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When I’m not designing or building innovation strategy, you can catch me playing fetch with Dash, my rescue pup.

When I am designing, I’m doing my best to live by these principles:

  • Collaboration is key: The best solutions and fastest implementation come from shared ownership gained through collaboratively solving problems together

  • Customers and users first: User data should drive every decision we make. The more accurate data we have, the better our decisions will be.

  • Users are king, but they’re not god: Desirability has to be balanced with viability and feasibility for the product or service to make it in the market. Those factors should be tested with the same rigor.

  • Context matters: The app, the touchpoint, the journey all exist within a larger context that has impact on how it’s experienced; my job is to understand and design for that context, even the invisible moments.

  • Mentorship starts with the business: Design isn’t easy. Not for stakeholders or designers. Bringing the business along the journey is essential for success.

  • Relationships are built on trust: Quickly developing trust with the team and stakeholders is a priority from day 1. Trust has to be earned but once it is, we can run fast.

  • Be optimistic: Innovation is the result of optimistic vision; without optimism, nothing is possible.

Optimism requires confidence, and confidence is built on trust.
— Tim Brown, IDEO