As a principal designer, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to best match customer needs with technology. In addition to my design deliverables, I’ve also written design framework, strategy, and guideline documents, and presented them to design, product, and engineering teams. These documents and presentations have had significant influence on:

• What it takes for an AI to be a successful conversational partner, including linguistic fluency, reliability, and usefulness.
• Proactive/agentic behaviors for Alexa and Alexa+, including how and when to notify the user when events have occurred, and how and when to take action without user involvement.
• How Alexa answers questions (see case study), including when (and when not) to include extra information beyond what the user requested.
• What it takes to provide a truly seamless wireless docking experience, including device behavior and latency requirements.
• Whether or not to include voice media controls (play/pause/etc.) for the Xbox Kinect, which turned out to be a key why-buy for speech at product launch.

I’ve been recognized by colleagues across functions as a clear communicator and a systems thinker who deeply understands the implications of seemingly small design decisions on the big picture.