Jeff White

Stepladder

Our work focuses on improving outcomes for medical technology companies and the patients and healthcare professionals they serve.

Healthcare brands we've worked with:

Baxter
Hillrom
McClurg Healthcare Advisors
Premier
Trially.ai


Before specializing in healthcare, Stepladder provided UX and visual design services to clients ranging from Fortune 100 companies to seed stage startups in a variety of industries.

Clients included:

Amazon
Microsoft
Motorola
Citrix
Remitly
BabelBark
Cvent
Trupanion
Bamboo Learning
Code.org
Panopto
Woot!

Founder and Head of Design

Rebls

Design & Product Management Executive for seed stage startup.

•  Developed overall product vision, brand, visual language, and
product requirements for a v1 responsive web app
•  Designed all aspects of UX, directed visual designers through
development of visual language and brand
•  Translated market insights into product requirements
•  Managed engineering team including CTO
•  Involved in all aspects of business from recruiting to fundraising

Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer

Creative Director

Designer

Amazon

Lead a team that designed & delivered 27 applications for
the Amazon Fire Phone.

•  Managed a team of 6 UX Designers
•  Established and communicated application design processes
vertically and horizontally across many Amazon teams
•  Created and evangelized OS and application-level patterns
•  Presented to executives including CEO

Interaction Design Manager, Fire Phone

Designed applications and OS experiences for the Amazon Fire
Phone.

•  Designed Phone, SMS, Email, Calendar, and Contacts
applications
•  Established process and documentation standards adopted by all
application teams
•  Created patent-pending application design frameworks

Sr. User Experience Design Lead, Fire Phone

Design Lead, Kindle for iPhone and iPad.

•  Collaborated with stakeholders to define requirements for
cross-platform experiences
•  Lead team of internal and external visual and UX designers to
deliver Kindle for iPad and several versions of Kindle for iPhone

Sr. User Experience Designer, Kindle for iOS

Designer of Kindle for iPhone v1.0 - 2.7 and Kindle for BlackBerry.

•  Designed the UI architecture, interface, and interaction flow of
applications and experiences
•  Developed conceptual diagrams, wireframes, visual mockups,
click-throughs, and prototypes
•  Designed and conducted usability tests
•  Contributed the first mobile design pattern to Amazon’s existing
pattern library
•  Presented design to the UX team, product team, and executives

User Experience Designer, Amazon Kindle

Jewelry TV

Design lead for multiple teams building enterprise web applications.

•  Guided overall product development for several internal web
applications
•  Responsible for interface and interaction design of rich internet
applications
•  Developed methodology for conducting agile user-centered
design
•  Conducted usability tests, interviews, and contextual inquiry

UI Engineer (Interaction Designer)

Premier, Inc

Business Analyst

Web Specialist

Web Content Consultant

Improving Medtech software ➤ Advancing UX careers with storytelling @ uxstorytelling.io/course ➤ UX Consultant ➤ UX Designer & Educator

In 20 years as a UX/UI designer I've shipped hundreds of apps, websites, and features for big tech companies like Amazon and Motorola all the way down to tiny startups being run from a garage. 

5 years into my career I co-published an article about Agile UX work a colleague and I were doing at a broadcast retail company.

That led to several speaking engagements, and 1.5 years later I was in Seattle presenting the design for Kindle for iPhone 1.0 to Jeff Bezos.

I worked at Amazon for 6 years where I:

→ Designed and shipped dozens of Kindle reading apps used by millions
→ Got promoted 3 times
→ Managed and lead teams
→ Worked on highly visible "special projects"
→ Presented to Jeff Bezos and other execs more times than I can remember
 
And then I got burned out. 

So to recover I co-founded a tech startup. This is not a joke. This is also probably not advice I would give to anyone. 

The startup fizzled out quickly but it was my first exposure to entrepreneurship and I was hooked.

I didn't know what to do, I just knew I wanted to continue being out on my own.

With the help of others I started contracting. Over time that grew into a 7 figure design firm called Stepladder. 

Things about Stepladder that I'm proud of:

→ Short but impressive list of long time clients. We form partnerships.
→ 100% referral based
→ 100% of clients are repeat clients
→ Experienced designers come here to have more freedom in their life
→ Younger designers come here to get started and learn

I never dreamed that I would speak at conferences, work at a big tech name, or start companies. Yet here I am 20 years later incredibly fortunate, full of gratitude, sometimes a bit tired, and having learned:

→ You can't do it alone
→ Helping people is the best part of this job

I share what I've learned over the years here on LinkedIn and work with clients at www.stepladderUX.com.

Thanks for reading.

Gates Ventures

► My team supports Bill Gates' interest and initiatives in emerging technology.

Technical Advisor & Sr. Director, Emerging Technology

The Rockefeller Foundation

Artificial Intelligence convening on the global south.

Bellagio Center Alumni

Intentional Futures

► Executive leadership team member for this modern consultancy that combines strategy, design and execution. Clients include Gates Ventures, GE, SAP, Concur, Microsoft, Intel, Warburg Pincus, and others. 
► Head of the Technology Practice responsible for projects focusing on advanced technologies, digital transformation, and product development. 
► Led Intentional Future’s incubator efforts for multiple products for KRNL Labs (a stealth incubator), Likewise, and for other confidential clients.
► Project lead for ideation and concepting across product strategy, design, product definition & development while managing a team of direct reports and multiple projects.

Principal

► Created and delivered numerous product briefings by synthesizing and distilling information into a concise framework to look at a vast product area (e.g. machine learning, robotics, wearables, consumer entertainment, AR/VR); included company research, expert interviews, technical evaluations, and product demonstrations.
► Defined and analyzed customer user journeys to assess process barriers and identify improvements. 
► Project lead for a diverse range of high-end engagements with companies including Microsoft, Gates Ventures, BMGF, Concur, SAP, GE, Warburg-Pincus and Blackberry. 
► Managed a team of Strategists at Intentional Futures.

Director

► Recruited to head UX Program Management and assigned to the Fire Phone.
► Collaborated with the Creative Director to drive Fire Phone product design from R&D to initial development.
► Directed priorities and deliverables for product design work-streams in conjunction with the Creative Director & Vice President of Design including all product updates to Jeff Bezos.
► Managed million dollar budgets for multiple large design vendor engagements and deliverables.
► Contributed to hiring for the creative directors, studio managers, executive producers and interaction/visual/motion designers in Amazon’s Digital Product Group.

Executive Producer

Microsoft Corporation

► Drove scenario creation for search on the TV, developing 10 scenarios with Method Design Agency, and business development team members which resulted in Bing integration for Xbox. 
► Key team member in developing and evangelizing the technical architecture for user experience and voice search functionality, enabling users to search movies, TV shows and music across different apps like Netflix, Hulu and Xbox Video.
► Managed cross-division collaboration between the Xbox and Bing development teams.
► Directed the Bing development team for the query serving implementation across Xbox & Bing back-ends.

Bing - Senior Program Manager

► Led technical development of the Xbox 2008 homepage experience (NXE) with emphasis on information architecture, operation of the XML manifest and asset downloader. 
► Spearheaded team of developers, designers, testers and others in the product development and implementation for downloading XML manifest & UI assets.
► Managed cross-group collaboration between client, content authoring, programming tools and design teams.
► Led a number of technical & UX investigations including building coalition in the Xbox team that drove support for Xbox Achievements for Windows Phone 7.
► Managed product development for multiple features in the Xbox Live 2009 and 2010 releases.

Xbox 360 - Senior Program Manager

Sabbatical & Travel

►  Started and maintained travel blog.
► Volunteered in Wolong, China at Giant Panda Research Center.
► Exposure to Chinese and Southeast Asian technical markets and cultures.
►  Countries Visited: Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, China, Indonesia, New Zealand and Fiji.

One Year Travel Sabbatical in Asia

►Investigated potential functionality within Microsoft that could be leveraged for the Xbox 360 release, concentrating on non-gaming entertainment features and PC integration.
►Led cross-company product strategy and user experience/technical investigation for the Xbox 360 entertainment functionality, a major component of the Xbox 360 launch (music, photos, video). 
►Built development team for Xbox 360 launch, managing product development for half of the digital media feature set including user interface and technical functionality (Digital Rights Management, UPnP, and others).
►Along with one other program manager, owned the product definition and release of the first video download service at Microsoft. This 2006 release allowed users to rent or purchase movies and TV shows on their Xbox.
►Directed user and technical investigations for a range of other Xbox 360 functionality from 2004 to 2006.

Xbox 360 - Technical Program Manager

►Defined ergonomics and usability for the Xbox 360 controller across the U.S., European and Japanese markets. Conducted international research during the product planning, definition and design stages of the project. 
►Managed international consumer research for Xbox 360 hardware - research studies (surveys, usability testing, focus groups) across Japan, the U.S. and Europe, performing all of the statistical data analysis.
►Identified user requirements and drove prototyping for existing and new Xbox hardware products; identified user needs for the Xbox 360 hardware (console, controllers, and wireless controllers).
►Performed core usability testing for the v1 Xbox console user interface.

Xbox & Xbox 360 - User Researcher/Usability Engineer

The Carter Center

►  Jamaica Election Observation Mission (1997) - Directed large scale logistical operations for Former President Jimmy Carter & General Colin Powell’s 60 person delegation to Jamaica.
►  Liberian Election Observation Mission (1997) – Organized and managed international delegation to assess electoral process.
► Provided analysis of daily political updates for a range of countries with major ongoing conflicts including Myanmar, Zaire (DRC), and Sudan.
►  Responsible for logistic planning for the joint World Bank/Carter Center workshop on Transition from War to Peace for Guatemala & Liberia.

Consultant & Graduate Student Intern for the Conflict Resolution Program

I support Bill Gates' interest and initiatives in AI and emerging technologies.

taplio

The Battle

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