An experienced design leader and collaborative IC skilled in early stage discovery, design craft, and bringing great software to market.
I enjoy the craft of design as much as the craft of management and have built up skills in each over the 20 years I’ve worked in this field. I stay humble and treat each role as an opportunity to do my best work.
I’m currently Principal Product Designer at Lithia & Driveway. I also do consulting work, driving outcomes for many small and mid-sized businesses.
I’m a dad, snowboarder, hiker, roller skater and dropper of beats. My current hobby is learning to make music on a modular synthesizer. I collect and play vintage arcade games am into movies and books.
Read on for some workplace values I tend to believe
Users Above Self
User experience design is a humbling and deeply empathetic role. It stands in contrast to others that may celebrate the rock star contributor. I strive to center my design process around users, eliminating bias where possible, then work collaboratively to incorporate insights into product strategy to make a a positive difference in people’s lives.
Anyone can be a Design Leader
Management is a role. Leadership is something anyone can practice. To me, design leadership involves the articulation of a vision that’s based on an understanding of what the users need. Once that becomes a shared vision, the leader works collaboratively, taking steps to accomplish that vision with the team.
Practice Servant Leadership
Servant leadership focuses on supporting people rather than directing folks top-down. It’s about removing obstacles, ensuring teams have the context and the means do their best work. By stepping back and allowing diverse perspectives to flourish, we can achieve common goals together, feeling great about them as we go.
Iterate
Nobody wins if we don’t ship. I embrace an iterative approach to product development. I believe in building upon a smart Minimum Viable Product leveraging success metrics and progress measures to constantly deliver incremental value to users. Shipping is crucial to learning and maintaining trust with the business and customers alike.
Work Over Politics
Delivering good work and positive outcomes for users is the foundation for building social capital, earning trust, and fostering partnerships. By focusing on the work itself, we can create strong relationships that lead to greater achievements.
Be a Team Player
Collaboration is essential within the product development lifecycle. When teams work together from the beginning with a shared understanding of the objectives and context, they can develop stronger bonds that lead to faster, more effective software releases, and are better able to compromise and make tough decisions.
Always Improve
I believe in lifelong learning. By observing, listening, and internalizing experiences, I strive to grow continuously. Staying humble and leaving each role wiser than when I started is key to my development. I try to attend and participate in training programs whenever possible and make conscious decisions to put myself outside my comfort zone.
Do the Best You Can
I give my all every day, reflecting on ways to improve for tomorrow. While I tend to overthink, I embrace this as part of my growth process. I find comfort in the support of my great colleagues, as we all continuously strive to meet the same high standards together.
Make Your Boss’ Life Easier
I aim to make my Bosses’ lives easier. I try to give more than I take. To do this I work to establish trust by demonstrating value regularly. I seek to establish a shared understanding up front what success looks like in the role, within the team, the department, and the organization. I try to check in regularly that I’m tracking towards those goals and to understand when they change.