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Dawn Russell is an insightful, visionary, and authentic leader who creates technology-enhanced solutions that improve the lives and experiences of people to drive compelling business results.

Dawn Russell, Strategic Product and Design Technology Leader

About Me

I am a growth-inspired, craft-focused, strategic product and design professional with 15 years of leadership experience designing and building products, architecting information, and facilitating teams to apply a data-driven, curious mindset and measurably improve business outcomes within lean-agile environments. Proven track record of leading collaboration efforts to chart the future vision, translate business goals into an outcomes-based, executable product strategy and deliver future-proof designs that achieve lasting value for people (ie: enhanced product-market fit). Recognized for cultivating global, inclusive, cross-functional partnerships in a matrixed setting to drive organizational alignment, solve complex problems, and achieve measurable business success.

Methodology

I take an ownership mindset when working across complexity to draw connections and inspire innovation that drives powerful business results and customer value. I coach teams to approach their work with curiosity which is paired with data-driven insights and human-centered design techniques. My teams partner with stakeholders, technicians, customers and subject-matter experts to understand and define business and customer requirements. We examine data and conduct research & product discovery to develop deeper clarity about end-users and the market. From there, we facilitate workshops (design sprints) with cross-functional teams to establish empathy and shared understanding. The outcome is a future-proof product vision, built upon a compelling data-driven product & design strategy, that is realized through near-term team-level roadmaps.

Human Experience

Expertise

Product Development Lifecycle

Product Development Lifecycle

Design

  • Conduct user research and leverage data-driven insights to drive product enhancements and innovation.

  • Apply user experience and interaction design best practices to achieve useful, delightful digital solutions.

  • Foster trust and cross-functional partnerships through collaborative brainstorming workshops.

  • Cultivate long-term relationships with customers and lead advocacy groups to articulate use cases.

  • Identify user journeys and jobs-to-be done and map to the product architecture, roadmap, and strategy.

  • Set KPI’s for UX outcomes tracking and implement product-analytics to assess the effectiveness of initiatives.

Team Catalyst

  • Managed globally distributed teams, fostering a culture of innovation and collaboration with a 0% attrition rate.

  • Mentor teams in lean/agile product management and user experience best practices to develop strong talent.
  • Set clear departmental OKR’s and align with individual performance goals. Discuss on a regular weekly cadence.
  • Promote psychological safety by being clear about the conditions for team members' individual success.
  • Partner with HR on succession planning and socializing career path ladder and skills assessment.
  • Communicate frequent status updates and rally teams around a collective goal with passionate storytelling.

Product

  • Formulate a product strategy that is aligned to customer needs, business mission, and technology stack.

  • Articulate a clear problem-frame and value proposition definition for each opportunity.

  • Manage the agile, end-to-end product development lifecycle with predictable, quality delivery.

  • Drive ruthless prioritization to formulate actionable product roadmaps.

  • Oversee product operations to drive confident data-driven decision making.

  • Articulate product positioning, product market fit, and go to market strategy.

  • Develop a content strategy for onboarding, training, and support to ensure customer success.

Selected Use Cases

Below is a selection of use cases that demonstrate the wide array of expertise I bring to an organization as a product and design technology leader. For a walk through, please contact me.

Use Cases

Team Building: Attract, Hire, and Retain Talent

Leading globally distributed teams
Data visualization, Advanced queries

Seven Bridges Genomics

Healthcare Analytics Platform Product

Data Discovery, Analysis, & Insights at Scale

Seven Bridges Genomics

'Data As a Service' Product

Data Templates, Governance, & Automation Frameworks

CVS Health

One Identity, One Login, One Account

Member Experience, Onboarding

Mount Holyoke College

Integration of Technology with Library Services

Digital & Physical Wayfinding, Unified Search

Mount Holyoke College

On Campus Dining Menus Solution

Experience Design, Nutrition

Artisan Web and Print

Clinical Informatics Product Marketing

Persona Development, Brand