Ryan Coughlin
/ Mainer, Designer, and Fly Fishing Junkie
What makes great software?
I've been working at that for the last 10 years.
What I’ve found so far is that every product should start with a discovery phase of cross-team research and customer validation. This provides a foundation to define problems, solve them, and iteratively deliver solutions to customers. Teams who are aligned and collaborative have the ability to produce some amazing work.
Design can deliver a great experience by:
- Conduct research to define high-value opportunities that can impact the business and product strategy
- Ask yourself, "Who else in the organization can we learn from? Who talks to customers the most?"
- Understand the business case and problems with the Product team
- Assemble user journeys to create a seamless experience without dead-ends
- Run brainstorm meetings to collaborate on problem-solving with Engineers and Product
- Mature whiteboard notes into testable UX with customers
- Establish UX and UI patterns that create predictable experiences
- Evangelize the value of the work to be done to the organization. Align and rally the team.
Rinse, improve, and repeat.
My name is Ryan Coughlin. I grew up in a small coastal town in Maine. Outside of work, I love to spend time on the water and outdoors.
In my free time, I enjoy shooting photos, tying flies, and exploring new water.
I am currently Design Team Lead at Robin, where I design software to deliver a great Workplace Experience.
Within an average day, I:
- Provide clear and direct feedback to designers to foster career growth
- Find opportunities to improve how Design interfaces with teams across the organization
- Support design by breaking down large initiatives into bite-sized chunks
- Provide long term direction to leadership to help define company vision
- Conduct research alongside Product and Engineering to build the right thing, at the right time
- Ensure visual and experience design is consistent across product lines
- Build design systems alongside a team of engineers
- Facilitate design sprints with Designers, Engineers, and Product. Uncover problems, create alignment, and deliver outcomes.