Workspeed (www.workspeed.com) is an application service provider (ASP) offering a powerful property management solution for large commercial buildings. As a key member of the Product Management team, I share responsibility for the design and implementation of product functionality, with my core responsibility focusing on the user interface (UI).

Duties include: interviewing and observing end users to understand their processes and work habits in order to appropriately define requirements participating in collaborative design sessions, consulting on user interface / interaction questions with colleagues, designing UI screens and creating digital assests, writing usable screen text, writing comprehensive specifications for developers, validating designs with both end users and engineering staff, managing development projects for new features, creating release documentation for both internal and consumer audiences, training professional services and support staff in the use of new features.

I was project lead for several notable new features and enhancements, including a Price List feature, advance Search functionality, and a completely redesigned and rewritten Help feature. In addtion, I managed aproject to create a printed user guide for property managers.

In the lean environment of the down-sized dotcom survivors, I have also assumed some marketing responsibilities to support the company's sales efforts. Specifically, I maintain the corporate website, and, in the absence of dedicated marcom staff, my print and graphics background has been invaluable to our sales staff for producing high quality, effective sales collateral.

eFORCE (www.eforceglobal.com) is a software systems integrator specializing in e-business solutions. Tasked with developing a Human Factors practice for eFORCE, I learned the principles of usability design from Jakob Nielsen, Jared Spool, and Alan Cooper. I successfully completed usability consulting assignments for clients as diverse as Bank of America and Silicon Valley startups. Subsequently, I built a User Interface Services department to enable eFORCE to provide a UI product offering that was competitive with Sapient or Scient. Services included usability testing, information architecture/interaction design, visual design, and accessibility design (for disabled users). My group was an important usability resource for the Bank of America Interactive Banking Group, and we provided consultants to important projects with Janus, Visa, and other eFORCE clients.

In the multi-tasking world of the Internet startup, I had another important role at eFORCE: I regularly served as a graphic facilitator at pre-sales stakeholder meetings. Using facilitation techniques modeled on the Grove methodology, customer requirements were carefully elicited, an approach was proposed, and client buy-in was established for project objectives and milestones.

Connaissance (www.connaissanceconsulting.com) acquired ASP Inc. in 1998. Both companies provided consulting services for Siebel Systems software implementations. I worked on implementation project teams, documenting the Siebel configurations and providing training to end users. My projects included Siebel installations for Acer Computer in Taiwan and Australia and Sun Microsystems in Mountain View CA, as well as Scopus installations for Stream International (help desk outsourcing) and Genzyme Surgical Products.

In addition to my consulting role, I produced marketing communications for ASP and technical publications for a sister publishing company. After joining Connaissance, I took on a greater internal training role, providing training on new features and functionality to consultants as well as to end users.

As sole proprietor of GRAFIX (www.grafix9000.com), I provided a full range of marketing communications services (both directly and through subcontract), including writing/editing, proofreading, desktop publishing, graphic design, illustration, branding, and sales/marketing collateral. Working directly for clients as well as for agencies, I made some notable contributions to Bay Area design, including the Black Mountain Spring Water label (painting the mountain and designing the award-winning label for what was once the Bay Area's premiere independent spring water), executed as part of a contract with Addison Olian, Inc.

Other significant contracts included:
Sanrio, Inc. - designing products, packaging, and promotional materials for Hello Kitty in the US market
Council for Continuous Improvement - producing quarterly Proceedings of the Council's regular seminars: including attending conferences, interviewing presenters, transcribing presentation, writing detailed proceedings based on transcriptions, and desktop publishing four sessions per year (10-12 papers each session)
Coherent Laser Group - developing, designing, and publishing documentation and training materials for Scopus and Vantive implementations, including software reference and job-specific procedural guides

Other clients included:
Addison-Wesley Publishing, Alameda County Conference Center, AlterMedX, Berkeley Opera, Chevron, City of Sacramento, Coyote Point Museum, Dakin, National Semiconductor, Neil Young, RIDES for Bay Area Commuters, Robinson-Clarke, Southern Pacific, and more