About

I've spent more than 25 years in user experience design: at small startups, at large corporations, in my own freelance business, and most places in between. The thread has been the same the whole way. Find the real pain point, then use design and data to build a better system around it.

Early on, the work was mostly the visual layer. Over time, the harder and more valuable part turned out to be understanding complex systems and the organizations that run them. I've always been comfortable straddling the line between engineering and product. The best results I've seen came from working closely across it, staying grounded in what the system can really do, and being willing to compromise to ship.

AI changed the math. It now does a growing share of the building, which frees me to focus on what it can't do: sitting shoulder to shoulder with the people who have the problem, and shaping, scoping and delivering the tools they need to forge their own paths.

Right now that practice runs at home. I build household applications: small, specific apps for the people I live with, running privately on a computer in my house. Each one starts from a real need. Daily use shows which ones deserve more, and a few are becoming products.

I build with AI agents as collaborators, and I write about what that's actually like in the Journeyletter. Every piece ends with a colophon that says which agents did what and what I did.

The same practice is for hire. I work with owner-run businesses on the problems behind their website.