Nice to meet you. 🤝
I help growing product companies (like yours?) plan for the future using design thinking, HCD, systems thinking and Lean methodologies. UX, but big picture. The term I'm going with is "product leader".
Also, I teach, speak and write prolifically.
Sometimes, I write code (I made this website, for example). I'm very into SPA frameworks like React, Hoplon (Clojurescript), Angular and Vue.
I believe in the power of design systems and design ops and have been teaching component-driven front-end dev everywhere I work.
I'm based in Melbourne, Australia. Here's my resume.
What I'm working on 👩💻
Holy moly. I'm actually looking for something new. I'm considering whether I should move to London to challenge myself. I'm really keen to work somewhere that has a positive impact on the world, in areas such as social justice, climate action, science advocacy, women's rights, education or sustainability. B Corps, not for profits, and in general organisations that have a serious commitment to anything other than profits are preferable. Looking for leadership roles in product, UX or engineering management. Please get in touch.
I help with research & facilitation at Code Like a Girl
Things I'm proud of 🙌
I've taught more classes than I can count at General Assembly
I transformed the product team with Agile, Lean and human-centred design principles at RateIt as Director of Product & Design
I kickstarted a culture of design, research, testing and lean product development at EstimateOne
I'm built a content strategy and relaunched a killer website for ItStrategic
I refactored a huge amount of code into a robust React component system (deleting more code than I added!) and helped refine and improve the onboarding flow at fin-tech startup Clover
I designed and built a pluggable, customisable, scalable and re-usable multi-site theme system and built a team of excellent UX designers, single-handedly shifting the diversity ratio drastically at Equiem
I led a small team of developers building Drupal-based CMS solutions for SMEs at Godel
I co-founded and built much of SaaS project management app Estimate Work
I've written multiple articles for international business news and culture publication Quartz
I worked with Beat magazine to build an online version of their magazine that helped streamline their editorial workflow.
Things I'm doing soon 🗓️
November 2018
Spending some time volunteering; feeling like I need to give back to the community.
December 2018
Heading the the UK for holidays. See you in the new year.
Things I've done recently 🥂
October 2018
Worked hard at my job. See you at Web Directions Summit.
September 2018
Spoke at DesignOps Melbourne about being a rogue change agent
Published a mammoth blog post about my views on humility and collaboration in tech.
August 2018
Worked hard at my new job!
July 2018
Appeared on Why2 Podcast speaking about asking better questions through research
Taught Workshops with Microsoft in Sydney for Code Like a Girl
June 2018
Appeared on Customer Experience Leaders Podcast speaking about Design Thinking
Spoke at The Web Meetup about the importance of humility in building great products
Spoke at The DDD Meetup teaching how to give a talk or deliver a workshop
Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly
May 2018
Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly
Taught Coding for Designers at Academy Xi
Panel participant for A Design Led Approach to Everyday Living at Academy Xi
Panel moderator for The Product Ecosystem: Building Products for Melbourne’s Best Tech Companies at Academy Xi
Taught Mother's Day Creative Coding workshop for Code Like a Girl
April 2018
Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly
Taught Coding for Agencies for Carter Digital
Taught Design your business at the 12-15 year olds Code Camp for Code Like a Girl
March 2018
MC at CSSConf Australia and JSConf Australia
Conducting user research for Code Like a Girl
February 2018
MC at PauseFest 2018
Panel speaker on "Is it ever OK to lie in business?" at PauseFest 2018 with Girls in Tech
Taught Intro to UX at General Assembly
Taught Coding for Designers at Academy Xi
Taught Coding for Agencies for Carter Digital
2017
Panel speaker for Designing Healthier Workplaces at Academy Xi
Event host at Mind Body & Code for Code Like a Girl
Speaker at Go Girl Summit for VU
Speaker at Melbourne Geek Night
Taught various classes and workshops at General Assembly
Some of my work 💻
Videos of talks I've done (playlist)
Published writing
The classic philosophical theory that nails why 2016 sucked so much at Quartz
Gudetama the lazy egg is the Hello Kitty of Japan’s millennial generation at Quartz
A practical guide for learning meditation through the art of gaming at Quartz
Contributing author in Through The Clock's Workings (Sydney University Press 2009)
People mentioning me
5 surprising lessons we learned at PauseFest 2018 at BlueChilli's blog
Designing delightful experiences with our UX Lead, Amelia interview at Equiem's blog
Apply Design Thinking to Problem Solve Your Life interview at Agency Iceberg's blog
Audio
Want to make cool stuff with me? 🤙
I'm looking for work that makes a meaningful difference in the world. I'm keen to work with small organisations, particularly those with a commitment to diversity and inclusion, and especially those led by women.
I'm interested in leadership roles and advisory opportunities, and am keen to chat to you if you would like your organisation to be led by human-centred design principles.
My day rate starts at $1000 AUD (+GST). I'm keen to work in Melbourne, Australia and potentially beyond - remote and flexible commitments are appealing.
I'm usually doing something important with my time, but I'm always keen to chat. Get in touch.