About Me
We all have a story to tell and people that are part of it. Either you came here first, got tired of reading some of my case studies, or breezed through my work ready to learn more about me. So either way, hello, I’m Jim. I’m a business minded, software Product Design Leader that lives in Grand Haven, MI right next to the beaches of Lake Michigan.
Business Process Analysis
Release Planning & Market Research
Full UX / UI Design
My Story
It all started with a role as a business analyst stradling the problem and solution spaces. A hybrid BA I was called because I went far deeper into solution design than simple mockups and wireframes. Before I knew it, I had moved towards formalized UX design work from journey mapping and user flows to pixel perfect UI / visual comps to interactive prototypes while still taking part in product management activities from release planning and roadmapping to new market research. Even though I excelled in both areas, ultimately, I finally made a choice to focus on UX research and design, my passion. I soon found myself leading design for new products and building a team of UX designers from the ground up. Sure, it was an unlikely journey, but I found my passion.
Core Design Skills
I’ve been fortunate to have acquired and exercised a wide variety of skills in Product Management, Business Analysis, Product/Business Strategy, etc, however, my passion lies with User Experience and Digital Product Design.
Product Design
Tools
Work Experience
My experience in software product development has been varied over the past 10+ years, but there has always been one common theme, full scale design work from user research to translating those insights into relevant solutions. Even as I moved into product and design related management, I continued to do individual design work on projects, sometimes out of necessity, other times, because I enjoy it. I like to think that continued individual level design involvement leads to better mentorship of designers and an ability to properly upskill and grow talent. I also think it leads to increased team cohesion, collaboration, higher quality management design decisions when helping designers, and ultimately, better products. Anyway, check out some of my more recent positions and feel free to download my full resume.
Who I am
Product Design Leader, Husband, Father, Dog Dad, Gamer, Liverpool FC fanatic
When I’m not designing software, I’m the husband of my lovely wife Jai and father of two beautiful daughters, Ava and Elena, who keep us beyond busy. If you’re a parent to young children you know what I mean. As a family, we love traveling, being outdoors, camping, hiking, biking, the beach, visiting museums, movies, board games, card games, video games, and pretty much everything in between. We also have 2 pups, Luna, a little black and white Malshie, and Hunter, a mix we rescued from a local shelter when he was just a puppy.
When it’s me time, I’m a huge sports fan for pretty much every major sport out there, from watching my alma mater Michigan in football and basketball, to the NBA, MLB, NHL, Golf, Track and Field, Australian Football, etc. You get the picture. However, the biggest sport of all is soccer, or football as it’s called in the rest of the world. I primarily watch the Premiere League of the UK and have been a Liverpool FC fan since I was a kid. I'm also an avid gamer on both PC and console. I tend to play RPGs and sports games on console, i.e. Fifa, and then complicated grand strategy games based on historical time periods, generally 800BC - 1400AD, on PC. This love translates to the tabletop occasionally with a few miniature war games. Last but not least, like most humans, I like food, especially Latin American and Asian dishes, and I definitely enjoy a variety of craft beers, lately IPAs.
