About Whitney Hess

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My formal bio

Whitney Hess is a coach, writer and speaker helping people bring their whole selves to their work. As a result, they better serve their customers, their companies, their communities and themselves. Her life’s mission is to put humanity back into business.

For the last decade, she has coached hundreds of companies on how to make their products easier and more pleasurable to use, boost the bottom line, and do work they love. With leadership coaching for new managers, career mapping for UX practitioners, and UX training for creative professionals and product teams, Whitney’s techniques eliminate haphazard decision-making, methodically prioritize efforts, and measurably improve team dynamics.

spacer Whitney is the co-host the podcast Designing Yourself, writes on her blog Pleasure & Pain, and speaks at conferences and corporations worldwide. She holds a Masters in Human-Computer Interaction and a Bachelor’s degree in Professional Writing and HCI from Carnegie Mellon University, and in 2014 became a certified coach through New Ventures West. She and her sailor-chef Fredrick live aboard s/v Jenny, their 1980 Endeavour 37′ sloop, currently docked in San Diego, CA.

 

My Story

I spent a decade in User Experience desperately trying to make technology easier and more pleasurable to use. Then I realized that designing the product is all for naught if you don’t first take the time to design the organization. Keep reading >

 

As Featured In

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My Mottos

My best advice for designers? Spend as little time on the computer as humanly possible. See the world = build empathy = design successfully

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) February 18, 2013

User Research isn't to ask people what they want, but to discover what they do. Behavior reveals need, identifies problem to solve by design

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) October 22, 2012

Even the best user experience designer will fail if the CEO does not make user experience an organizational priority.

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) August 29, 2013

Designing the product is all for naught if you don't first take the time to design the organization.

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) April 20, 2012

When someone says something you've been saying for years, don't think, "I've been saying that for years!" Instead think, "I'm winning!"

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) March 22, 2012

User Experience isnt just designing usable interfaces. UX is an organizational commitment to making objective decisions informed by research

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) May 6, 2013

User Interface is a car. User Experience is a road trip.

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) July 6, 2014

We teach what we need to learn.

— Whitney Hess (@whitneyhess) August 12, 2014

 

My Affilitations

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In My Library

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Now it is your turn…

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