This is extracted from an update that I put on to Linkedin to mark the turn of the year:
I want to wish you, my Linkedin friends, a happy, healthy, fun and successful 2015.
As I like to maintain an interesting and varied portfolio of work, I always leave time to work on new projects. So I thought I would let you know about my plans for 2015 in case you see opportunities where we might work together. Upskill! Gather User Understanding! Change the Status Quo! Read on…
As Product Doctor, I have been helping startups through to corporates become more efficient and learn how to do their own customer development with my series of “DIY User Research” workshops. They include Pearson, UCL (where it has been certified with a CPD), some London Accelerators and the British Computer Society (BCS). So if you want to save time and money by making sure you are delivering what end users and customers want, I can share my practical and interactive research toolkits with you.
Keeping current and hands-on, I have also been helping small to large organisations (from wearables to fashion) develop their proposition, starting always with user understanding. Some of this is through my role as “Product Doctor in Residence” at Idea London – a joint venture between UCL, Cisco & DC Thomson. Perhaps you too might like some hands-on help getting closer to your users?
Through my directorship at Azenby, I have been working with new hires at GSMA helping them to appreciate the life changes for mobile operators over the past 20 years. I am also delighted to be one of the judges for the GSMA’s brand new Young Mobile Innovator Global Mobile Award this year (under 25 year old innovators check this out!). It’s an honour for me at Azenby to work with such industry heroes – one of whom just received an OBE in this year’s honours list. We continue to work with an impressive client list helping them to navigate through market changes as the industry evolves.
The Mobile Academy continued to grow in 2014, with two more courses, a total of 210 alumni to date and net promoter (advocacy) scores that show our participants love it as much as Apple users love their iPhones – and that is a whole lot! The next London course, hosted by UCL (University College London), will run in September. Brand new for 2015 is the opportunity to licence our pioneering tried and tested model for “community based learning”. I am really excited about extending the benefits beyond London and working with some more educational institutions to help digital innovators with holistic, practical and honest mobile-know-how.
I help to run Mobile Monday London and I organised a range of events in 2014 – including the final heat of the UKTI CeBIT stand competition; a debate on Cloud at Google; a wonderfully diverse Demo Night and our finale where we were able to provide 24 startups a free stand at Apps World. We reach 14.5k people from technical folk to marketers and CEOs to those starting their careers – so it provides a great opportunity for partners who are looking for ways to reach the wider community and address hot topics of the day.
Over the past few years I have worked in unfamiliar areas (for example, Brixton Village on Retail and UCL on Education) designing and delivering new models that encourage innovation. Each year I make room for new projects. So if you need someone to help you get your game-changer off the ground, I look forward to hearing from you. I also go over to San Francisco around twice a year should you have West Coast based work…
Once again – happy new year and do let me know your news in return. Best – Julia