Skills

A not-complete running list of my skills:

Membership/Engagement

I’ve worked with organizations (primarily but not only news organizations) who are transitioning to digital, recurring support from members and subscribers.

  • Email marketing & automation
  • Mobile payment/fundraising systems
  • Social retargeting (using social media data to match individuals with products & content)
  • Data & analytics
  • Knowledge of public media organizations and independent, not-for-profit news organizations
  • Audience research

Product management/User research

I have a real passion for matching solutions with users — and making sure the market is big enough to support a new product. In that work, I’ve used:

  • Human-centered design processes
  • Interviewing users for product development insights
  • Running design sessions for stakeholders
  • Writing an initial spec/site or app plan to share with stakeholders
  • Identifying and evaluating web developers/web development firms for projects
  • Market research (is the market you’re targeting big enough? is it growing?)
  • Competitive analysis
  • Business canvas/MVP planning
  • Using projects as a way of giving tech teams the opportunity to move into modern ways of working (Agile/Scrum) with more modern infrastructure/tools.

Technical

I am not typically in developer roles, but I develop skills in order to bring ideas to prototype level for sharing with teams or funders. In addition, it helps me understand what’s a “big ask” and what’s a “small ask” when I am working with a technical team in a product management role — or to understand how to work cost-effectively with an outside web development team.  It’s also useful to have the ability to quickly spin up a simple content or community site for a project. Demos, not memos.

  • HTML/CSS
  • Javascript (particularly D3.js, but learning Node.js and Angular.js)
  • Data journalism/data storytelling
  • Web sysadmin skills
  • WordPress, both starting a new site from scratch and managing;
  • Drupal, both starting a new site from scratch and managing
  • Github
  • Flat-file sites (Github Pages, Jekyll)
  • Tablet-friendly immersive stories
  • Large data file analysis (Excel, CSVKit, etc)

Data Visualization

I teach a number of data visualization classes at General Assembly, and I also run Data For Radicals, a site for people who want to use charts and graphs to change the world for the better. The site features step-by-step “cookbook style” tutorials.

  • Fundamentals: I teach the Data Visualization Fundamentals course at General Assembly Boston.
  • D3.js: Javascript data visualization framework
  • Chartbuilder
  • Tableau: I am teaching an upcoming Intro to Tableau course.
  • Mapping: Data-driven maps (TileMill, Leaflet, StoryMap, Google Maps)
  • Excel (of course, as a foundational skill for everything above)
  • Tabletop.js
  • Data journalism/data storytelling

Money

I have often been the “money person” on innovation projects, largely because it doesn’t frighten me to ask for money. I’ve raised over $3M in grants. I have also worked directly with pitching customers and pricing products.

  • Grant fundraising
  • Startup incubator pitches
  • Innovation grant pitches
  • Working with customers to arrive at a deal for products/services
  • Pricing products/services

Nonprofits

  • I have served on the boards and done board development work with a number of mission-driven organizations.

Random

  • Motorcycles and scooters: I own a small-format motorcycle that’s a cult favorite in Japan. Simple and powerful, it has no electric starter — I have to kick start it. I got my start with two wheeled vehicles with Vespas and still own one, which I am rehabbing.
  • Zombie Apocalypse Survival Skills: It surprises me that I have developed an interest in the kind of old-fashioned skills my grandmother would have known intimately. I can make blankets, can vegetables and fruit, and I have a large kitchen garden in my backyard. If the zombie apocalypse comes, come to my house: we’ll still have food.
  • Brunch. Sure, everybody’s interested in brunch. But not everybody throws brunch for 40 on the regular like I do.
  • Art installation & art show helper. My girlfriend is an artist and I adore the role of Art Spouse, setting up shows, putting out the snacks and refreshments, and welcoming visitors to gallery shows.
  • Volunteering: I volunteer with a number of organizations that work with recovering women in the Boston area.
  • Podcasting: I helped create and launch The Magic Pill, an NPR podcast that is also a 21-day exercise challenge.