Christina Wodtke

Current

General Manager, Social at MySpace
Owner at Wodtke Consulting
Author at New Riders Publisher

Publisher at Boxes and Arrows

see less...

1 more...

Past

Principal Product Manager at LinkedIn
Founder at Cucina Media
Partner at The Management Innovation Group

Sr. Director of Design, UED Search and Marketplace at Yahoo
Partner at Carbon IQ
Information Architect/Manager at The Egreetings Network

see less...

3 more...

Education

Stanford University
Kansas City Art Institute

Recommended

19 people have recommended Christina

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Christina Wodtke’s Summary

As a product person for 12 years now, I have discovered my core competency is to take a product from concept to reality. I excel at the place where strategy and execution merge. I have led numerous redesigns that repositioned products in the marketplace, as well as leading teams that brought new ones to life.
At Linkedin, I have taken LinkedIn Events from idea to launch, redesigned Status, Network Updates and Inbox; and before Linkedin, I founded Cucina Media, and created a (perhaps too) innovative CMS; the IAI, a thriving nonprofit, and Boxes and Arrows an independent publication on design. As a partner at MIG, I helped clients like The New York Times reinvent search and Rodale concept new digital products, and at Yahoo I led the design teams who reinvented Yahoo Search, Shopping and Local.
In my spare time I give talks on human behavior in digital spaces, and wrote a book on Information Architecture "Blueprints for the Web".

Christina Wodtke’s Specialties:

innovation in product design, crafting product vision, information architecture, management, brand and design, negotiation, content strategy, building design teams, search, navigation, lifestreams

Christina Wodtke’s Experience

General Manager, Social

MySpace

(Public Company; NWS; Internet industry)

November 2009 — Present (2 months)

Oversight of critical social functionality at MySpace including profile, user homepage, activity stream, and network connections and relationships.
Owner

Wodtke Consulting

(Internet industry)

2001 — Present (8 years )

I have consulted on design team process and organizational design, professional and career coaching, expert evaluations of design work, user experience strategy.
I'm also an experienced speaker, having given talks around the western world, from Sweden to Portland, on topics from Information Architecture to professional effectiveness. I'm open to speaking engagements anywhere, on any relevant topic. Please contact me for rates and availability.
Slides available from recent talks on Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/cwodtke
Author

New Riders Publisher

(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Publishing industry)

October 2000 — Present (9 years 3 months)

Author of the best selling book, Information Architecture: Blueprints for the Web. Published in 2001. http://www.amazon.com/Information-Architecture-Blueprints-Christina-Wodtke
Publisher

Boxes and Arrows

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Publishing industry)

October 2000 — Present (9 years 3 months)

As Founder/Publisher, I oversee 8-15 volunteer editors at any given time, as well setting the editorial vision with the cheif editor, decide on new features and areas for us to branch out into, and generally try to keep the design magazine thriving.
Principal Product Manager

LinkedIn

(Privately Held; Internet industry)

December 2007 — October 2009 (1 year 11 months)

Responsible for creating product vision, collaborating in hiring and managing a multi-disciplinary team, and driving the execution of new products and optimization of current ones. Currently overseeing the Communications products (emails, inbox) and Network Updates products (including status).
Founder

Cucina Media

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Internet industry)

January 2005 — October 2008 (3 years 10 months)

Cucina Software is a small webware company specializing in helping small publisher play with the big boys. Our first product is in early beta, and is called Public Square http://www.publicsquarehq.com. As a start-up cofounder, my role includes a myriad of responsibilities, from legal paperwork to project management to business planning to icon design. And it's darn fun.
Partner

The Management Innovation Group

(Partnership; 1-10 employees; Management Consulting industry)

August 2004 — January 2006 (1 year 6 months)

I help companies understand how to better take advantage of emerging technology and design trends; organize creative teams for greater productivity and innovation; and envision breakthrough businesses and product lines that mesh customer desire with company need.
Blending futurism, a customer-customer centered approach and strategic planning with agile processes, I work with companies to prototype new competencies while realizing inherent value in current strengths.

Clients included The New York Times, Rodale and NetAp.
Sr. Director of Design, UED Search and Marketplace

Yahoo

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

August 2002 — July 2004 (2 years )

Managed User Experience Design Group (30 people) for the Search and Marketplace Division of Yahoo Inc. User Experience Design includes User Research, Interaction Design, Visual Design and Web Development. Search and Marketplace consists of Web Search, Shopping, Maps, Yellow Pages, Travel and Autos (plus assorted smaller properties) Responsibilities include resource allocation, hiring, budgets and schedules, providing creative direction to visual and interaction design, determining direction for research planning and strategies with user researchers, and forming a front-end code strategy with web development.

Key accomplishments include the redesign and launch of the new Yahoo! Search, a critical element of the re-positioning of Yahoo! as a major search player and the redesign of Yahoo! Shopping, which reinvented it from a shopping mall model to a comprehensive search and compare site.
Partner

Carbon IQ

(Internet industry)

June 2000 — August 2002 (2 years 3 months)

Practicing user experience designer and managing partner. User-centered design processes included interaction design, information architecture, user research, usability testing, heuristic analysis and related methodologies such as persona creation, scenarios, participatory design and cognitive modeling. As partner, activities including project management, team formation and managing (including interviewing and selecting freelancers and vendors, negotiating contracts, timetables and budgets) client relation management and evangelism, publicity, marketing, as well as public speaking and writing (see below). Clients included Shockwave, McDougal Littell, Sprite and Wells Fargo.
Information Architect/Manager

The Egreetings Network

(Public Company; 201-500 employees; Internet industry)

December 1997 — April 2000 (2 years 5 months)

Responsible for overall site flow, as well as interaction design for new projects. Created interface and interaction designs. With merchandising team, responsible for product categorization and labeling. Applied usability testing learnings to site to refine interface design, and identified new areas for study. Ran discount usability tests. Designed interaction for re-architecture of site with emphasis on personalization and customization based on user state. Developed wireframes and blueprints for re-architecture, along with interaction designer. Managed a team of 6 usecase analysts and interaction designers.
Previous roles at Egreetings included running the Web Developement team and before that content management for the card catalog.