Overview

I've led and managed the design process at companies of all sizes, in many different industries, and with different organizational structures and product development methodologies. My effectiveness in being an effective designer of useful products comes from understanding how to deliver the value of a best practices design process regardless of the constraints imposed by radical differences in environment. As the saying goes, “There are many ways to skin a cat,” and throughout my career, I've had to try most of them.

User Research

Ultimately, the goal is to understand users and what makes them tick. What are their likes and dislikes? What motivates them? In what environment will they use your product? There are many ways to get answers to that question. Often those answers can come from being one of those users. Sometimes, time and resources permitting, it's important to spend significant time and effort being with these users asking them questions or watching them work. And in some environments, for either time, money or logistical reasons, “real” users are not available, in which case it's necessary to settle for surrogates: users with similar key demographics, internal SMEs or internal members of the desired class or cohort. And sometimes, the best approach is to do a little bit of each at different times.