The STRATosphere: Product Design Strategy & Innovation
The STRATosphere: Product Design Strategy & Innovation
STRAT
This podcast is about product design leadership, how to lead product design to successful outcomes by gathering evidence, developing a strong point of view, and building influence so that your ideas reach the light of day, in a way that's consistent with your values. Humanity-centered AI is a central theme, since that's where much of the innovation in the field is happening now.
Season 3, Episode 5: Catalina Naranjo-Bock
In this episode, Netflix UX/ Product Research Manager Catalina Naranjo-Bock spoke with Paul about data-informed design strategy. We talked about how user research teams can have an impact on product strategy, and how the circle of stakeholders has grown in recent years.
Dec 2, 2020
16 min
Season 3, Episode 4: Colette Kolenda, Spotify
In this episode, Spotify's Colette Kolenda, a Senior User Researcher, spoke with Paul about creating a more strategic role for design research by moving it upstream in the product development lifecycle, so that research insights are positioned to help guide product strategy. 
Dec 2, 2020
15 min
Season 3, Episode 15: Robert Checchi, yU+co
In this episode, Robert Checchi, the Director of Museums and Special Projects at yU+co, spoke with Paul about a very cool project that allows visitors in a public space to engage with a large digital display in real-time using reactive sensors and machine learning. Instead of a digital billboard, the display is interactive digital art, and selfie-worthy in its own right. 
Dec 2, 2020
7 min
Season 3, Episode 1: Dr. Jess Holbrook, Google
In this episode, Paul chats with Dr. Jess Holbrook about Artificial Intelligence and human-centered design at Google, and the People + AI research group that he co-leads there. We spoke about designing with AI as a design material or medium, rather than just a technology enabler. 
Dec 2, 2020
25 min
Season 3, Episode 7: Victoria Sosik, Verizon
In this episode, Paul spoke with Victoria Sosik, a Director of UX Research at Verizon, about the democratization of research and creating a user research program that balances quality and speed.
Dec 2, 2020
12 min
Season 3, Episode 6: Amanda Rosenburg, Google
In this episode, Amanda Rosenburg, Ed.D, Product Lead & Senior Researcher at Google, spoke with Paul about the democratization of user research in large companies. We discussed some of the problems that arise from research being done by team members who have not been formally educated in research, such as reliability, validity, representativeness of findings, inadequate segmentation, and more. We also discussed how user research leaders can communicate to the organization the need for standards, and the kinds of research programs that can be put in place to allow any team member to participate in research effectively without leading the team to wrong or insufficient conclusions. 
Dec 2, 2020
19 min
Season 3, Episode 2: Angel Steger, Facebook
In this episode, Paul talks with Angel Steger, who is the Director of Product Design at Facebook. Angel spoke about the growth strategy of connecting customers to value and delivering that value in the most effective way. 
Dec 2, 2020
21 min
Season 2, Episode 8: Victor Luo, Amazon Smart Home
In this episode, Paul talks with Victor Luo, Principal Product Manager for Amazon's Smart Home suite of products. Victor talks with me about the complex task of guiding the design strategy of a globally recognized ecosystem of innovative products. 
Apr 15, 2020
21 min
Season 2, Episode 7: Anand Tharanathan, Facebook
Paul chats with Anand Tharanathan, Director of Research at Facebook, about providing research support and strategic product design guidance for some of the most widely used online products in the world. 
Apr 7, 2020
23 min
Season 2, Episode 6: Robert Skrobe, Dallas Design Sprints
Sorry UX, the party's over! Or is it? Paul talks with Robert Skrobe about his provocative article, and discusses the relevance of UX in a world of agile, Lean, and Product Management.   
Mar 23, 2020
25 min