I want to know what
makes people tick.
I am a UX professional, mostly UX research. I look at how people actually use digital products. I watch what they do, I ask them what is really going on, and then I help a team build something that works better for them. Fifteen years of it, in games, in education and in healthcare.
I also build the systems underneath it. Research ops, and the design ops around it. Good ops is invisible. You only see it in the output of the people doing the work. Speed to delivery goes up. Quality of UX goes up. Admin is a chore for people who love their craft, and when the craft gets busy admin is the first thing to go. Companies want to see measurable value. That is what ops brings together. It lets UX professionals focus on their craft while the business gets what it needs.
What it is actually for
I love it when you get to work through the whole thing. Learn about people. Understand what they need. Then come up with something that actually helps them. To enjoy the game more. To be able to play it with one hand. To learn something in a way that you know when to use it. To feel like you can support someone in your family who is seriously ill.
All because I listened. Because I cared. And because I made it my job to serve people this way. That is the part of this job that made me love it.
How I ended up studying people
I am autistic and ADHD. I don’t do well with small talk. I don’t like talking about the weather. I want to know what makes someone get up in the morning, what they struggle with, and how they get through it. I look at what is underneath what they see.
After my degree I kept studying. One of the things I studied was body language. Because I wanted to understand what was beneath the surface. Because I could tell when someone was saying one thing and I felt something else from them. I learned how to analyse body language. Then I studied cultural context and communication, to learn how body language differs across cultures. I learned to adapt my own signals to other people, so they would feel more at ease.
So being autistic allowed me to really learn about humans. And I love it, and that’s why I do what I do.
What I actually do
- UX research. Generative and evaluative, in games, education and healthcare. I love working through the entire process, from learning about people to watching the thing actually get built.
- ResearchOps. Knowledge hubs, shared template libraries, the repository, and the processes for things like recruitment and budgeting. Automated where I can, and tracked so the value is visible to the organisation.
- DesignOps. How a design team runs, and what it hands over. I build the systems that make it easier for people to get their work done.
- Teaching. I was employed at one university of applied sciences for six years. I have given guest lectures, run workshops and trained teachers at several others. I coach interns inside companies, and they come from several universities too. I never really stopped. It is also why I co-founded UXR Study.
- Leading a team. My job is to serve the people on my team, so they develop, grow and shine. I don’t need to be in the spotlight. I would rather put someone else there and know I helped them get there.
Odette also enabled others by authoring an extensive and comprehensive library of research methodologies and processes that anyone in the company could rely on to do excellent user research work. As a result, the UXR practice was able to operate at a scale far beyond what she and one other researcher could hope to achieve on their own.
How I learned to do what I do
Just because I learned something once does not mean that is the whole truth of it. You learn as you go. You gain experience, you meet people, you find new interests. So I keep studying.
BSc in Communication and Multimedia Design, specialising in game design. MEd in Talent Development, with research focused on neurodivergent educational design. Plus courses and papers on coaching, leadership and teaching along the way.
Talks, podcasts and writing
I can talk about citybuilding games for hours.
On Design Downtime they asked me what one hobby I can talk about for hours. Citybuilding games. I have been doing some version of this since Zoo Tycoon. Planet Zoo is the one I am obsessed with now. I have remade Disneyland California in it, then Legoland, and Hogsmeade is next. I like building things that look pretty and also function really well.
The host asked me whether that is almost what I do at work. Yeah, I said, but I am the sole designer and I have no stakeholders getting in the way. I just need to make sure my users, the animals, are happy and healthy.
I have always loved video games. I did a minor in video game UX and worked in games for a while. I am a huge fantasy nerd too. I like Harry Potter. I like Lord of the Rings. I like Lego. I like fantasy books.
I like being outdoors. There is a vegetable garden I work in with my daughter. There are bike rides on the bakfiets, the Dutch bucket bike. And there is my husband, a dog, and two Maine Coons who think my desk belongs to them.
Hiring, or just curious?
LinkedIn is the fastest way to reach me, and I do answer. Tell me what you are trying to fix. I will tell you honestly whether I am the right person for it. Freelance work and training run through UXR Study instead.
Find me on LinkedIn