As I start to wrap things up en route to my retirement at the end of the month, I'd like to take a moment to acknowledge two very special people — Lauren Swanson and Renee Albert.
I've been fortunate to have an amazing management team and stellar staff who led and carried out the substantive research of my organization so expertly. I’m so proud of and thankful for them.
I'm also particularly thankful for my almost daily collaborations with Lauren and Renee in my last two organizations for leading key cross-company projects and programs with deep expertise, efficiency, effectiveness, and emotional intelligence and for fostering a supportive, collaborative, inclusive, empowering, skill-building, well-informed, and fun team culture.
We were initially a team of two, Lauren and me, and we made that three when we were so fortunate to be able to convince Renee to join us in the IBM Design Program Office (DPO) a few years ago. We innovated on and led organizational transformation, the design community, the design leaders, design careers, design education, and external design eminence. We founded the Design Executive Team (DET), ran and redesigned the Design Principal and Distinguished Designer programs, introduced novel design education like Design Mavens and the Accelerate Program Design track, and even created TV shows focused on our Racial Equity in Design initiative and our iX design work for clients. My staff in the DPO did grow over time, but Lauren and Renee continued to be central to my programs.
When I was offered the role of VP of UX Research, I made my acceptance conditional on Lauren joining me as my Chief of Staff. We visited our studios to share my perspective on UX research, and Lauren workshopped with staff to listen to theirs — which we then used to formulate our strategy. And over time, we again arranged for Renee to join us in the new organization. While I led a direct UX research organization of about 120 employees and the broader community of about 300 together with an amazing management team, it was Lauren and Renee whom I worked with most closely.
Lauren was a confidant, my strategy partner, the person who provided me honest feedback, and trusted by the rest of the staff to express any concerns. She's an amazing strategic thinker, as well as an incredibly talented writer with a degree in Journalism who drafted most of our organizational communications. Together we would brainstorm strategic directions, responses to challenges, and required pivots on an almost daily basis.
Renee brought her undergraduate design education, her graduate school focus on business and project management, her prior client deal experience, and our work together in the DPO to the Head of UX Research Transformation role. Renee's remit was broad, including internal UX research digital and in-person events. She took a fresh approach in having interviews with members of the community, conducting surveys, and then making changes which again could be assessed in the same manner. Renee's passion for her role, her commitment to our organization and company, and her sheer productivity are exemplary. Above all, Renee remains committed to advancing members of our design and research communities, and is dedicated to continuing to connect designers and researchers across IBM. She comes up with innovative ideas unsolicited, exudes an infectious enthusiasm for our mission, and when I ask her to do something, it's typically minutes before it is done and with attention to quality.
All three of us collaborated closely almost daily. We introduced and hosted weekly video updates from me, AMA-style VP Office Hours, UX Research Town Halls, monthly impact reviews, UXR Talks, and more to ensure that the staff and community was up-to-date, engaged, had a voice, and so that we brought together people from across the company to work as One IBM team.
I'm so grateful to both Lauren and Renee for our amazing partnership, collaboration, and friendship. I considered that they didn’t report to me but rather worked with me. I know they’re going to do even greater things in the future, and I wish them well with it.
Lauren and Renee, I so appreciate you!