Hey 👋 I’m Jacob!
Associate Product Owner, UX Developer, QA Lead
I have expertise in business strategy, systems thinking, information architecture, and collaborative problem solving.
What I Do
My Skills & Tools
Business Strategy, AI, CRM, Systems Thinking, Information Architecture, Content Design, Technical Writing, Web Accessibility, Community Building, Scrum, User Research, Competitive Analysis, Usability Testing, User Acceptance Testing, Trello, Jira, Confluence, Notion, Figma, HTML, CSS, SEO, JavaScript, React.js, Node.js, Ruby, Rails, Git, Visual Studio, Azure DevOps Server, Data Analysis, SQL, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Collaborative Problem Solving
My Recent Experience
Minnesota Department of Employment
and Economic Development (DEED)
Associate Product Owner
Jan 2025 – Present
- Facilitating the ongoing maintenance and development of the Workforce One (WF1) case management system and its mobile application, WF1 Connect.
- Collaborating with stakeholders to identify key business requirements and directing data collection initiatives.
- Conducting user acceptance testing and analyzing ways to optimize WF1 functionality to enhance the customer experience.
- Creating training videos for WF1 users, providing walk-throughs of major features and functionality.
Self-Employed
Freelance UX Developer
Dec 2023 – Dec 2024
- Performed evaluative research and exploratory testing for a tech startup’s generative AI platform that designs custom interior spaces using natural language prompts.
- Studied and received a certificate on AI fundamentals from IBM after passing a series of final comprehensive exams for all 6 course sections.
- Wrote a blog post on accessibility and different testing tools that people can use to analyze web content.
Equisolve
QA Lead
Jan 2023 – Oct 2023
- Directed all phases of QA, both pre-/post-launch, for every client’s website and closed out projects when all final fixes were completed.
- Coordinated with senior developers to address bugs in the template used for all client websites.
- Cleaned up the agency’s backlog of active projects with open tasks, scheduled any additional work that was required, and then verified there were no more pending issues.
Web QA Specialist
Jan 2022 – Dec 2022
- Tested the agency’s client websites ensuring they adhered to current WCAG standards, provided a straightforward user experience, matched the project’s design, and that no bugs were present in the UI.
- Wrote documentation for monitoring recurring errors, SOPs for reviewing websites according to quality requirements, and recommendations for improving existing QA procedures.
- Established guidelines to properly track the severity of errors on client websites.
Galvanize
Developer Evangelist
Aug 2020 – Aug 2021
- Produced/hosted a weekly podcast discussing tech trends, interviewing industry experts, and providing helpful resources for software engineers and data scientists.
- Conducted a competitive analysis of other coding bootcamps and used that secondary research to develop a variety of digital content for prospective students.
- Assessed the customer experience of Galvanize's educational programs to identify potential pain points in the user journey.
My Digital Media
My UX Case Studies
Rapid Prototyping + UX Testing
Methods/Skills
Content Design, A/B Testing, User Interviews,
Card Sorting, Competitive Analysis, Moderated Usability Testing,
Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Wireframing, Rapid Prototyping
Tools
Figma, Sketch, Axure RP
Problem
Needed to create a digital debate space that could present important policy issues to everyday citizens in a way that's meaningful and free from biased arguments.
Solution
Utilized a message board (internet forum) system that allows users to hover over a debate argument to easily scan all of the essential top-level information pertinent to that argument without having to click on anything.
Beginning the Journey
For this case study, I created a new web application concept, called Policy Bytes, to showcase debates on significant policy issues for Citizens League. They are an organization dedicated to empowering all Minnesotans to be actively engaged in public policymaking.
These initial sketches illustrate early attempts to construct a new digital layout that could be free from bias and accommodate up to four debate voices. A grid system with collapsible text containers was utilized to present information at various levels, to not overwhelm the user, and to create a clear flow of information.
Feedback, Feedback, Feedback
I met with potential users in both groups and individually to better understand how they process and interpret information. It became apparent that they didn't want to be guided too much in navigating the interface, wanted to have the ability to scan information without having to click on it, and wanted a preview of the content before entering the debate space. Color was also hugely important, and shaped the way they perceived different argument claims.
- Testing Participant: "Who is arguing and making these points?"
- Testing Participant: "I want to have the most control possible, that's a lot of clicks to see the whole thing."
- Testing Participant: "This is guiding me too much."
- Testing Participant: "These are my favorite colors, they aren't making a statement."
- Testing Participant: "When did I sign up for this ride?"
Refining the Concept
After meeting with users, I synthesized my findings and moved forward with a new design that encapsulated all of the feedback I received. This concept utilizes a message board system to present the debate content. By hovering on a main argument/premise on the left side of the interface, the back-and-forth conversation between the debaters appears on the right. This allows users to easily scan and gather information without clicking on anything.
Final Thoughts
The final design concept uses muted earth-tone colors to avoid any preconceived subjective color biases. Users can also click on any main premise buttons and to anchor the back-and-forth conversation onto the page to explore any piece of evidence attached to that argument. With this design, it's simple to quickly understand what is happening in a debate by hovering over any argument, while also providing flexibility for the user to click through and dive as deep as they want on any given topic.
UX Audit + Responsive Design
Methods/Skills
Content Design, Heuristic Evaluation, Design Strategy,
Survey Design, Journey Mapping, Moderated Usability Testing,
Qualitative Research, Responsive Design, Wireframing, Rapid Prototyping
Tools
Figma, Sketch, Axure RP
Problem
Needed to redesign the home page for an existing website so it could be optimized for mobile devices since a growing number of the user base prefer to access the collaboration tool from their iPads/tablets.
Solution
Broke down the grid system from the current design row by row to make the flow of information more clear on both desktop and mobile devices.
A Mobile Redesign
For this case study, I redesigned the home page for a new tech startup called Stenovate. They've created a collaboration tool for transcript professionals that allows them to streamline all aspects of their work into one application. The website currently uses a grid system for the "Transcript Tracker" so users can have access to all of their pertinent project details on the home page.
However, the site isn't optimized for mobile devices and a third of their user base proofreads transcripts on iPads/tablets, according to recent data. My design concept below makes it much easier to understand the flow of information on a mobile device, without losing any necessary information. I also redesigned the desktop home page, utilizing the same concept.
Next Steps
The grid system from the original design is just a little too clunky and makes it hard to know where to begin as a user. With my new design concept not only can users easily track all of their projects, but it's much more clear how to invite other people to collaborate, even when working from a mobile device. Before building this concept out completely, I recommend doing usability testing with the new designs to see if there are any other places to increase visibility in the UI.
UX Audit + Rapid Prototyping
Methods/Skills
Content Design, A/B Testing, Kano Model,
Survey Design, Competitive Analysis, Journey Mapping,
Qualitative Research, Quantitative Research, Wireframing, Rapid Prototyping
Tools
Figma, Sketch, Axure RP
Problem
Needed to decide how to best implement a new feature on an existing website designed to make the process of aggregating research findings and drawing out key insights/takeaways more efficient.
Solution
Focused on making it easy to update a report as new data is added, the ability to see updates from all team members in real time, software that can suggest potential tags/analyze data, and allowing users to export each report as a PDF.
The Great Idea
For this case study, I had to explore how to best implement a new feature on an already existing website for a research software company named Aurelius. Their core goal is to create an efficient digital space for user experience designers to aggregate their research and draw out high-level takeaways at an increased rate.
The new feature they want to add is called "Collections," which will allow future designers to distribute/present their findings directly from the Aurelius digital platform. I was given a time constraint of 80–160 total developing hours to guide my design process. I began by looking at the current Aurelius user journey and sketched out some possible design ideas.
Development Time Frame (132 Total Hours)
After careful consideration, I chose 4 designs to move forward with and created annotated wireframes illustrating why I chose those 4. The design ideas I picked were:
- Collection Groups: This will give users the capability to drag and drop notes, tags, documents, and key insights into a collection from the side navigation bar to easily create an Aurelius report (32 development hours).
- Presentation Collaboration: This functionality allows multiple users to modify a collection/project at the same time and see all changes as they happen in real time, very similar to Google Docs, Google Sheets, etc. (20 development hours).
- Suggested Tags: This provides the ability for Aurelius software to suggest potential tags/analyze data in a collection (60 development hours).
- PDF Report: This will make it easy to export collections as a PDF to send to clients who don't have access to the Aurelius website (20 development hours).
Moving Forward
- These proposed modifications will increase the shelf life of research, and provide extended benefits for older insights as new research propels a project.
- For each of these changes, it would be prudent to go heavier rather than lighter. That's why the total development time budget is 132 hours.
- These updates will help build more value when the next iteration of the website is deployed, and users will get closer to Aurelius' overall goal of getting UXers to make sense of information automatically.
My Education
Saint John’s University
Bachelor’s Degree: Theater, Cum Laude Graduate, 3.67 GPA
Prime Digital Academy
User Experience Design Certification: Human-Computer Interaction
Flatiron School
Software Engineering Certification: Full Stack Web Development
My Course Certificates
Who I Am
- Excited to take the Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) certification course next month.
- Passionate about using technology to solve complex problems and make the world a better place.
- Team player who loves teaching and being taught as we work together to achieve goals.
- See my full work history below, and I look forward to connecting with you!