MICHAEL DEVRIES 91-685-5891 mdevries66@gmail.com SUMMARY Senior Usability Analyst: Responsible for designing, implementing, and executing competitive experience and usability lab programs. Solid grasp of fundamental and special case usability research methodologies and analytics. Proven skills in all aspects of usability testing, heuristic evaluation, and competitive evaluation. Extensive experience developing measures user experience. Objective, allowing data-driven recommendations to provide guidance for practical, usable, and yet emotionally engaging changes. EXPERIENCE SPRINT NEXTEL, Overland Park, KS: 2000 - 2009 A $40 billion annual revenue telecom company serving nearly 50 million wireless customers. Human Factors Engineer II - Competitive User Experience Program (2006 - 2009) Led the Competitive User Experience Program, including managing interns. Evaluations provided competitive strengths against which designers, project managers, and other internal stakeholders could weigh business decisions and design implications. Products analyzed included Apple iPhone, Palm Pre, Samsung Instinct, HTC G1, LG Voyager, Danger Sidekick, Windows Mobile OS, and Sprint One Click. o Implemented a competitive user experience program that serviced over 20 competency groups including product management, marketing, business intelligence, sales, and executives, saving the company approximately $400K in outsourcing over 2 years and one additional head count. o Provided over 150 evaluation reports on an extensive range of products and services, directly impacting design, product usability, strategy, legal actions, advertising, and end-user experiences. An iPhone evaluation earned an Excellence Award. Two patents pending on design of handset keyboard. Point source for advising on competitive usability trends. o Developed a method of heuristically measuring product usability and used it to consistently predict 80% of the usability issues found in studies. Evaluations were conducted on mockups, mobile applications, and web sites. Results provided baseline and comparative usability data. o Worked collaboratively to compare the user experiences of subscriber identify module (SIM) storage technology v. internal strategies. Business analysis and usability issues presented to management directly contributed to the decision not to invest millions to convert. Technical Specialist I - Usability Lab Specialist (2000 - 2006) Planned and conducted all aspects of usability testing covering navigation, information architecture, shop and manage experiences, and a wide range of other ecommerce pages and telecom products. o Identified and executed approximately 40 usability studies over a 4 year period. Translated research findings into design implications, thereby increasing user satisfaction and usability. Resulting usability findings and new concept designs directly impacted end user experiences. o Initiated usability research that enabled the visual design team to take first place in an independently judged competition, earning the team the right to design the sprint.com web site. Included developing a method of benchmarking web site aesthetic preferences. o Developed and implemented a method of measuring the "infotainment" value and perceived customer wait time impact of in-store multimedia touch screens. Results directly impacted the company's decisions to continue to use the technology. o Conducted an online usability study of multiple business account management sites (included development using NetRaker, now Keynote). Implementation included persona driven screeners, online survey design and logic, usability and business analysis. USER CENTERED DESIGNS, Loveland, CO: 1998 - 2000 Human Factors consulting, serving Fortune 500 & other companies Human Factors Engineer and sole proprietor Guided companies in various aspects of user-centered design and usability testing, including field behavior observation and detailed design reviews. o Consultant to Storage Technologies, Inc: Introduced user-centered design approach and usability testing into the company's design strategy on an internationally collaborative project, resulting in a tighter integration between specifications and user interface design. o Consultant to Trane Company: Integrated ideation and behavior research into focus groups, providing support for company product line decisions when both time and funding were limited. LODESTONE RESEARCH, LLC, Loveland, CO: 1996-1998 Market Research and Usability Consulting for Fortune 500 and other companies Human Factors Engineer Performed a variety of usability duties that spanned different products, including consumer desktop scanners, test and measurement equipment, web sites, computer applications, and hardware installations. Responsible for all aspects of usability testing, data analysis, and reporting. o Served as consultant on end-to-end usability for 1st generation hand held scanner, resulting in co-author of 10 patents. Several patent designs are still in use on products today. o Designed a usability/focus group lab, enabling the company to more accurately measure a greater range of human behavior. Included integration of testing software similar to Morae. OTHER RELEVANT EXPERIENCE Portfolio – available at www.michaeljdevries.com Volunteer Director Children’s Program - (7 years) o Revitalized the program by integrating human factors design and user experience principles. Results included improvements in staff/child ratios (7/35 to 25/45), staff retention (about 70% year over year), efficiency, and satisfaction among children, parents, and staff. Cognitive Psychologist - Armstrong Labs/Northrop Grumman o Devised a theory and measure of cognitive complexity to help trainers determine which tasks are more difficult to learn, and how to approach training for those tasks. Human Factors Engineer, Air Force Operational Test & Evaluation Center o Improved validity and reliability of workload assessments for F-15E test pilots. EDUCATION o M.S. - Psychology /Human Factors; Thesis: Theory of Cognitive Complexity and implication for identifying, which tasks, among many, require cognitive task analysis in the development of training system design - University of Idaho o B.A. - Psychology (major), Mathematics (minor) - University of North Texas PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT o Society of Competitive Intelligence (SCIP) courses 101 and 102 o Currently engaged in learning about eye tracking software for usability testing & HTML/CSS