I’m an imaginative and entrepreneurial whitespace explorer, user empathy builder, knowledge synthesizer and sandbox player. More creative than geek. Empirically-driven concepts about evolving social meaning are created with Lean UX teams resultng in vivid and actionable narratives, user models, and prototypes.
Propose and validate (or counter) theories using experience research, business and market data. Inform product and business pivots.Thrive integrated in cross-functional teams.
I get companies out of buildings; an ace investigator of product and service landscapes, how people live and think.
EPIC Ethnographic Praxis in Industry Conference - Board Member
Building a value-add component: strategy, content development and experience design of content to boost UX research success. Exclusive to UserZoom customers.
Unmoderated remote usability researcher for mobile and web products and services.
Research consulting, expanding (my) horizons.
~ Intuit: Semi-moderated remote and field ethnographic cross-platform research among consumers & small businesses toward design guidelines.
~ VMware: Strategic web design research including personas and user model generation; online survey with Survey Monkey, web analytics with Omniture SiteCatalyst, findings visualizations for LEVEL Studios.
Reading, writing, more writing.
Stepped forward to manage Trend Community, a public-facing B2C Lithium community.
- Concurrent with Sr. UX Research role
- Manager and Spirit Animal of Trend Community
- Support, product development and brand management objectives
- Steady and real-time interaction with customers and employees informed UX Research goals and influence.
- World-wide collaboration between employees, affiliates and the market
Proposed and conducted strategic enterprise and core technology studies, significantly informing product and business direction. Direct and continuous involvement of key stakeholders.
* Customer and non-customer informants
* Competitive and market analyses
* Diary studies among IT Admins and managers; introduced diary studies at Trend Micro
* Ethnographic interviews and extended observation of office and plant operations
* Debriefings and deep dives into data with product managers, fellow researchers
* Global presentations customized to team interests conducted with the SME key stakeholder
* Evangelizing to adjunct teams and executives
Consumer research on home wireless device and infrastructure practices
* Significant influence on product interface and feature development
Primary research on consumerization of smartphone use and security attitudes, and resulting architecture in IT ecosystems.
Trained and mentored Asian-based UX employees in ethnography methods for use in China and Taiwan.
Pro bono.
Ethnographer for the Search and Marketplace Group.
Generative and complex proof of concept contract ethnographic research.
New Consumer Products Incubation - Microsoft PlayTable
Conducted the first multi-phase ethnographic study among 7 Seattle area families. Early large-scale horizontal NUI interface.
- Research on a technology unknown publically at the time
- Redesigned the original research plan for more complete results: group and individual semi-formal interviews, participant observation with developers & designers, assisted storytelling, in-lab demonstration, semiotic testing
Microsoft Game Studios
Proof of concept and Playtest lab studies of emerging technolgies and game concepts among female gamers.
Managed 40+ vendors to optimize a $2M annual budget.
Analysis and reporting on 30K open-ended survey responses, completed in three weeks.
Simultaneous usability mentorship at Microsoft Research.
Relocated Charlotte > Redmond in 20 days, $2K under budget