One of the most enthusiastic people you're likely to meet! I have 17 years' digital experience in financial services, telecoms, publishing, government and the arts. I'm very lucky right now to be able to combine my UX and product background with my development skills, because I get a lot of joy out of bringing ideas to life!
- Carry out research to understand customer needs and pain points
- Generate a volume of creative ideas to solve problems, and prioritise them, balancing effort and value
- Bring concepts to life quickly, from sketches, wireframes and interactive prototypes, to full-blown working apps
- Make content easy to find and understand, both on a page and whilst exploring a website or app
- Test and iterate concepts with the market, using lean / agile techniques
- Coach teams in user experience, lean, and agile techniques
- Design your organisation to deliver a better customer experience
- Foster a culture of innovation, experimentation, trust, freedom, and fun
- Helped Disclosure Scotland pass the Scottish Government’s Digital First Service Standard Assessment, having contributed to the design of a new, user-centred application process with a satisfaction score of 90%
- Achieved highest ever net promoter and customer satisfaction scores for online network journeys (at Three)
- Contributed to 45% reduction in network-related call volumes, equating to target savings of £500k (at Three)
- Increased cross-sell volumes by 465% in just three months (at Three)
- Wrote a popular article on Design Sprints, showing off our user-centric practices at Three
- Generated a £11m+ pipeline of work following a mobile strategy I produced for HSBC (at HeathWallace)
- Won a 'Digital Impact Award' for an RBS 'Changing the Bank' strategy microsite (at HeathWallace)
- Lectured in Human Computer Interaction (HCI) at Reading University
- Right now Frontend Engineer at Cleo (Gen Z fintech mobile app)
- 3.5 years as Software Engineer at Skyscanner (travel search)
- 4 month contract as Service Designer at ACCA (global accountancy body)
- 1 year contract as Senior Service Designer at BJSS (technology consultancy)
- 3 years as Lead User Experience Architect at Three UK (mobile network operator)
- 5 years as Managing Consultant - UX & Strategy at HeathWallace UK (Top 10 NMA Design & Build agency)
- 1.5 years as Product Manager at Time Inc, UK (consumer magazine publisher)
- 1.5 years contract as Digital Content Producer at Home Office (central government department)
- 1.5 years as Channel Producer & Developer at Opus Media (startup)
- Makers Academy Bootcamp, 16-week intensive course in software craftsmanship and test-driven development using Ruby and JavaScript as examples of classical and prototypal languages. See my blog A Parent's Adventures in Codeland
- Certified Scrum Product Owner
- B.Sc. Computer Science & Electronic Music, 2.1, University of Keele, UK
- A-levels in Maths (A), Business Studies (A) and Music Technology (A)
- I play the piano to diploma standard and perform regularly as part of an amateur meet-up
- I used to work at a prestigious violin dealer, and once hand-delivered $20m of instruments to New York
- In 1992, I was the only female to get to the Regional Finals of the National Computer Games Championship
- I once had a voicemail from MI5 asking me to call them back :)
"Frances is an absolute joy to work with. Not only are her UX/design skills & consultative abilities top-class, she's an inspiring and natural leader who motivates and nurtures the team in what seems like an effortless manner." Josie Downey, Information Architect at HeathWallace.
"Frances is an incredibly friendly, talented and conscientious person to work with. Always happy to take time and listen, she is enthusiastic, has great attention to detail, without losing sight of the big picture, and works damned hard, too. " Rob Mansfield, Digital Content Editor at Time Inc UK.
"She has played a fundamental role in promoting and implementing Agile working practices across our Central Development function. This has lead to increased productivity, output and overall levels of satisfaction." Tara Hamilton-Whitaker, Director of Programmes at Time Inc UK.
"Anyone who meets her and doesn't make her an instant offer is making one of the biggest mistakes possible for their company." Andy Jeffries, CTO at Absolute DevOps.
- purpose-driven organisations, e.g. Zappos, Medium, Makers Academy, and bringing your whole self to work
- putting both customer and employee experience at the heart of an organisation
- doing a great job and having a great time doing it
I am open to collaborations and opportunities associated with:
- positive psychology / wellbeing / positive habit change
- classical music, esp. breaking down barriers / learning to play / sharing favourite pieces / playing with others
- children, encouraging their development, finding a way to balance working and parenting
- startups / entrepreneurship / solving juicy problems elegantly
- bringing people together / facilitating human connection
I'm familiar with Ruby (vanilla, Sinatra, Rails) and JavaScript (vanilla, jQuery, Meteor, React) and several testing frameworks, but could easily transfer to other languages and frameworks.
I'm based in Glasgow (UK) but I can travel occasionally, and I'm very experienced with remote working.