Integrien created a powerful application that uses complex statistical models to predict network problems before they happen. Unfortunately, the user interface was so overly complex that it made it difficult for their customers to get the context they need to make quick decisions. Integrien found me to help redesign their "integrity management" software, Alive, to bring out its true potential.

Starting by storyboarding new design ideas, I created an improved interaction model for monitoring and managing IT assets. Giving the user a rich dashboard experience was primary to the design because it leveraged the powerful analysis of the statistical models to separate what is important from what is not. Allowing users to progressively explore analytical details without leaving the dashboard provides a more intuitive experience and a more efficient task flow.

The design was planned to be rolled out in phases, so initially the visual design was specified to fit on top of the preexisting application design without affecting the functionality. This both allowed for both short and longer-term benefits for Integrien as well as an easier customer transition to the deeper design overhaul which was scheduled for a future release.

After a series of new middleware acquisitions, Oracle began a major evolution and integration of their newly purchased and existing software. I was brought on as a consultant to help shape and coordinate the direction of the next generation development platform -- a division-wide initiative for the server technologies group. Some of the most salient program goals for this project centered around integrating the development technologies under one common user experience and providing a consistent and more modular framework for developing applications.

Collaborating with different internal teams and the occasional outside consulting firm, I became intimate with the problems Oracle customers faced from the highest-level business user to the most savvy java developer. I prototyped new and more modern product design concepts that explored ways to integrate the functionality, simplify and standardize interaction models, and provide more flexible and tolerant experiences. This gave Oracle both a more cohesive, productive and intuitive development platform as well as a richer and better looking framework of application components to build innovative new applications. Finally, I helped Oracle verify the design concepts with proof of concept demos and by coordinating user verification sessions.

Identifying and reducing operational risk and ensuring the efficiency and success of operational processes is the goal of Syndera's flagship enterprise product, Syndera Insight. Their key business requirement was the ability for users to both visualize 'key performance indicators' in context of their own business processes and be able to quickly locate and respond to the cause of any problems.

I was contracted to design the user interface for Syndera's first product releases. My modular dashboard design synthesized performance indicators with business process models and alerts in a way that made a relatively complex and dense quantity of information appear clear and usable. The true power behind the design, however, is the ability for users to 'drill into' or 'drill across' data (pivoting tables) which allows users to visually inspect the core causes of problems and then map these problems back to the application infrastructure metadata.

I created early prototypes which were used to capture prospective customers' imagination before the product had been finished and the eventual visual treatment and design specification for the product's rich user interface.

FileMaker is the company behind FileMaker Pro, a cross-platform relational database application and the leading database software for workgroups. FileMaker Pro has received industry praise for its high standards of usability. I consulted with FileMaker at the launch of version 6 of FileMaker Pro to identify ways to further improve usability characteristics of this award winning database application.

The project's objective was to assess usability and compliance to published user interface and interaction guidelines for current Macintosh and Windows platforms. I used FileMaker Pro both for data collection during the audit and to track the accumulation of findings and recommendations. I became intimate with the product and it's interface while developing natural user scenarios with which to evaluate FileMaker Pro.

In the end the comprehensive, prioritized, and unbiased audit report laid the foundation for FileMaker Pro 7.0, released in March 2005 to overwhelming positive reviews from the industry.

Real-time enterprise transactions and communication have driven the need for secure and scalable data infrastructure. Sarvega creates the hardware and software to assure the security, reliability and performance of XML-based network traffic. Sarvega recognized the value of a well-designed user interface and hired me to design the first version of both their run-time dashboard and its design-time companion.

One of the greatest problems with alerting-based software is that the underlying systems are not designed to "think critically" about a problem and provide an actionable message. For Sarvega I initially established an intuitive alert notification policy where the system intelligently processes, tracks and updates the likelihood of exceptional situations and notifies the user only when necessary.

I then redesigned the Sarvega dashboard (XML Guardian/Speedway) using a rich UI interaction model. The new design permits users to have a complete and visually scannable graphic perspective of the health of their network while still enabling quick and intuitive gestures to accomplish routine tasks.

And finally, Sarvega's Eclipse-based design-time product also benefited from a redesign. I altered the interaction paradigm from confusing modal configuration operations to more intuitive modeless property palettes. This flattened the learning curve while increasing the accuracy and efficiency of configuration.

Sarvega was acquired by Intel in 2006.

Companies that manufacture electronic devices with embedded systems, or so-called "intelligent devices", have traditionally made the technical support call the primary way to maintain and service each device they sell. In order to reduce the reliance on costly support visits and provide a greater visibility over the management of complex machinery for customers and support centers alike, Questra has developed software that provides access, diagnostics and total control over intelligent devices.

Questra planned to differentiate themselves in their competitive market by redesigning their product to optimize usability and improve the overall appearance. They hired me to research the user interface requirements and develop a new product design.

After interviews with Questra staff and careful assessment of the product's strengths and weaknesses, I remapped the former feature-based model into a goal-based one that was notably simplified; making it both easier to understand and to use. The new interface emphasizes contextual information and visual data display to make information meaningful and clear.

Finally, I delivered a comprehensive design specification that allowed Questra to take immediate action implementing the design and plot the bigger changes against their product roadmap.

In an increasingly crowded mobile video sharing market, MyWaves needed to stand out with unique user interfaces. They planned to build both a web-delivered application and a mobile phone-based application for the uploading and viewing of video content. The video management interface needed to be compelling and fun while at the same time uncompromisingly easy to use.

The primary activity of exploring and watching video content was made easier and more interesting by allowing users to "pivot" and find related clips or content channels. Administration of content and channels is made easy with a multi-pane interface that lends itself well to organizational tasks.

The mobile phone application, designed both for phones that support downloaded JAVA applications (J2ME) and those that only support mobile browser applications (WAP), was also designed with users in mind. Usability, efficiency and enjoyment were key considerations in designing the mobile experience.

Knight Ridder is the second-largest newspaper publisher in the United States with 32 daily newspapers and 55 regional websites delivering customized content to local news markets. I helped Knight Ridder leverage their network of content by designing a content management system that would allow remote sites to share content and automate administrative workflow.

I worked with Knight Ridder's product development team in San Jose to both redefine the nationwide network of Knight Ridder consumer sites as well as the administrative tools that support them. I defined their first unified product, content taxonomy, and rich internet administrative toolset. I also led a team to design and develop the consumer end of Knight Ridder's news product.

I was hired to design Avinon's NetScenario Platform which allows users to rapidly create and deploy web applications using a visual modeler similar to that of Microsoft Visio.

I worked with domain experts and stakeholders to develop product requirements and design the rich user interface. I storyboarded user interactions in order to test complex areas against product requirements. I used prototypes in usability studies to verify the product's design before it was shipped. Avinon was acquired by Black Pearl, an Enterprise Decision Management company, in 2003.