As the research manager on IHG's internal-facing UX team, I lead all research efforts that inform the design of IHG's employee-facing products and processes. This includes the design, execution, and analysis of surveys, interviews, ethnographic site visits, co-design sessions, and any guerrilla research required to deliver the best solutions to our users. It also includes creation and maintenance of numerous artifacts including journey maps, personas, service design blueprints, empathy maps, statements of work, study plans, qualitative note logs, and more. My work directly influences the design and development of IHG Concerto and other products in use at IHG and its hotels. In addition, I am designing and developing an IHG Research Repository that will enable us to better manage our research efforts and share what we learn with all IHG teams.

In 2010 I joined the Global Revenue Management and Systems team as one of several Product Managers focused on building a new reservation system. I analyzed operations to identify and evaluate key capabilities. I wrote business requirements documents on subjects ranging from business rules to inter-system connections and managing the lifecycle of hotel records. I also evaluated and helped implement 2 tools: a document management system and a requirements management system which are in use today.

I managed the ongoing development, maintenance, and support for enterprise web applications used by corporate and hotel sales teams in over 4500 locations around the world. The largest of these applications had over 8,000 users at all levels of the IHG organization and allowed global sales teams to publish RFPs to specific hotels and then aggregate hotel responses so they could be shared with the clients who requested them. The challenges ranged from usability and information architecture issues to the larger issues of connecting to and utilizing legacy data stores and external systems owned by other companies. My responsibilities included the design of all workflows and the user experience as well as the relationships with the various user and support groups. I ensured that the functional interfaces met the needs of users, complied with the policies of IHG, and kept up with industry standards.

• Managed the engineering relationship between Echostar, AT&T, and 2Wire for the co-development of the Homezone receiver (dual-tuner, HD DVR receiver with LAN connectivity).• Led the successful development and deployment of a 3rd-party API for Echostar receivers.• Gathered requirements from and managed the expectations of numerous stakeholders including the executive teams and engineers of multiple companies and business units.• Wrote requirements documents, workflows, use cases, UI specifications and more for all my projects.• Managed the prototype development of a quad-tuner receiver with shared DVR functions.• Led the design of a prototype UI for a quad-tuner DVR receiver with shared DVR, simultaneous usage, and conflict resolution.

• Produced online and printed API documentation and technical specifications for a B2B e-commerce application targeted at enterprise and consortia customers.• Documented an API of over 250 Java interfaces, an XML ontology tool, and a set of custom JSP tags.• Defined and coordinated the process of interviewing engineers about their code.• Facilitated a team effort to define the structure, workflow, and usability of the online documentation.• Produced thorough documentation that included sample APIs, UML diagrams, and analysis of common development issues including migration, risk, internationalization, upgrades, and environment changes.

• Produced the first set of documentation for the Word Pro LotusScript object model.• Acted as the Product Manager for LotusScript, the LotusScript IDE, and the LotusScript Dialog Editor.• Primary point of escalation for all SmartSuite LotusScript issues worldwide.• Gathered requirements by interviewing engineers and product managers.• Participated in the design and usability testing of new Word Pro features.

• Created Windows of Opportunity to explore a variety of roles in technology.• Developed software solutions including customized applications using multiple versions of Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, FileMaker Pro, Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, TimeLine, and TimeSlips.• Developed custom database solutions for various clients including miniature applications for managing specialized sales, advertising, legal, financial, and construction tasks.• Documenting my more complex projects led to more documentation work. This eventually led to my first book (Reckoning Software, 1993). Other clients included UsabilityWare, Ernst & Young, KPMG Peat Marwick, and VisiSoft.