I have limited time for consulting, and thus am very selective about which projects I accept.
I prefer to take on challenging and/or impactful projects that are particularly relevant to my interests and areas of expertise, and where I feel I can add the most value.
I’m very open to unusual projects, and I love working with companies across the spectrum of size and maturity.
Email me and we can discuss.
Some ideas from past projects are below.
I have deep experience in product and API design, and I can help you design user interfaces and/or APIs that users love and maximize Impact/Effort.
I can add value at any stage of the process, from researching user needs to brainstorming solutions or by authoring design reviews of existing solutions.
A good design review can uncover several usability issues, saving your company hours of user testing and development time.
It is not a substitute for user testing, but rather a way to make the most of it, by getting a good chunk of usability issues out of the way before that stage.
The scope of a design review can vary from individual features to audits of entire products.
Design reviews can take varying amounts of time, from a day to several weeks.
We can discuss the scope, goals, and budget together.
Designing good solutions that balance tradeoffs well takes a lot longer, so shorter design reviews focus more on identifying issues, while longer ones also include potential solutions that balance tradeoffs well and maximize Impact/Effort.
I hold a PhD in usability (Human-Computer Interaction) from MIT, and have taught usability to MIT students for years.
Additionally, I have launched dozens of software artifacts, which often succeeded against competition mainly on the basis of superior UX/DX.
My software engineering expertise combine with my usability and product design background give me a unique ability to design solutions that balance user needs and implementation effort.
It is important to me that my work adds value.
While I’m open to reviewing any software artifact, I tend to be a better fit when the product is related to design or development.
If I determine early on in the process that I’m not a good fit for reviewing your product, I will let you know and refund your deposit. This is very rare.
Struggling to work around certain web platform limitations?
Have you considered fixing the core problem instead?
Or maybe there is already a feature that does what you need, but is not yet implemented across all browsers and you want to help move it along faster.
It was previously thought that web standards work is only for large companies like Google that can afford to play the long game.
However, in recent years, there have been many success stories of major web technologies going from conception to baseline in two years (e.g. CSS Cascade Layers), and smaller features in a few months, a timespan that is shorter than many product cycles.
Together, we can scope down your pain points to a set of concrete proposals that can be implemented in a reasonable time frame and advise you on their odds of success depending on your budget.
If you want to invest in implementation in browsers, I can guide you through the available options and facilitate the process.
As an added bonus, since this benefits everyone working with web technologies, I can help you make the most of your investment by framing it appropriately to the public.
I have a track record of designing, reviewing, and getting web technologies shipped in browsers for 13 years. I have not only designed web technologies that got accepted, but pushed them to implementation across browsers, often in the face of strong initial opposition.
As a longtime CSS Working Group member, I co-edit several W3C specifications, and have designed web technologies that have shipped in every browser and are used by millions of developers.
I have also been an elected W3C TAG member for 4 years, reviewing web technologies across the entire stack for usability and architectural consistency, giving me unique insight into the process.
Your engineers have tried everything they can think of, but they can’t find a solution to a certain CSS problem that is sufficiently flexible?
This can be particularly true for products that ship CSS to their customers, so flexibility becomes a requirement, not just a nice-to-have.
This is my bread and butter!
You will communicate your requirements and constraints to me, and I will come up with a solution that meets as many of them as possible.
If I cannot meet all of them, I will explain the tradeoffs and help you decide.
I will also provide a detailed explanation of how the solution works, so that your engineers can understand it and maintain it in the future.
These tend to be shorter engagements, usually a few hours to a few days.
I have literally written a bestselling CSS book on this exact topic: better solutions to hard CSS problems.
It was a smashing success, it got translated into 8 languages and dubbed “Best CSS book” by the Chicago Tribune.
As a CSS Working Group member for 13 years, I could not be closer to the metal.
I am aware of CSS technologies that other developers have not yet caught up to,
or details about how CSS works that I can leverage to create better solutions.
Looking for someone who both understands web designers and developers and has a solid research background? Look no further.
I’m happy to help you design and run surveys, interviews, or use other research methods to get the data you need.
I can also help you analyze the data and draw conclusions.
I’m also open to being part of scientific research projects in relevant areas in a Research Scientist capacity or similar.
I have a unique combination of skills that make me a great fit for this kind of work:
a solid connection to web designers & developers fostered over 16 years of developer advocacy,
and the foundation of scientific research and data analysis from my MIT PhD days.
I have previously been sponsored by Google to help design major web development surveys, such as State of CSS and the inaugural State of HTML (which also resulted in novel survey UI), both taken by tens of thousands of developers every year and breaking participation records for the years I was involved.
I have also led research efforts into web development practices via scraping, which is another avenue we can explore.
I’m open to doing training and on-site workshops on topics related to web technologies, usability, API design, and general software product design principles.
These can be tailored to your team’s needs, and can be either hands-on or higher level.
I have a track record of 16 years of teaching web technologies and usability to various audiences, from professionals to MIT students.
I have travelled the world giving over 100 invited talks at web conferences in 4 continents, written a bestselling CSS book, co-designed and co-taught an MIT course on usability and web technologies which became a permanent subject, and written several articles in well-known industry publications.
If your project doesn’t fit any of these categories, but it sounds like I might be the perfect person to help, don’t hesitate to reach out.
I’m very open to unusual, challenging projects and am very comfortable with ambiguity.
As an example, one of my most unusual consulting projects was designing a (print) book layout in HTML and CSS for O’Reilly Media (one of the biggest tech publishers) back in 2015,
which they used as a sample of what can be achieved with such a pipeline.
I do not typically undertake freelance web design & development or graphic design projects (e.g. “I need a website for my business”), but I may make exceptions for projects that are particularly interesting or relevant to my work.
Rates do vary by scope, project type, and length, and I do offer a sliding scale for nonprofit organizations, projects with strong social impact, and organizations in low-income countries.
Please reach out to discuss what’s feasible for your budget.
Work with me
