Design leadership

Design leadership

Design goes beyond aesthetics; it’s a critical aspect of achieving business objectives. I lead product teams in design and research to get us there. I excel at identifying challenges, influencing product strategy, and collaborating across teams for effective solutions.

My previous work as a product designer and as a consultant have helped me build strong business partnerships with all levels of stakeholders. And all the while, I have mentored colleagues, students, and workshop attendees alike, helping us all get where we need to be.

Here are a few examples:

IRS Direct File [private]

The goal

Produce an extremely high profile and high value application for the IRS in a ludicrously short amount of time. Also meet a high bar for accessibility.

My role

I led all strategy and delivery for accessibility (508) to ensure this launched with an optimized experience for people with disabilities. As the design principal from Truss, I managed our design/research relationship with our partners in this $4M contract. I also led the design response to the procurement process to win our contract.

Results

Will update here when I’m allowed to talk about it…

IRS logo

Unemployment insurance

The goal

Deliver a pilot project to transform the unemployment insurance (UI) experience for all states, starting with New Jersey

My role

I led design and research for Truss’ part of this effort, particularly in visual and interaction design, content design, research, and accessibility. I have also been key personnel in seeking follow-up contracts with Truss’ sales team.

Results

We launched the new experience and delivered a UX report lauded by our government stakeholders as a “standard” to continue building by.

Blockchain Invoicing for TradeLens

The problem

How might we prove IBM’s blockchain platform can work for our industry clients? And how might we help them tackle wicked problems?

My role

I worked with a PM and chief technical architect at IBM to launch a blockchain-based system to address dispute resolutions through smart contracts. I helped guide the initial strategic approach, building research artifacts along the way to bridge both business and user impact. Through the next year and a half, I designed the entire product and oversaw its implementation.

Results

We were featured at THINK 2019, IBM’s flagship conference. We also patented the underlying supply-chain service technology for automated conflict resolution.

A chart describing different aspects of PMs

Should designers PM?

The goal

Explore the overlap of design and product management (PM)

My role

This was an essay I wrote as I explored my career path options. I found a significant amount of overlap between design and PM, and described where an individual may work in either domain depending on project and career needs.

Results

Republished on UX Collective—a very popular UX blog—where it received hundreds of claps and comments.