Deidre Ali - PMI-ACP, CSPO

Over a decade of providing web design and web marketing consultation to small and medium-sized businesses. Currently providing software design consultation and training to select clientele in the areas of design strategy and the mechanics of UX design.

Responsible for strategic planning and global management of a Human-Centered Design program. Provided strategic design direction for software solutions deployed across a variety of device form factors (equipment interfaces, web/mobile apps) used to monitor and control thermal, power, and data storage conditions in the data center.  

• Led a global user research initiative with customers in North America, Europe, Asia. Assembled cross-functional teams and collaborated closely with customers to assist with vetting and testing product concepts before development. Attended trade shows and conferences to facilitate presentations, product demos and product evaluations. 
• Managed a team of UX professionals through all phases of product design life cycle. Hired and developed creative talent (contract and full-time). Managed vendor relationships and contractual agreements. Frequently oversaw the design of multiple solutions in parallel.  
• Balanced customer's expectations for software design with corporate brand guidelines to ensure software delighted users while remaining brand compliant. Established user experience style guidelines for the Emerson Network Power brand. Upon the company's acquisition in 2016, led large-scale 6-month global effort to establish a new UX visual aesthetic based on a the new corporate identity. Supported software engineering teams with transitioning applications to the new look and feel. 
• CSE Magazine's 2016 Gold Product of the Year - led human-machine interface design for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) product that was named among the "best products of 2016" in the Emergency, Onsite, Standby Power category . Led human-machine interface design for a flagship thermal controls product that generated $6M in sales revenue the first quarter of release. Winner of the Emerson “Consider It Solved” Award for generated $6M in sales revenue the first quarter of release. Winner of the Emerson “Consider It Solved” Award for leadership and product design innovations that increased profit margins. Nominee for the 2014 Emerson “Consider It Solved” Award for introducing process improvements that improved efficiency and quality.

Served as an Agile Product Owner with oversight of product interface requirements, managing the product backlog and ensuring quality user experience of a custom-built SAP CRM solution. The application was used by the Intel  Global Sales team to maximize sales opportunities and manage a sales funnel that generated annual sales revenue of $30M.

• Evangelized and helped to institutionalize Agile best practices within the organization.
• Facilitated user research (Contextual Inquiry) and participated in data synthesis activities collaboration with other Human-Factors Engineers. 
• Led requirements-gathering and design workshops with cross-functional teams.
• Created personas, storyboards, wire-frames, prototypes, Product Vision documents 
• Planned and facilitated usability testing with end-users. 
• Completed Intel Leadership Training Program. Completed IDEO 'Design Thinking' Training and training on the Cooper 'Goal-Directed Design' process.    

Hired to establish a new cross-functional Agile development team based on previous experience as Lean Methodology Consultant to Nike IT. Supported the greenfield software development effort by providing front-end UI design and requirements for financial forecasting, margin reporting and price optimization. Documented user stories, participated in backlog review and story estimation activities. Served as Offshore Coordinator for distributed team members in China.

Worked as a consultant within Nike's 'Strategy, Culture and Operations' group to assist with activities to migrate the IT organization from a waterfall to Agile software development process. Assisted with documenting current and future state process(es) Evangelized and helped to institutionalize Agile best practices within the IT organization.

Designed and maintained intranet websites (HTML and SharePoint sites). Member of the Southern Company Intranet Standards & Governance Committee. Gathered requirements; provided work estimates, produced wire- frames, storyboards. reports. Won 2008 Southern Company Service Excellence Award for leading the implementation of an enterprise-wide RSS (Really Simple Syndication) web solution that improved the quality of customer service support.

Designed custom HTML websites, email newsletters, and online ads for national magazines titles such as CookingLight.com, SouthernLiving.com. CoastalLiving.com and for magazine advertisers like Ford, Dodge, Wal-Mart, Slim-Fast, Reebok and more.