About Dylan
Hello there.
Who am I?
I am a visionary UX leader committed to revolutionizing digital experiences and empowering creative teams globally.
With over 15 years in UX design leadership, I’ve had the pleasure of guiding teams at companies like Cisco, Syniti, and Hewlett Packard Enterprise.
Most recently at Cisco, I managed and mentored a talented group of designers and researchers. Together, we transformed cloud software subscription sales by unifying over 10 subsidiary sales teams into a single Salesforce platform—a project that streamlined operations and boosted efficiency.
Before that, at Syniti, I built their first UX team from the ground up. We brought legacy on-premises software to the cloud, introduced a discovery-driven design and development process, and significantly improved customer satisfaction.
At Hewlett Packard Enterprise, I drove UX vision and strategy on the Helion virtual private cloud suite team. I oversaw a design team at Apptio that grew from two to nine members as the company grew 6x in four years.
I'm also a writer and blogger who preaches and teaches the values of good design. I've also spoken at industry and international conferences like SXSW, Webvisions, and Lavacon.
Personal
I'm just like everyone. I put my pants on one leg at a time. Except when it's 4am and I put both my feet in one pant leg.
I'm a born and raised Oklahoman who found his way to Seattle and… just stayed there. I matriculated from the University of Colorado, majoring in environmental studies in the shadow of the Flatirons.
When I'm not being a pain in the rear online, I'm a gardener and a small-time orchardist, making pickles and jams all summer and fall. My son is majoring in fine arts, so he teaches me all the things I never learned about design, while my spouse endures my infodumping on the tech industry as I endure hers on paleontology.
Philosophy
What drives me is creating amazing user experiences by empowering creative teams to innovate, collaborate, and deliver — together.
Design is a team sport.
The best design ideas can come from everywhere, not just designers. Good designers aren't composers, spending time toiling over a rigid score for someone else to play the way they intended. Instead. designers are more orchestra conductors, who find the best ideas and bring them forward while maintaining the rhythm and sound of the musicians.
Outcomes over output.
My focus is on driving real, measurable outcomes that align with the organization’s goals. Every action, every decision, should contribute to tangible, understandable results that demonstrate progress. Every output needs to be in service to the outcomes, not to just chasing solutions to problems that may not exist.
Hold strong opinions, loosely.
I encourage my team members to form strong opinions based on their expertise and to defend those opinions vigorously. However, I also expect them to hold these opinions loosely because new information, insights, and circumstances can shift perspectives. Adaptability is key.
Be better today than you were yesterday.
I want my team members to believe that they can be better today than they were yesterday. I want them to feel ownership over their work and to see themselves as active participants in shaping both the product and the organization’s future. And that only comes when you have a growth mindset and bulldog determination for doing it better.
It's good enough for now; we're iterating.
While I want my team members to push themselves and their work, I also want them to know when to stop and let things be. Iteration and feedback are what sharpen great designs. You'll always find problems that haunt you; learning to let go and accepting imperfect is a paramount skill in product design.