2012 has been a big year for me, one of tremendous evolution and many new experiences.
At the start of the year, I expanded my vision of user experience beyond product design and shifted my focus to organizational empathy. Designing the product is all for naught if you don’t first take the time to design the organization.
To better reflect my new direction, I changed the name of my consulting business to Vicarious Partners. Over the last six months, we have begun to take on more holistic engagements with senior management teams, undertaking corporate and product strategy initiatives. Using the principles and techniques of user experience to address systemic organizational issues has proved fruitful for our high profile clients, from SoHo to Singapore.
I had the opportunity to share my philosophy of purpose-driven product design with many wonderful audiences this year, including a trip to the incredible UX Hong Kong. I had the honor of giving keynotes at MinneWebCon and edUi, and was on the national lineup of An Event Apart for the fourth consecutive year. And I will always have a special place in my heart for the fellows of hackNY, with whom I get to share all my secrets.
Most significantly, I was able to slow down the pace set by the last few frantic years with escapes to Charleston, SC; Portland, Maine; Basque Country, Spain; and most recently have been basking in the serenity of the Florida Keys with my beau Fredrick. It is truly paradise.
As I enter 2013, I am knee-deep in research on empathy and will be embarking on a massive writing project to synthesize it all and apply it to a business context; the intended outcome is still unknown, but rest assured you will have quite a bit from me to digest in the coming year. I also already have some international travel planned to share my work in the flesh — how I like it best.
Thank you for being a part of my journey. I am fueled by your encouragement and inspired by your dedication. January 7 marks the fifth anniversary of this wee blog and I will be recapping my most popular posts of 2012 then, and will be looking forward to your comments now that we have some perspective. In the meantime, enjoy your New Year celebrations, take time to reflect on all the pleasure you’ve helped to create in the past year, and pretty please hold your loved ones tight.
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- Doing business as Vicarious Partners April 30, 2012 | 8 comments
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