Dick Penn
Positive Interaction Inc.
PO Box 72160 Kanata North RPO
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
+1 613 863 4833
Work Experience
1998 – Independent Consultant in Human Factors Engineering and Software Design
Working as an independent consultant, doing HCI design, rapid prototyping of products and product development.
Task Analysis System Development
Designed and developed an easy-to-use and powerful tool to support various forms of task analysis, including Hierarchical Task Analysis, Hierarchical Goal Analysis and Cognitive Task Analysis. This is now a successful commercial product, www.taskarchitect.com.
Rapid Prototyping
Developed high-fidelity rapid prototypes of products for usability testing, including a business telephone for Avaya, a registration procedure for Deutschebank and military information system for Marconi.
Groupware Development
Developed a successful decision support product with electronic voting, marketed by Sharpe Decisions Inc., www.sharpedecisions.com.
Educational Software Development
Designed and developed a portfolio assessment tool to support certification of educational institutions, for www.chalkandwire.com.
Human Factors Consulting
Designed and developed a portfolio assessment tool to support certification of educational institutions, for www.chalkandwire.com.
1995- 1997 - User Interface Advisor, Nortel
Responsible for design coordination and user interface design across several product groups, designing the user interface for the Nortel Meridian line of private telephone exchanges. This involved task analysis, functional definition, graphical display design and rapid prototyping for the Windows 95 environment and for the Web. Technical leader of a group of user interface designers, partnered with several junior designers on a number of projects include the web-based telephony product Meridian Intranet Meeting Software and the object-oriented system management tool Meridian Administration Tool. The group was responsible for high-level and detailed design of the entire product interface, rather than acting in an advisory role. During much of this period I was a long-distance tele-worker, working from Ottawa with co-workers and clients based in California.
1993- 1997 Part-time Consulting
Decision Support Software Design, Saunders Consulting Group, Inc.
Designed and built Ballot, a Decision Support tool marketed by Saunders (www.ballot.ca). Through rapid prototyping and iterative design, this tool developed from a simple voting program to a flexible group analysis tool that can be used for a variety of formal and informal meetings. The design process involved close collaboration with users, with rapid updates to allow features to be tried out at minimal cost.
1978 - 1995
User Interface Designer, Bell-Northern Research
Participated during this 17-year period in the Corporate Design Group (formerly Design Interpretive), a multi-disciplinary team focused on the human dimension in product design, incorporating User Interface Design, Ergonomics, User Needs Assessment, Mechanical Design and Industrial Design.
Design of administrative user interfaces
Defined a user interface style for maintenance and administration software, within the constraints of a text-based terminal. This became the standard interface style for the DMS series of central office equipment, the flagship product of Northern Telecom at the time. The work involved field research to identify user requirements, and partnering with software developers to design each section of the interface.
Design of information service user interface
Defined the user interface for an integrated office package, with both text-based and graphical terminals, the integration of voice and other media, and shared editing in a teleconference. This product reached the detailed definition stage and underwent usability testing.
Product Definition
Represented the user interface perspective in a number of multi-disciplinary teams, in the definition of several products ranging from the Displayphone voice-data terminal in 1980 to interactive television services in 1990.
Software prototyping
Used rapid prototyping and video techniques in the analysis of product concepts ranging from wireless telephones to workstation software. Built tools for information sharing, brainstorming, usability assessment and prototyping, for use within the group.
Manager of an interface design group
Promoted in 1985 to manage a group of seven designers. Defined and promoted projects, hired and developed staff. Introduced new methods including usability labs and rapid prototyping methods.
Individual Contributor
In the last several years I moved away from line management to an "individual contributor" (technical track) role, acting as advisor to a number of groups within the Corporate Design Group and outside on user interface issues.
1973 - 1978
Research Associate, HUSAT, Loughborough University
For nearly five years, I was employed by the Human Sciences and Advanced Technology group in Loughborough, consulting and doing research in human-computer interaction.
Burglar Alarm Systems
Investigating the causes of false alarms in burglar alarm systems for the Birmingham Police. Conducted statistical analysis and user interviews. Presented recommendations to the Home Office and the Police.
Computer systems for the severely handicapped
Developed and presented a concept for a personal computer to assist people with very limited motion, using a binary suck-puff switch interface. Ferranti Ltd. later developed this into a product.
Experiments in user-computer interaction
Prototyped and tested a number of techniques for graphic editing. Advised the General Post Office (now British Telecom) on codes and interaction protocols for numeric-code access to telephone features.
Skills
Graphical user interface design
Definition and design of complex interfaces for any platform, including Windows and the Web.
Meeting and decision support software design
User interface design, database analysis, design and implementation of group support solutions, in Visual Basic for the Windows platform and HTML, Javascript and ASP on the web.
Software Design and Development
Design and development of operational business software, for delivery over the Web or as a Windows application, in Visual Basic 6.0 and .NET, HTML, JavaScript, SQL. Applications programming in MS Excel and MS Access.
Rapid prototyping
High-fidelity rapid prototyping for usability testing and market research, in Visual Basic, HTML JavaScript.
Education
1973 Bachelor of Science in Ergonomics (Human Factors) from University of Loughborough, England
Courses included sensory psychology, psychological measurement techniques, physical ergonomics, human anatomy and physiology together with introductory courses in science, symbolic logic, information theory, computer programming and engineering.
Personal Data
Nationality British and Canadian dual citizenship
Interests Reading, Astronomy, Travel, Photography