Back to home page.My name, if you hadn't got it already is Phil Puttick, I am 48 years old. My most time-consuming pastime is cycling and I am a member of the West Kent Cycle Racing Club, located - surprisingly - in the north west corner of Kent, England. I was a consultant for a computer company (yes, the big blue one) where I had been for nearly thirty years but now I am a company director!
Phil is married with two children and worked within IBM for 29 years. In 1997, with little warning, he was the victim of compulsory redundancy. With his colleague Chris Hicks, he started the Usability Partnership Limited and continues to provide the usability consultancy he is known for.
He specialises in:
His hobbies include bicycle racing and photography.
Phil designed and led the construction of IBM UK's first Usability laboratory and subsequently for the facilities in Sudbury and Southbank. He conducts regular usability seminars for clients and employees and is recognised, both inside and outside of IBM, as an authority on usability. He has assisted IBM in Canada, New Zealand and Sweden in their implementation of Usability evaluation facilities and presented to international audiences in South Africa, Sweden and Belgium. He was a regular presenter at IBM's Executive Institute where, based on attendee's feedback, his was twice voted "Best Session". His views have been published in trade journals, including: IT Training, PC Week, PC World and The Mortgage Gazette.
Investigated the effect on the relationship between salesman and client when laptops were introduced as a sales-aid to insurance representatives. Using a combination of laboratory and on-site evaluations he was able to identify potential negative effects on the sales process and suggest changes to the application flow enhancing ease-of-use. The cumulative result of implementing his recommendations was an improved sales flow and an application that allowed salesmen to concentrate on their client whilst operating the laptop as the business processes demanded
In a major engagement for a leading international insurer, Phil carried out an assessment of the core systems supporting their international life business.
The assessment was carried out in Client offices in Greece and Poland as well as in the offices of the software developer in the UK; a key consideration was that the work should be non-disruptive. The Client has reported that the users involved appreciated the opportunity to contribute and felt that no disruption had occurred. As a result of the work, changes have been made in the application, documentation, training delivery and help provision which, when fully implemented, will improve system navigation, user productivity and user acceptance. The benefits gained from these changes justify the consultancy involvement many times over.
Investigated the existing procedures and systems used by the Client's three call centres and identified possible productivity gains of, at least 15%. He reviewed both legacy systems and a new intranet information system with the goal of developing or modifying procedures for call handling. Funding has recently been approved for the launch of several new projects based on his work.
Evaluated a tool for delivering information on the company's products and services through a browser based interface.
For the company it was the first attempt to use internet technology to deliver this type of reference material to its employees. Phil researched many of the techniques employed and was able to suggest improvements and alternatives. His recommendations have become the basis for future design of this type of delivery mechanism.
Provided on-site consultancy to ensure that the planned facility met the needs of the organisation. The facility was video based and Phil worked - on the client's behalf - with the video contractor to specify the equipment and define the layout. In addition, he developed the evaluation methodology and a training programme for the facility.
The new laboratory is still being implemented.
Phil has very broad experience of the IT industry. He has excellent customer relationship skills and has succeeded in every position he has held. He is comfortable with a wide range of personal computer software (Lotus 1-2-3, Word-pro, Ami-pro, Freelance and Notes. Corel Draw, Project Managers Workbench, Netscape, Microsoft Word, ..... ). He is also familiar with Windows 3.x and '95, OS/2 (all versions), GML and HTML. He is capable in internet and intranet page design and maintains the home page for his cycling club as well as implementing a web-site for the 'old-boys' association of his school (he is a past president).
His strengths are in communication, presentation and relationships.
Now I know that the folks that write the software that does gif animation like to know if individual gifs were produced with a registered copy of their application but I don't know how to tell whether they were or not. If somebody would like to tell me how, I'll check.
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