Product designer — retail operations
I design the software that runs shops
Six years on point-of-sale and inventory systems — and two years before that on the merchant's side of the counter, using tools like the ones I now build.
I have seen commerce from three sides of the table.
Five years in a web agency building for clients. Two years in-house at a retail company, as the merchant who had to live with the consequences. Six years building the point-of-sale and inventory software that merchants like that one use every day.
The middle part is the one I draw on most. It is unusual for someone designing retail software to have been the person on the other side of it.
I came into design sideways. I studied information technology, got two pages into a book on .NET, and closed it. What I went back to was the shop I had been running as a student: software on CD, photo scanning, video albums cut to music, loading up MP3 players, renting out films. It was a counter, and people came to it with problems. I have been working on the same side of that counter ever since.
The degree still earns its keep. I have never been nervous in a conversation with engineers about what the system can actually do — and on this kind of software, that conversation is most of the job.
Years of graphic design and media production came after. I still shoot and edit, which is why I can put a product walkthrough together without waiting for anyone.
Working on retail, commerce or operations software?
I am happy to talk about the parts that are hard to get right.