Recent Work
Habitat for Humanity International.
Consulting : Technology & Fundraising Strategy
June 2010 -
Habitat for Humanity is one of the largest homebuilders in the world, currently building over 50,000 homes a year in over 90 countries. Working for the SVP for Strategy, I led an initiative to find ways to inspire, encourage and empower volunteers to raise money and promote Habitat's work through social media.
- Developed a strategy for experimenting with social-fundraising with the volunteer Global Village program.
- Designed and Managed development WeAreHabitat.org - a social fundraising platform built with Drupal
- Signed up together 100 volunteers across six trial teams and inspired them to raise more for projects using the new tools.
Our trial teams raised, on average, three times more than regular teams, and the project is now being continued with dedicated Habitat staff.
James displayed real leadership in driving a high-risk project that required diverse groups, geographically and philosophically, to agreement by creating lasting relationships and diving into the project with both feet on day one.Dave McMurtry, SVP Strategy
FirstGiving
Interim VP Product Management
Jan 2010 - May 2010
FirstGiving is the US arm of the highly successful British business JustGiving. A 20 person business helping nonprofits raise over $40million per year. I joined FirstGiving on assignment to help define the product strategy, and continued as interim VP Product Management in Boston.
Accomplishments included bringing together all departments to agree on a unified product strategy. With the development team, I introduced an agile development process and led it through two very successful product cycles. I played a small part in helping the product and development teams rediscover their awesomeness.
James is a gifted internet professional who brings an insightful, innovative, and results-driven approach to product strategy and development. He combines keen product intuition and strong technical knowledge with a commitment to understanding and delivering to the customer's needs. James is an inspiring leader who delivers both quality and rapid results. He has been a strong partner to the entire team at FirstGiving and key contributor to the business. It's been a pleasure to work with and learn from James.Nancy Dickenson, CEO
James' passionate, adventurous, and roll-up-the-sleeves attitude coupled with his strong business sense, technical knowledge, and product development experience is essential to any successful team. While at FirstGiving, he regularly encouraged and motivated teammates to take on challenges that seemed impossible, yet at the end of the sprint, goals were achieved. James' collaboration with the business and his desire to understand the user and their needs always influenced the product built. It was an honor and privilege to work with and learn from James.Beth Lingard, Product Manager
Web Projects
Over the years, I've helped dozens of organziations of all sizes design and prototype innovative web applications. I've become very good at quickly delving into large organization, gathering opinions and ideas from stakeholders and customers, and forming them into smart requirements and product designs that meet their needs.
Here's a snapshot of some of those projects :
- OneRecovery (2009)UI Design
- ApexMD (2008-9)Design & Development Lead
- Pandigital (2008)UI Design for those digital photo frames
- Wrigley's Candystand (2008)Systems Design for a gaming site
- Trilliant (2007)Technical UI Design.
- The Princeton Review (2007)Re-design for College Guides.
- EcoSynergy (2007)Web Prototyping for an environmental startup.
- Yahoo Green (2007)Persuasive Architecture / Site Design
- Offermatica (2007)Site Optimization / Behavioral Targetting
- IHS Energy (2006)Rapid Prototyping for Web based news service
- Iron Planet (2004)Web Redesign & Optimization
- Avokia (2004)Web Application Prototyping
- Investools (2004)Product Management Consulting
- SureCircle (2004)Web Application Prototyping
- IBM/ThinkDynamics (2003)UI Prototyping
- Prescription911.com (2003)E-Commerce Project
- Intra.net (98-2000)Product Management
- Hong Kong Govt (1997-99)Strategy Consulting
- New World Telephone (1998)Website Design
- Merrill Lynch (1997)Trade Floor Technical Support
- SeaNet(1996)Technical Support
12 Months : 2008-2009Design & Development Lead
In late 2008 & 2009, we built ApexMD as a powerful search engine for finding specialist doctors for top medical centers. The public site at ApexMD.com allows anyone to find the right doctor for their brain tumor!
4 Months : 2008UI Design & Engineering
In 2008, I took on a fairly technical project to improve the usability of administration for Wrigley's Candystand.com . This project introduced a number of AJAX interactions.
4 Months : 2007Visual Design & UI Prototyping
In 2007, I worked on several projects with The Princeton Revew, including one high profile one to redesign college guides which are the foundation of their online business.
3 Months : 2007Front End Development & UX Coaching
I helped Yahoo put together a website to raise awareness of climate change for Earth Day, 2007. We designed the site to motivate people to take action themselves to help reduce it.
4 Months : 2006IA & UI Design
IHS Energy (NYSE:IHS) is the largest provider of data and information to the energy industry. As the lead consultant & designer for Rocket Communications, I helped IHS visualize and prototype their next generation of information services.
Way BackOnline Strategy & Prototyping
Between 1997 & 1999 I led the design of a number of strategic technology initiatives for the HK Government including establishing a long-term and public strategy for government services online.
UI Design & Specficiations
Think Dynamics, recently purchased by IBM, is a leader in data center automation and software for just-in-time provisioning of servers. I was brought in to improve usability, and prototyped numerous changes to the user interface.
UI Prototyping
Avokia is a Canadian start-up with an innovative technology to allow database clustering for high availability and increased performance. I was hired to design and develop a monitoring and management system for keeping track of system status in real time.
Front-End Engineering
Working with the Product manager of Trilliant's 'Unity' product line, we put together a prototype of the console interface for the engineering team to work from.
UI Prototyping
DDRnet enables companies to self-insure their employees with dental, vision and health benefits. Their automated claim processing is unique and likely to make a huge impact in corporate benefits. I designed the system.
Site Redesign
Each year IronPlanet sells hundreds of millions of dollars worth of used construction equipment to businesses all over the country through their online auction sites. I did a complete redesign of the marketing related pages and design templates
Simple Website Design
Robert Darr travelled through Afghanistan during the Soviet war. He's just published a book about his experiences, but also wanted to make it available online.
Website Design, Wordpress CMS
Racing Yacht Management do just that. If you have own a competetive sailboat and need to keep it in top form, this is the company to call! They helped me!
Interaction & Visual Design
Pandigital are the biggest manufacturer of digital photo frames. In 2008 I helped them design a touch screen interface to manage the functionality of the frame.
Requirements & UI Design
As part of a drive to improve accountability and transparency following the return to Chinese rule, The Hong Kong Government set about development of a Management Information System to track progress on all policy objectives. I designed it.
MLS in PHP/MySQL
Sharp Real Estate is a private real estate group. This is a brochure site with a small catalogue that can be updated by the client.
E-Commerce Website (PHP/MySQL)
Centurian Health distributes books to health care providers and large employers. This was a simple database driven site to let purchasers browse books, and place bulk orders.
Wordpress CMS
Tom is a friend of mine and needed a site that he could build out quickly and easily by himself.
Ecommerce Website (PHP/MySQL)
Prescription911 is a Seattle based online pharmacy selling low cost prescription drugs to elderly and uninsured customers. Designed and developed by me.
Rapid Prototyping (PHP/MySQL)
EcoSynergy is making it possible for individuals to understand the enviornmental impact of the products they buy. I've been advising them on their product strategy and am developing version 1.0 of the product in PHP/MySQL.
UI Design & CMS
In an effort to improve good government practices accross different departments, the Efficiency Unit of the Hong Kong Government contracted me to design an internal site that would be a central place for government employees to learn more and discuss good government.
Visual Design
A quick little site design and layout that I threw together in short order for a small business on a tight budget.
Website Design
The Arques School in Sausalito, CA provides apprenticeships and courses in wooden boatbuilding. I designed a simple website designed to attract new apprentices and keep interested public informed about progress on many of the historical boats being built at the school.
Ecommerce Website
Daisy Arts manufactures and sells high end leather bound items including photo albums, journals and accessories. I redesigned the website and set up an e-commerce solution.
Startups
Over the years, I've taken a couple shots at starting a business :
Founder & CEO
2005 to mid-2006
This was my MBA from the School of hard knocks!
At experienceTHIS, we packaged and sold gift-certificates for experiences, such as spa-days, whale watching trips and even soviet jet flights.
I formulated the business plan, developed product packaging; hired (and paid for) four staff, grew channel partnerships with several Bay Area retailers and dozens of suppliers, built systems to manage online sales and distribution through retail outlets and sought additional investment.
Inventor, Product Lead
Mid 1998 to early 2001
Soon after leaving college, I had a fantastic first experience in the world of tech startups.
Intra.net was a collaborative platform for sharing corporate information; a forerunner of MS Sharepoint and a forerunner to wikis. We conceived the idea while building corporate intranets in Hong Kong. Over the next two years we moved to California and grew to over 100 people.
I was largely responsible for the strategic direction of the product, which included developing alliances with partners, marketing & public relations, and designing and positioning our offerings. I had the final say on technology solutions, and continued to work hands on to write technical white papers and build UI prototypes.
Through rapid release cycles, we leapfrogged our competitors to deliver an 'ASP' service localized for 12 different regions (including Asia), and made it available on wireless devices. Intra.net was sold in 2002 and the product continues live on today as 'Noodle'
Skills & Errata
I've accumulated a wealth of experience in product strategy, project management, UI design, end-user research, rapid-prototyping, online marketing and optimization. I still code, specializing in front-end prototyping, and have built a network with other experts to help me bring projects to life.
Education
BSc. (Hons.) - Hotel Management - Cardiff Business School, University of Wales, United Kingdom
Downloadable Resume
Coming Soon