Building Better Software with HCDAgile

As a Practice Lead at 1904labs, John is responsible for many aspects of the development and delivery processes within the company. His 25+ years experience in software design & development, deep understanding of Agile, and experience working with other human-centered designers have provided him him with unique insights on the software development process.

Before joining 1904labs, John spent much of his career providing professional consulting services to various fortune 500 companies like Monsanto, AT&T, General American, Metlife, MasterCard, and Northrop Grumman. In those engagements, his time was spent supporting architectural interests, leading Agile teams, and as an enterprise leader supporting business development.

In addition to his professional career, John has also spent time teaching as an adjunct professor for Webster university, and supporting various charitable organizations like the “Gateway Area: National Multiple Sclerosis Society” and “Humane society”.

John holes a Masters degree in computer science with an emphasis in distributed systems design, an undergraduate double major in math and computer science, and various Agile certifications including CSM, CSPO, and CSP.

Favorite Quote: “Anything worth doing, is worth doing right.” ― Hunter S. Thompson

Carol Righi has been a practitioner of Human-Centered Design for more than 25 years. She is widely considered an HCD thought leader; has extensive experience in research, design, and management; is widely published; and has presented at numerous professional meetings worldwide. She is co-author of “User-Centered Design Stories” and “User-Centered Design: An Integrated Approach.”

Carol has engaged in over 350 HCD projects for customers such as Google, Yahoo!, Amazon, IBM, Scottrade, Wells Fargo, BJC, Fidelity, Mapquest, MetLife, and many others. She is a member of the User Experience Professionals Association and ACM’s SIGCHI. She is a founding member of the UTEST Advisory Council. She serves on the editorial board of the peer-reviewed “Journal of Usability Studies” and is frequently sought out to review journal articles, conference submissions, books, and other scholarly and professional works. Carol was Usability Co-Chair for CHI 2007.

Carol’s past positions have included Usability Manager at IBM Personal Software Products, Director of User-Centered Design at Perficient, and Manager of Academic User services at Teachers College, Columbia University. Carol received her undergraduate degree in psychology in 1981 and her PhD. educational psychology in 1988, both from Fordham University in New York City.