Adam Brody

Current

• Lead User Experience Architect at Symantec

Past

• Staff Engineer, User Experience Design (SUEDE) at Juniper Networks
• Principal User Experience Design Engineer at Blue Coat Systems
• Senior Principal User Experience Engineer at Vitria

• Senior UI Designer at eBay Inc
• Senior User Experience Designer at Opsware
• Director of Experience at Immersion
• Senior User Experience Architect at Symbol Technologies
• Senior User Interface Engineer at Trend Micro
• Director of User Interface Design at MS2
• Senior User Interface Architect at Outride
• Senior User Interface Designer at magnifi, inc.
• Senior User Interface Designer at Emmperative, Inc. (formerly Magnifi Inc.)
• Senior Cognitive Engineer at Netscape
• Staff Human Interface Engineer at Sony Electronics
• Senior Human Factors Engineer at WiSE Medical Systems
• Senior Human Factors Engineer at Pacific Bell
• Senior Research Specialist at Sterling Software

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14 more...

Education

• SJSU
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

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Recommended

40 people have recommended Adam

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Computer & Network Security

Adam Brody’s Summary

The best way to reach me is by email: brody@alum.mit.edu.

I'm a retired Rocket Scientist who has been one of the most regular attendees of monthly BayCHI meetings for over 10 years.

I never met a user interface/experience I could not improve! :-)
Note that I'm a Designer and not a Developer.

I believe that there is elegance in simplicity and that the best user interfaces are often invisible. I have many years of experience designing highly usable interfaces and experiences for a wide array of consumer and other products at Sony, Netscape, Pacific Bell, Opsware, eBay, Juniper Networks, startups, and elsewhere. This experience began with award-winning products that I designed for NASA and MIT. I took the skills and techniques that I developed and honed in the space program to other industries like web-based enterprise applications and portals, consumer electronics, medical informatics, telephony, ecommerce, and personalized relevant search.

One of my skills is that I have advanced degrees in both engineering and psychology, so I am skilled in both areas, and I can communicate well with experts in each. Another strength is that I have seen many different domains, industries, and organizations so I can design interfaces more quickly, and of a higher quality than less experienced designers. I also ramp up very quickly as a result of this diversity of experiences.

I am a highly energetic, creative, detail-oriented, passionate, motivated and enthusiastic individual contributor, and I am looking for a position with other talented people working on a challenging project.

Adam Brody’s Specialties:

--Demonstrated ability to prioritize, multi-task, and manage work to critical project timelines in a fast-paced, constantly changing environment.
--Proven experience constructing rapid prototypes, mockups, and interaction requirements specifications.
--Ability and desire to work as part of a team, with Product Managers, Creative Designers, Developers, etc.
--Extensive experience balancing user experience, business case, engineering, time-to-market, and other considerations.

Adam Brody’s Experience

• Lead User Experience Architect

  Symantec

  (Public Company; SYMC; Computer Software industry)

  March 2009 — Present (5 months)

• Staff Engineer, User Experience Design (SUEDE)

  Juniper Networks

  (Public Company; JNPR; Computer Networking industry)

  July 2007 — January 2009 (1 year 7 months)

  Redesigned SSL-VPN product to increase usability. Led design of remote access client applications. Derived user requirements, created prototypes, conducted usability tests, and worked with Development, Technical Writers, and Marketing to realize designs.

• Principal User Experience Design Engineer

  Blue Coat Systems

  (Public Company; Computer & Network Security industry)

  October 2006 — May 2007 (8 months)

  Wrote a newsletter relating latest UI research to my efforts at improving the company's products. Created installation wizard for company's flagship product and reined in disparate user interfaces of other products.

• Senior Principal User Experience Engineer

  Vitria

  (Public Company; Computer Software industry)

  January 2006 — August 2006 (8 months)

  Designed user interfaces for Smart Gateway, Registry, Resolution Accelerator and other aspects of award-winning Business Process Integration software. Worked with Product Managers and Engineers to create designs that increased the usability, desirability, and utility of the products.

• Senior UI Designer

  eBay Inc

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; EBAY; Internet industry)

  July 2005 — December 2005 (6 months)

  Derived user requirements and designed user interfaces for various high priority features for the World's Online Marketplace. These features included aspects of buying, selling, My eBay, and international components. Collaborated with Product Managers, Technical Writers, and Graphic Artists to produce highly usable products.

• Senior User Experience Designer

  Opsware

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; OPSW; Computer Software industry)

  October 2004 — December 2004 (3 months)

  Designed and tested advanced user interfaces for leading IT automation product. Derived user requirements. Conducted usability tests, created wireframes.

• Director of Experience

  Immersion

  (Public Company; 51-200 employees; IMMR; Computer Software industry)

  April 2004 — September 2004 (6 months)

  Pioneered research program to investigate the usability benefits of haptics. Created usability and user testing program.

• Senior User Experience Architect

  Symbol Technologies

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; SBL; Computer Software industry)

  October 2003 — February 2004 (5 months)

  Led the User Interface and User Experience design for a world class product for network management and enterprise mobility. Created a portal design framework that was scalable for the addition of many third party portlets. Mentored a junior designer and worked with developers to implement my designs. Created User Experience Design process and Style Guide.

• Senior User Interface Engineer

  Trend Micro

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; TMIC; Computer Software industry)

  August 2002 — March 2003 (8 months)

  Earned award for improving usability of product installation by reducing number of screens from 40 to 10. Created standards program and led redesign of entire product line including enterprise products. Mentored and trained international team of ten people. Wrote newsletter describing and illustrating usability principles and related them to company's products.

• Director of User Interface Design

  MS2

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

  January 2001 — February 2002 (1 year 2 months)

  Led the design and testing of leading Product Lifecycle Automation application. Built mobile usability lab and conducted extensive testing of mockups and interactive prototypes. Worked closely with Marketing, Engineering, and Professional Services to ensure that the enterprise application product matched the users' mental models and supported the workflow of the various user groups. Standardized dialogs, property editors, and other interactions.

• Senior User Interface Architect

  Outride

  (Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Computer Software industry)

  May 2000 — February 2001 (10 months)

  Established the usability program for Xerox PARC spinoff and led a team to redesign a personalized, relevant search tool for the World Wide Web. Conducted formal usability tests with software prototypes and analyzed data. Performed heuristic evaluations, and created and tested paper mockups to measure user expectations. Developed tasks and questionnaires for beta test and analyzed results. Introduced Web UI standards and increased internal and external consistency. Worked closely with Marketing to ensure that the product supported user needs, enhanced user capabilities, and took advantage of users' cognitive and other skills. Collaborated with Advanced Development to ensure that appropriate hooks and scars were provided for future features. Initiated a rewards and recognition program and built a fun place to work as one of the first six employees.

• Senior User Interface Designer

  magnifi, inc.

  (Privately Held; Medical Devices industry)

  January 1999 — February 2000 (1 year 2 months)

  Designed, developed, and tested HTML user interfaces for marketing supply chain automation enterprise application for the World Wide Web. Dramatically changed the product. Visited users to derive user requirements and understand their needs. Conducted usability tests. Introduced Web UI standards and increased internal and external consistency. Created and managed beta-test program. Served as lead user advocate in the design of the product.

• Senior User Interface Designer

  Emmperative, Inc. (formerly Magnifi Inc.)

  (Internet industry)

  January 1999 — February 2000 (1 year 2 months)

  See description for Magnifi above.

• Senior Cognitive Engineer

  Netscape

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; NSCP; Internet industry)

  August 1998 — October 1998 (3 months)

  Designed, developed, and tested user interfaces for Netcenter Internet portal. Conducted usability tests and heuristic evaluations, and increased the usability of various aspects of the site. Led the UI design and testing of Smart Download, which has been used by millions of people over the past 7 years.

• Staff Human Interface Engineer

  Sony Electronics

  (Public Company; 1001-5000 employees; SNE; Computer Software industry)

  December 1996 — July 1998 (1 year 8 months)

  Designed, developed, and tested user interfaces for the VAIO line of personal computers. Products included navigational mechanisms for VAIOSpace, video email, and audio and video software. Several patents are pending.

• Senior Human Factors Engineer

  WiSE Medical Systems

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Computer Software industry)

  February 1996 — October 1996 (9 months)

  Designed, developed, and tested user interface for medical informatics enterprise system to replace the paper trail currently used by doctors and other health care providers. Product increased the accuracy and timely receipt of insurance claims. Designed interfaces for ordering prescriptions, ordering X-rays, entering diagnoses, and entering vital signs. Product was used to great advantage at medical clinics around the country. A user-centered design approach was used throughout the design cycle to rapidly iterate prototypes, derive specifications, and deliver the final product.

• Senior Human Factors Engineer

  Pacific Bell

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; SBC; Telecommunications industry)

  August 1994 — February 1996 (1 year 7 months)

  Designed, developed, and tested user interfaces for legacy enterprise systems used by over 2000 service representatives. Product is the largest internal product used by the company and was prototyped and coded in Visual Basic. Components included those for diagnosing problems on the customer's telephone line, ordering consumer features, and making referrals. A user-centered design approach was used throughout the design cycle to rapidly iterate prototypes, derive specifications, and deliver the final product.

• Senior Research Specialist

  Sterling Software

  (Public Company; 5001-10,000 employees; CA; Defense & Space industry)

  May 1987 — October 1993 (6 years 6 months)

  Worked at NASA Ames Research Center. Led UI design of space station's largest payload to investigate gravitational effects on biology. Designed environment in Virtual Interactive Environment Workstation (VIEW). Pioneered research to investigate means for rescuing stranded astronauts. Designed software for NASA Ames Space Station Proximity Operations Simulator. Performed human factors studies and accumulated over 200 hours of simulated flight.

Adam Brody’s Education

• SJSU

  MA , Psychology , September 1988 — June 1991

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  SM , Aeronautics and Astronautics , 1985 — 1987

  Space suit glove designer

  Activities and Societies:

  Graduate newspaper, Space Systems Laboratory researcher.

• Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  SB , Aeronautics and Astronautics , 1981 — 1985

  Activities and Societies:

  Laboratory of Orbital Productivity, Tennis team, 12 intramural sports, Lecture Director of Lecture Series Committee.

Additional Information

Adam Brody’s Interests:

Tennis, Investing, Travel, SCUBA, community service, theater, live music, friends, environment, photography

Adam Brody’s Groups:

BayCHI, Mountain View Tennis Club, JCF, AIAA

•    MIT TechLink
•    San Jose State University (official group)
•    ExMozilla
•    BayCHI
•    Link Silicon Valley, LLC
•    FountainBlue
•    Interaction Design Association
•    Boxes and Arrows
•    MIT's School of Engineering Graduate School
•    OpenNetworker.com
•    UX Professionals
•    Silicon Valley NewTech Meetup
•    TopLinked.com (Open Networkers)
•    SF Bay Area Ivy Plus Alumni
•    Silicon Valley Engineering Council
•    GroupLinked.com
•    eBay Employees and Alumni Group
•    InvitesWelcome.com (Open Networkers)
•    United States Tennis Association
•    MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alumni
•    User Experience
•    Massachusetts Institute of Technology Alumni
•    Alumni of MIT
•    NorCal Tennis Network
•    LION500.com (Open Networkers)
•    Jewish High Tech Community
•    MITCNC
•    NASA Alumni and Workers Association
•    SONY
•    MIT Alumni Network
•    TopLinked IT (Information Technology) Professionals
•    Wimbledon Tennis
•    Netscape Communications Alumni
•    Ivy Plus Alumni in Technology
•    Silicon Valley 650 Connect
•    Immersion Alumni
•    TopLinked Engineers
•    SchmartBoard Users Group

Adam Brody’s Honors:

Sony Inventor Award
Cradle of Aviation Museum Honor Roll
Trend Micro Successful Launch Award
Admiral Luis de Florez Prize for Design and Ingenuity

Dictionary of International Biography
Personalities of America
Who’s Who Among Young American Professionals
Who’s Who in California
Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders in America
Who’s Who in Science and Engineering
Who's Who in the West

Adam Brody’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

• career opportunities
• consulting offers
• new ventures
• job inquiries
• expertise requests
• business deals
• reference requests
• getting back in touch