Professional Skills
Customer research (focus groups, ethnographic research, contextual inquiry, interviews and more)
Persona segmentation and scenarios
Requirements gathering (use cases, user stories)
Competitive analysis
User experience (UX) strategy
Create and manage product roadmaps
Data analysis and metrics strategies
A/B and multivariate testing
Agile, Lean UX, Lean Startup, Customer Development
Superior presenter (create my own presentations)
Software demos and webinars
Personal Skills
Great team builder and motivator
Collaborator with engineers and developers
Comfortable in the Board Room
Can sell a vision and define tactics to get there
Loves being in front of a tough crowd
Not afraid of conflict and difficult personalities
Synthesizer of competing objectives
Knows how to make a tough business decision
Passion for being a public expert
Heads off problems early
Sense of humor and keeps work fun
Intangibles
I Get Enterprise Software
I started my career in enterprise software with J.D. Edwards when they were less than 1000 employees on the way to 5000. Since then, I’ve been involved with enterprise-level software implementations and products. Even as president and co-founder of Industrial Wisdom, I have focused exclusively on big, difficult projects that require great user experiences to be successful – GlaxoSmithKline, Qwest Communications, Microsoft, xpedx, among others.
Great Presenter, Evangelist, Leader
Anyone how knows me knows that I’m comfortable in front of large, difficult crowds – especially customers. I coach this skill in my team members. I teach them how to “control the conversation.” I know how to sell a vision and get people excited. I also know how to handle (and initiate) difficult conversations where decisions need to be made. I’m not afraid to jump in and sort it out.
Deeply Committed to the Intersection of UX, Customer Experience, Product Management, and Development
For 10 years, I have focused on integrating UX design into complex software projects. Agile. Waterfall. SCRUM. Lean UX. User-centered Design. I’ve done it all and have written and presented about it extensively in venues as diverse as CIO Magazine, Johnny Holland Magazine, Enterprise Efficiency, Sterling Commerce user conferences, and the Usability Professionals Association.
I Talk to Customers
I won’t go into a project until I know the desired customer experience. If it needs to be figured out, I do it. I’ve run countless focus groups, conducted surveys of all kinds, led the adoption of comprehensive enterprise-level analytics programs (SiteCatalyst, Tealeaf, Fluid Surveys, Keynote). I am a huge proponent of product managers getting out of the building and talking directly to customers. It’s my favorite part of the job, and the most important.
