commitment to design, team structure, and political landscape will help you optimize your efforts.
It will also help you avoid obstacles and in a perfect world could help you align with any organizational change before it impacts your role… See More
Know the business.
Taking the time to understand the business drivers behind the service you support helps you make informed design decisions that balance customer need with business goals.
Educating yourself on the different customer journeys across your organization’s portfolio helps you cultivate a holistic view that reveals how your team’s decisions may impact other parts of the service… See More
Everything is an experiment.
At this very moment, your professional role, ideas, processes, and even your personal life are participating in experiments. Embracing an awareness of your own assumptions, creates a safe space to learn, reduces risk and helps relieve the pressure of coming up with that next “big idea” on your own.
This principle aligns well with the Buddhist philosophy of “Detachment” where suffering comes from one’s attachment to ideas and or personal belongings… See More
Measure your outcomes.
The expense associated with improving your ability to measure the impact of your work is a fraction of the expense associated with “designing blind” as an organization.
Investing in your ability to measure will not only pay for itself, it will yield an exponential reward across the organization. It will help validate all those great ideas in your backlog, measure the performance of your efforts and ultimately lead to growth… See More
Have heart.
Tech roles aren’t for the weary or faint of heart. We are the first responders in the unspoken war of the marketplace. Organizations are constantly “re-organizing” and in turn, generating layoffs. Meanwhile, consumers AND employees in the tech space are hiring and firing organizations at break-neck speed.
Be brave. Face your challenges and the potential for rejection with courage. Be proud of your experiences and carry any scars like a badge of honor, they will serve you well!.. See More
