Devin has more than a decade and a half of experience in User-Centered Design, IT Architecture, and Innovation. His broad base of experience includes strategy, information architecture, visual design, implementation, and media production. Devin does not like writing about himself in the third-person…
If anyone would have told me when I graduated art school that almost 20 years down the road I would be working and a Big 4 firm, I would have told you they were nuts. When I look back at how I got here, it somehow makes crazy sense.
While at school, I studied electronic media art. The program was well rounded, balancing creative development with technical discipline. I was exposed to all facets of design, but specialized in time-based technology-mediated art. I was also introduced by one of my professors to a new technology – a way to send pictures and text over a network. If statistics are to be believed, I was one of the first 3000 people to have a home page on the World Wide Web.
After graduation, I was hired by a small consulting firm in Chicago to create 3D drag-and-drop environments for a training CD-ROM. I quickly took over development within the group and ultimately managed the development of several award winning CD and web-based training products.
In April of 1999, the small consulting firm was acquired by a larger IT strategy firm. In the early days after the merger, my group was integrated into the solutions delivery arm the new firm was establishing during the dotcom heyday. During this period, I was involved with the development of many web-based applications from ideation to final release. After the bust, the firm focused its efforts on IT strategy which it viewed as its core competency. The solutions delivery group was dismantled and I was offered an opportunity to transition into the role of IT Architect.
In October of 2006, I switched to the operations side of the firm and have been leading Design Strategy and Media Services within the firm. I created an internet strategy that delivered new public-facing sites & blogs as well as social and SEO/SEM efforts. I also produced multimedia for culture-building and internal communications needs. I was also the user advocate on a team that created a blueprint to deliver collaboration technologies to our field consultants.
In November of 2010, that firm was acquired by a much larger firm. As part of the transition, I took a tour of duty in the Innovation Office. I was responsible for developing our Innovation Strategy, creating new frameworks and models for innovation, and developing a workshop to bridge from ideation to prioritization of proposed innovations. More recently, I’ve been tackling our enterprise search in an attempt to bring our information discovery needs into the future.