Doug Howell

Current

• Consultant at Creative Measures (Sole Proprietorship)

Past

• Business Systems Analyst at Borders
• Information Architect at Borders
• Technical Writer, Senior at Borders

• Composer at Media Station

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Education

• University of Michigan

Recommended

16 people have recommended Doug

Connections

92 connections

Industry

Information Technology and Services

Websites

• My Website

Doug Howell’s Summary

OBJECTIVE

A position that calls on me to use a variety of skills to maximize the value of information by creating engaging user interfaces, high quality, targeted content, and durable, flexible structures.

PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY

• Has demonstrated a passion for creating, structuring, designing and enhancing the value of information for over 11 years--as key team member and independent contributor.

• Takes self-teaching, self-starting, quality results-driven approach--yielding a broad range of skills and a deep understanding of the information lifecycle.

• Used dynamic technologies such as XML/XSLT, CSS and JavaScript to stretch existing knowledge assets into interactive, compelling and maintainable information products--within budget constraints.

• Career path to IT through music background promotes user advocacy, creative thinking, a big picture view and an innate aptitude for translating complex subject matter into the language of business users, developers, executives and subject matter experts.

• Built reputation spanning IT and business for: polished, attractive deliverables; authoritative, standards-based input; the ability to balance business value and technological realities; uncompromising service to customers and colleagues alike.

SKILLS & PROFICIENCIES

• Documentation: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Visio, FrontPage; Snag-It; Remedy; Test Director
• Web & Print Design & Dev: Acrobat, Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, Dreamweaver; XMLSpy; HTML Help
• Dynamic Content: IBM WebSphere portal/WWCM; WordPress; Drupal; ASP; DHTML
• Data-centric: Telelogic System Architect; MySQL; MS Access; SQL Server; Crystal Reports; SQL
• Languages & Scripting: XML/XSLT; HTML/CSS; JavaScript, VBScript, VBA (macros), Perl; PHP
• Standards & Methods: ITIL; COBIT, SOX, PCI, HIPAA; BPMN, UML, Structured, Entity Relation, Workflows; DITA
• OS & Browsers: Windows 2000/XP, Mac OS 9/X, Unix, legacy; IE, Firefox, Safari
• Music: Digital Performer; Finale

Doug Howell’s Specialties:

• Information architecture, design & development
• Web design, content & interaction
• Technical writing & editing
• Music composition, arrangements and performance

Doug Howell’s Experience

• Consultant

  Creative Measures (Sole Proprietorship)

  (Sole Proprietorship; Myself Only; Online Media industry)

  1981 — Present (28 years )

  Provide information architecture and design, technical writing and editing, copywriting, layout and graphic design, music composition, arranging and performance for a variety of projects and clients. For details, please see www.creativemeasures.com.
  
  • Copywriting and editing clients include Ameritech, Cade Industries, Amway Corporation, Spring Arbor Distributors, Simplicity Outdoor Power Equipment, Thomas Nelson Publishers.
  
  • Information design and technical writing clients include Internet2, NetGift Registry (netgift.com), Medflight.
  
  • Layout and graphics clients include World Class Tapes, HeartStar Music, Manchester Area Historical Society, Society for Technical Communication, SE Michigan Chapter.
  
  • Music clients include Disney Interactive, Philips Media, Marcel Marceau World Centre for Mime, Advanced Bionics, Domino's Pizza, McDonald's, CBS Sports and Chrysler Corporation.

• Business Systems Analyst

  Borders

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BGP; Retail industry)

  July 2005 — June 2008 (3 years )

  Served as IT business liaison for Intranet portal implementation, leading requirements definition efforts, working with business users and management, several consultancies and development team to fulfill requirements. Challenges included a significant disconnect between business expectations and real-world capabilities. The project came in on budget.
  
  • Created and maintained wireframes, sitemap, taxonomy, process, workflow and requirements (including user groups and roles) documentation.
  
  • Developed cascading stylesheets, graphic elements, authoring and presentation templates and created author/developer content creation guidelines.
  
  • Developed HTML and JavaScript code to realize visual designs; enforced usability, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines and corporate style standards.
  
  • Created test requirements, test cases, executed system tests and reported defects.

• Information Architect

  Borders

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BGP; Retail industry)

  July 2000 — July 2005 (5 years 1 month)

  Widened focus to an enterprise level by creating Web, project deliverable, controls and standards resources used by all of IT to improve the quality, compliance, consistency and professionalism of IT project delivery and documentation.
  
  • Created corporate Intranet Web pages and sites to publish standards, policies, project management and IT service management documentation to all IT employees.
  
  • Created Web applications including IT glossary; standards HTML Help, enterprise repository view and search; data center operations online forms; others.
  
  • Developed IT Controls framework, mapping SOX, PCI, HIPAA and ITGI controls to COBIT controls; built interface to allow employees to more easily find (and address) relevant compliance standards.
  
  • Created diagram and document templates to assist developers and managers in producing high quality process and project deliverable documents.
  
  • Reviewed, edited and published standards, processes, workflows and policies.

• Technical Writer, Senior

  Borders

  (Public Company; 10,001 or more employees; BGP; Retail industry)

  May 1997 — July 2000 (3 years 3 months)

  Developed user, support and training documents and Web pages to increase troubleshooting efficiency, provide user assistance, instruct developers and reduce demands on third-level support. Began developing IT-wide style standards and became 'keeper' of enterprise process and relational database models and top-level corporate Intranet site.
  
  • Created a wide variety of documents and Web pages (with graphics and layout) based on extensive subject matter expert interviews and collaborative meetings, including user manuals, software and hardware installation and maintenance procedures (with illustrations), network diagrams, training courses, how-to's and quick reference guides.
  
  • Led developer training sessions for CASE modeling and methodologies and provided methodology support. Developed custom scripts to auto-generate text and graphical reports from CASE repository. Customized CASE tool to support new methodologies and standards and avoid unnecessary capital expenditures.

• Composer

  Media Station

  (Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Media Production industry)

  August 1994 — May 1997 (2 years 10 months)

  Composed, performed and recorded original soundtracks for animated storybook CD-ROMs including Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree, Lamb Chop Loves Music, Barbie as Rapunzel, Haunted House, Tonka Search and Rescue, others. (See creativemeasures.com for more details.)

Doug Howell’s Education

• University of Michigan

  B.Mus. , Composition

  with high distinction

Additional Information

Doug Howell’s Websites:

• My Website