CUA of the Month – February, 2012

Unexpected Career Turn Leads to CUA

by Sheldon Kreger

Sometimes, an unexpected change can be the inspiration for a new adventure. As times change, business professionals - especially in the field of technology - have to be ready to adapt to new circumstances. Just ask Mark Spicer, a Systems Analyst at Intel, Inc.

“Intel, just like many other companies, had to make many adjustments during the economic crisis. One of the shifts at Intel was focused on flattening out organizations, removing levels of management and creating more direct reporting and accountability. Being in management at the time I was familiar with the difficulties of striking the correct balance between organizing and executing. As a manager I had always taken pride in being very involved to the level of taking on project assignments myself- so when the opportunity came to move into a new role as an enterprise software systems analyst I took it. With the help of generous, skilled co-workers and supportive managers- the transition was smooth and rewarding.”

Clearly, Mark’s co-workers made a great decision. After nearly four years of experience in his new role, Mark continues to experience success at Intel.

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Unexpected Career Turn... (Continued)

“I’m working with a team of developers to update and enhance software used by our clients to manage their product purchasing with Intel. This includes purchasing product, monitoring order and shipping status, checking product availability, making sure various products will arrive on schedule, etc. The software is critical to our clients as they rely on the information it gives them to plan their own operations. The system is unique as it provides real time data and confirmations many other enterprise systems don’t support. Over the past few years the backend systems have undergone significant upgrades and now we are focused on the customer facing pieces of the software; updating and enhancing the user interface and functionality to take advantage of our backend upgrades and provide even more value to our end users.”

Of course, these changes are no accident for Intel.

“Although the old implementation has shown remarkable longevity in its usefulness, we are very excited to be able to keep our customers informed in a more user friendly and efficient way. By integrating our project with the changes happening in other divisions of the company, we can provide even more timely, relevant information which will be valuable to our customers and to Intel.”

Speaking of the topic of users, the question remains: Why did Mark pursue the Certified Usability Analyst title?

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Unexpected Career Turn... (Continued)

"“There is a company-wide push for user-oriented design at Intel. One of the product owners for the software I’m working on is familiar with my background as an end user/customer advocate and recognized that I might be able to bring that kind of focus to the team through a structured user oriented approach. I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to take the HFI courses as part of some advanced training for software professionals in our company. In fact the focus on user orientation is important enough to Intel that the company brought HFI in house to teach the courses. So, it was very convenient for me to earn my CUA, and the courses were that much more valuable as the instructors were able to tailor the discussion in class, to relevant Intel projects.”

Mark is happy to have gained insight into user experience, and feels he can be part of the shift toward user-based design at Intel.

“It’s clear to me that Intel sees great value in spending extra time to understand the needs of its software users - both within the company and outside of it. Taking the classes with HFI not only helped me understand why we are moving in this direction, but enabled me to be part of that process. I learned about many great concepts and techniques which I now use in my day-to-day work as a Systems Analyst. It has brought an ordered, “scientific” approach to a discipline I already feel strongly about, and as an added bonus – I really like doing it!”

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