In early 2011 I left a permanent job as an Experience Lead at the digital agency Dare. It wasn’t an easy decision but one I knew I had to make. I wanted to pursue my own projects and diverse my career into other areas so I started freelancing and getting more involved in the IA/UX and startup communities.
A very brief exchange of tweets resulted in me submitting a proposal to a conference which to my surprise got accepted. Since then I’ve spoken at a number of conferences and meetups and I’m also teaching regularly at General Assembly in London where I’m based, and every now and then in New York.
One day I’d love to do a TED talk.
I try to share as much of what I’ve learnt over the years through my blog and by contributing to a couple of magazines. Lately I’ve started to pick up a part that I really enjoyed as an Experience Lead, namely mentoring as well as advising and educating clients and internal teams on the role and value of Information Architecture (IA) and User Experience (UX), as well as how best to incorporate it into organisations and teams.
Then of course there is the bit about making ideas happen and giving something back to the people who work on them, which is why I’ve started byflock. And the value of ‘fika‘ and flexible work arrangements that I feel very strongly about and would love to see more work places pick up.
Me & my values
I grew up in Lund, Sweden where everyone cycles and freedom under responsibility is at the core of the workplace (together with ‘fika’). In 2000 I moved across the bridge to the land of ‘Hygge‘ and spent six years in Copenhagen, Denmark before moving to London in 2006.
Copenhagen is where I started my UX career. The learnings from the dotcom bubble were very fresh and focus was on delivering projects on time, on budget and ensuring you planned ahead for the future with a solid understanding of everyone’s current and coming requirements, as well as what’s technically possible. Things I still carry close to my heart when it comes to work.
I have a BSc and MSc in Computer Science and Business Administration and have previously worked in Quality Assurance (QA), as a technical Business Analyst (BA) and as a consultant. I’m a great believer in that the best products and most rewarding projects come from working closely and collaboratively across disciplines and with clients. And that this requires an open mind and flexible approach to adapting processes and deliverables to the situation and project in question. After all no project or team is the same.
Finally, I believe that we in the near future will and should design with the individual in mind, and that we are able to do so.
Image source: www.flickr.com/photos/mentalman1369/2624654120