A user manual for me

View my latest user manual.

I’m joining a new team in Office for National Statistics (ONS), so it seemed like a good time to finally create a user manual for me.

Conditions I like to work in

I like to work in open, inclusive environments
I like to be embedded into multi-disciplinary agile teams
I prefer structured meetings that allow everyone to voice their opinion and vote on the best way forward
I like to be surrounded by good design (posters and journey maps on walls, stickers on laptops)

The times/hours I like to work

I live in Swansea and commute to Newport, which means I need to work an early shift in order to avoid the worst of the traffic
7am to 3pm are the hours I work most days
I work best in the mornings

The best ways to communicate with me

I’m happy to use a mix of communication methods (face-to-face, email, Slack, Skype)
You’ll get the best answers from me if I’ve got time to prepare

The ways I like to receive feedback

I love demoing my work and presenting at show and tells
I need time to prepare for feedback sessions
I find over-the-shoulder comments difficult to process

Things I need

To regularly observe user research in person
Good digital tools like Trello, Slack and Google Drive
The ability to have regular quiet days (no-meeting days and working-from-home days)

Things I struggle with

I’m an introvert, which means too many meetings can drain me
Long email threads with lots of contributors
Acronyms and jargon

Things I love

Government design principles
Web standards
Accessibility
User-centred design
Government Digital Service (GDS) service standard
Blogging and sharing my thoughts on Twitter (let me know if anything should be kept private)

Other things to know about me

I have 3 young kids
Before ONS I worked at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) on the “Tell DVLA about a medical condition or disability” service as a user experience (UX) designer
I value boring design over creating shiny things