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UX strategy​

  • UX value - infusing organizations with an empathetic understanding of users to optimize delivery of useful & usable innovations
  • UX alignment - adjusting UX approaches to meet or exceed corporate & product vision, goals, & initiatives
  • UX playbook - knowing which tactics are more likely to increase UX value & visibility given organizational circumstances
  • UX ROI - negotiating budgets armed with clearly documented UX value
  • UX metrics - providing evidence of increasing UX value through regular measurement
  • Design Thinking™ - leveraging this ideation engine towards a making, learning, & innovating culture
  • UCD - continually evolving techniques, methods, & process to maximize UX value within the organization
  • UX + Dev processes - delivering UX value through, and sometimes despite, Scrum, dual track, kanban, Sprint 0, Agile, Lean, etc.
  • UX coaching - when "non-UXers" are coached, UXers get to tackle more challenging & interesting problems
  • UX team assessment - evaluating strengths, weaknesses, & interests
  • UX team skill balancing & building - developing teams through project assignment, training, & hiring
Discovery

Research / discovery​

  • Identifying riskiest knowledge gaps
  • Matching knowledge gap to research method - behavioral vs. attitudinal, qualitative vs. quantitative
  • Facilitation & moderation - a widely applicable skill
  • Field studies & contextual inquiry - observing user behaviors is the gold standard since what people say they do is incomplete at best
  • Questionnaires & surveys - crafting well constructed questions & analyzing the results
  • User & stakeholder interviews - all voices need to be heard
  • Task analysis - helps clarify & simplify, especially complex tasks
  • Competitive analysis - some competitors are less obvious than others
  • Design studios & participatory design sessions - a highly generative technique & politically useful especially if participants are internal
  • Personas - research-based vs. ad hoc vs. market segment, user vs. buyer, primary, secondary, negative
  • Scenarios - maintains design focus on primary tasks & workflows
  • Journey mapping - powerful & strategic when grounded in solid user research & insights
  • Metrics & analytics - the "what" & the "so what"
  • Card sorting - a hybrid approach is a favorite
  • Affinity diagramming - useful in many situations and often enhanced by gamestorming techniques like dot voting
  • Content inventory - knowing the current state decreases unexpected surprises
  • Requirements & constraints gathering - constraints can be liberating
  • Effective & ongoing communication of results & findings - insights are useless if no one knows about them
Design

Design​​​​

  • Idea generation - small groups generate more ideas than myself alone

  • Gamestorming - dot voting, silent sorting, & the $100 test are some of my favorites

  • Interaction modelling - finding the right mental model or metaphor to unify an application

  • Interaction design - finding the best way to achieve the users' objective

  • Micro-interaction design - details matter

  • Information Architecture - there's little difference between an undiscovered feature and a non-existent one 

  • Information design - prioritizing & visually displaying information for immediate comprehension

  • Sketching - paper is much easier to scrap than hi-fi prototypes

  • Storyboarding - stepping through the UX has been a great way to get everyone on board

  • Wireframing - balancing layout priorities is an immersive challenge

  • Paper prototyping - combining this with Wizard of Oz testing quickly converged on great designs

  • Prototyping in various fidelity - currently, my tool is Figma

  • Copywriting - brand matched voice & tone, brief, simple, clear, & jargon-free

  • Editing - what isn't included is just as important as what is

  • New patterns - when necessary, I enjoy crafting innovative design patterns

  • Human factors - my knowledge of physiological, psychological, & Gestalt perception is widely applicable

  • Physical ergonomics - evaluating & designing physical interactions adds a level of interest

  • Multi-sensory design - haptics & auditory experiences add yet more levels of interest

  • Implementation - I negotiate agreements on project roadmaps, timelines, & process

  • Visual design & branding - I collaborate with visual designers early, especially for new products requiring more visual definition

Evaluation

Evaluation​

  • Usability Testing - guerrilla, Wizard of Oz, A/B, counter-balancing, un-moderated, moderated in-person vs. remote, quant. & qual. measures​

    • I received world-class classroom and on-the-job training from the best: Beth Loring and pioneer, Joe Dumas.

  • Heuristic/Expert review - when not consulting for someone else's design, I'm constantly doing this to my own designs

  • Cognitive walkthrough - see Heuristic review above​

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