Informatics program, Human-Computer Interaction focus. Both undergraduate and graduate courses in engineering, design, and the information school which focused on usability, user research, and user-centered design. Topics studied included managing people and processes (project management, systems analysis, etc.) as well as managing technology (research, design, and programming).
Finished transfer degree while working full time at Telanetix. Focused on digital media theory. Coursework included the psychology and sociology of digital media and the creation of digital film, music, and web technology.
Designed and conducted lab research via various techniques (qualitative interviews, benchmarking, competitive analysis) to inform the design and development of apps (iOS and Windows 8) and websites (MSN). Created usability guidelines and presentations for the design and development teams which were based on academic and industry research.
Designed and conducted research via various techniques (field and lab studies, benchmarking / competitive analysis, remote interviews, surveying, cognitive walkthroughs, and others) to inform the design and development of a gaming console and mobile, tablet, and web applications and services that interact with the console. Research covered both hardware and software across a variety of platforms, including iOS, Android, Windows Phone, OS X, Windows 8 and a variety of interactions (keyboard, controller, voice, and gesture).
Designing and conducting usability research with developers and end users. Translating results to engineering teams to make Office products more awesome. Various research techniques (lab studies, informal in-person interviews, remote surveying, cognitive walkthroughs, employee interviews via phone, IM, social media) to inform the design and development of a consumer-facing website and developer tools. Products and services studied include http://dev.office.com (information architecture, videos and other marketing content, documentation, code samples), Office 365 administrative panel (navigation, support information, signup process), NAPA (overall UX), Visual Studio, apps for Office and SharePoint (including the end user experience). Diverse, cross-group collaboration with PM, development, and design teams across Office, SPDX, MSDN, BizApps, AAPT, VsPro.
Interviewing users and making interface design suggestions based on their feedback, writing FAQs and documentation, Facebook / Twitter strategy and content creation, creating press releases and submitting to tech blogs, magazines and other media outlets.
Interviewed 125 students about their current work habits and usage of technology tools. Researched and tested existing tools. Created new features / UI concepts, prototyped them, and then tested them on students in focus groups. Gave weekly presentations summarizing findings and recommendations. Attended talks by a variety of Microsoft professionals on topics like design / information layout, survey techniques, PowerPoint, improving presentation skills, concept sketching, etc.