Hi there, I’m Shawna
I’m a Design leader with over 15 years of experience in tech. I worked as an engineer in a past life, then went to grad school at the UC Berkeley School of Information and switched to UX. Since then I’ve spent 15 years in the UX world, and I have a depth of knowledge in user research, design, accessibility, and code.
I currently work in civic tech as VP of Experience for Code for America.
My focus areas include…
- Managing and coaching (including managing other managers)
- Building communities with a sense of psychological safety
- Design operations (e.g. creating the processes a mature design practice needs)
- Building bridges with stakeholders to make room for strategic design initiatives
Other skills I’m proud of
- Pushing for larger systems-level changes instead of one off quick fixes
- Starting with small wins and discovery sprints to build momentum
- Organizing initiatives into Now/Next/Later and helping my direct reports prioritize their work
- Summarizing next steps post-meetings
- Recalling and finding old slack posts incredibly quickly
- Working as a lab assistant to my 7 year-old son