Hi, I'm Miles

Senior User Researcher & Designer

I'm currently leading design on Raft's modernization project with the Office of Family Assistance in the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Before moving into civic GovTech I spent three years working with early-stage b2b startups in hybrid UX/Product Management roles. I established user research ops, lead cross-functional teams to engage in data-backed decision making, and enabled strategy aimed at positive outcomes—not just outputs.

I always love chatting with fellow practitioners! Get in touch.

Approach

🔍 User Research

User Research is the backbone of human-centric work. It's how we know what we're designing and building the right solution. It's how we ensure that it's the absolute best it can be. I've built research practices from the ground up and can run with methods ranging from collaborative design workshops and ethnographic studies to card sorts and usability tests.

⌨️ UX Design

Thoughtful UX Design isn't just important for each distinct design problem, but also for ensuring every UX win gets us mileage toward higher level product goals. I run with ideas from task-flows and wireframes, through testable prototypes, and see them through to implemented solutions that move the needle.

♿ Accessibility

Everybody deserves not just access to the tools and products we create, but a truly equitable experience when it comes to using them. I leverage the heuristics offered by WCAG 2.1 (and newer standards) but set achieving great Universal Design as the target. I ensure that research is run inclusively and takes the time to hear from people with disabilities. When auditing experiences, I deliver both detailed breakdowns of areas for improvement and actionable guidance on how those can be improved.

📈 Product Strategy

I've implemented and executed on roadmaps that target outcomes rather than only outputs, collaborated with Sales to develop value-based pricing strategies, and engaged in market analyses to ensure that new product efforts always kept us competitive alongside driving value for our users.

✏️ UX Writing

Whether in release notes, microcopy, survey questions, or technical documentation, effective writing is a critical part of any experience. Thoughtfulness and iteration on this front is every bit as much a part of my process as it is when it comes to prototyping new interactions or polishing an interface.

My Work

Beyond Compliance: Improving USWDS Accessibility

Split screen illustration depicting a confusing screen reader experience on the left and a clear, communicative one on the right.

No matter how great a toolset supporting accessibility, manual testing that takes the time to consider the diversity of ways in which something will be experienced is critical. Access to an experience is not always the same thing as equity of experience.

A sketch of Bolstra's high level roadmap framework displayed in Kanban columns labeled "Outcome being achieved", "Next Outcome", and "Later outcome"

Bolstra had no shared, reliable source of truth for what we were actively pursuing or what we would pursue later down the road. We had expectations concerning the product to spare, but no single reference of priority or direction.

Screen recording of Bolstra account list functionality showing the user clicking and dragging columns to reorder them, clicking to sort, and scrolling horizontally to highlight a pinned column

Development at Bolstra had slowed for quite a while due to feature creep within a waterfall development process, the transitioning away from an external product team to an in-house one, and the time required to onboard a new development team. Regaining the trust of our users that we still cared about solving their problems was a necessity.

Screenshot of Codelicious interface with a course activity selected to highlight its available actions

Codelicious was signing on schools left and right, but the in-house team tasked with packaging and maintaining their curriculum content were hard pressed to keep pace with demand.