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Join Date: May 2004
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2018-06-09, 08:52

I can't recall the exact year my posting here dropped off. I do recall posting about the birth of our daughter, which takes me back to 2010. So, I'll fill in the gaps from there.

At that stage I was working as a user-centred design specialist (UCD back then - now, often referred to as HCD for human-centred design) at a large telco. I then moved to a boutique consultancy specialising in User Experience. Two years after that I was woo'd agency side by a mentor who was starting up an Experience Design team. Very exciting times! I stayed there for about five and a half years - the last eighteen months as the Director of the team; helping re-build the team (there was a crisis after the first year!) from a small core of four to one of Australia's largest and most capable group of practitioners, at the same time defining our offering and instilling the value of research and user validation throughout the business.

At the beginning of this year, I realised I didn't want to just work in an agency and felt the calling to move into health-tech. So, I've been working on the side with two initiatives and recently pulled the pin at work in order to focus on these endeavours and my new career direction.

I'll still help out with some part-time work at agencies to "keep the wolves at bay" financially, so to speak, but will use my other days for research on health related projects. I'm in the process of starting up my own business to handle this - but I recognise I have a lot to learn... and don't have a name yet either. If you have any suggestions feel free to shout out!

Family wise - we are the same; I have a lovely wife and daughter. All very happy, but getting older! We found out that our daughter has slight hearing loss after a routine check at school. It's a cup shape deficiency, which means she hears low and high tones pretty well, but the mid tones drop out a bit. She's fine though - happy and always engaged with others; very empathetic. We're keeping track of it and she may need hearing aids as she grows older, but we're not sure yet. Regardless, she is the light of our lives and we're blessed.

Btw - this did prompt me to back nura headphones on Kickstarter. Check 'em out.

Health wise - I had a kidney stone attack last year, which led to an operation. I did post about it: https://forums.applenova.com/showpos...0&postcount=73 and can throughly recommend the Water Minder app if you want to change your hydration behaviour!

What else - oh, yeah. I tragically love a band called Toto and discovered there was a column dedicated to reviewing their album tracks in chronological order each fortnight. So, I volunteered to write and now I'm a columnist for Toto Tuesdays. It's simply a passion play for me. I share the duties with two others. A highlight, though, is I have been in contact with guitar legend, Steve Lukather. Sort of a pinch me moment.

Leveraging this love of Toto, I made an analogy about them in building collaborative design teams and turned that into a presentation recently for the UX Australia Managing Design conference. It used music throughout and was pretty well received. In fact, Qantas followed up and I've been asked to fly to Sydney to present it to their design team, which is exciting!

The other passion play is I like watches; IWC in particular. I don't own that many really, but I am fascinated by them and do aspire to collect a few. Anyway, at the beginning of this year, I was lucky to be invited as a guest of IWC to attend SIHH in Geneva. Man, that level of opulence is not my world... it was somewhat surreal. But the collector friends I made - similar to AN here in that they're mainly forum buddies - are great and we do our best to catch-up when we can. If you find me on Twitter, you will see some photos here and there.

What else?

Oh yeah, since taking time off. I've gone back to the piano. I need that back in my life. Simple stuff right now - piano/violin duets... that's a challenge enough. I realise I have a lot of work to do to regain skills, but I love practising music again.

If you made it this far, thanks.

It's great to be sharing and catching up again - I can't wait to read more updates.

All I want is a simple life
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