For 2.0, we were charged with bringing Sync to tens of millions of users. To understand and address this new market, we used several design processes:

• identify targeted personas
• strategic collaboration with marketing
• user testing of early wireframes
• iteratively review designs of new features

The product was created by the BitTorrent team in Minsk, Belarus, which is 11 timezones away (10 during the summer) from BitTorrent's San Francisco headquarters. The SF team was charged with taking this beta product and making it into a viable product used by a large audience, so we had to be careful not to create the impression we were stealing their baby.

When I arrived, I was hearing about communication challenges. "The other team doesn't understand what we're trying to do." and "We don't understand why they did it that way." were frequent refrains. I tried to find out whether anyone had tried to explain what we were trying to do, and whether anyone had asked "Why did you do it that way," but was met with silence.

So I started a weekly video call (the first recurring meeting between the SF and Minsk teams) which built trust and shared understanding.

When I started on Sync, the team's method of improving the product was to release features and tweak them based on user feedback. By creating user flow documents as soon as management began envisioning a feature, I started an internal discussion about what functionality would be viable, feasible, and desirable that allowed us to skip implementing many of the team's initial thoughts.

To see more specific detail about how I've used diagrams and wireframes in creating products, see some of my earlier interaction design projects.

I helped plan and prioritize strategic explorations and design work on potential product offerings, including hardware options and other software products. Check out Shoot, for example.

I also managed design team resources to get to know users in other markets, such as the enterprise replication space.