Practitioner Profile: Brandi Brandy BarnetteWe are fortunate to have two Practitioner Profile's Profiles in this month's issue of embedded!
Brandy Barnette is the lead for the Human-Centered Design and Lean/Agile Centers of Excellence, as well as the ISG Comms Lead. In her roles, Brandy is responsible for oversight of the HCD Center of Excellence and the Lean Agile Center of Excellence, to include reviewing the services being provided by both centers and making recommendations on improvements. Brandy also serves as liaison between ISG leadership and the centers of excellence.
What’s a typical day like for you?
Lots of meetings! :) Typically there are ceremonies set up (backlog refinement, feature refinement, iteration review) that are routine and happen on a regular cadence and then there are additional meetings, either from ISG or from CCSQ that are monthly that require attendance as well. When not meeting, I am reviewing completed features for sign-off as done. How does your job promote better practice of Human-Centered Design at CMS?
Serving as the lead for ISG, I am able to reach all of the ISG programs to ensure that they are using HCD for their projects and work to set them up if additional help is needed in getting the teams to use HCD in their work. Is Human-Centered Design important? Why?
It is important because without it, developers are designing in the dark so to speak. Without knowing what the end users' pain points are with a current system, then systems are designed as we (CMS) think they should be and that may not be helpful for the end users. Creating empathy for what the end users need help developers be successful in releasing system updates. What do you feel makes Human-Centered Design unique?
It is a shift in mindset. There hasn't always been a concern for what end users feel about a system...it's been more of what the organization needs to obtain in order to for instance, calculate quality measures or determine payment without thinking of what adding additional items or additional tasks for end users would do to them. HCD makes you stop and think how this will impact our end users and does this take away from the quality care that we are trying to ensure our providers are giving. Can you provide an example of HCD methodologies being applied to a project/program that has proven more successful than otherwise would have been had HCD not been applied?
Using HCD to interview end users about pain points in current reporting systems while creating a new reporting system. One pain point is having to have so many clicks to get to a certain report and so the developers learned from HCD that reducing the number of clicks to get to the needed information is helpful to making the users of the system more successful. What do you think are the best skills that you bring to your job?
I think by being a nurse, I understand HCD as important because I have been an end user impacted by changes to documentation that took away from being able to provide good care to my patients. That empathy helps me to be able to communicate that importance from a more personal perspective. If I weren't so damn good at my job, I'd probably be...
Taking a whole lot of vacations that involve beaches and water The most important thing I learned before I finished high school was...
Family is everything! My favorite person, people, or thing(s) is...
My parents. What are you happiest doing, when you’re not working?
Reading. Throughout your career, who is someone you admire, acted as a mentor, and/or changed the way you perform your job?
My mentor was an awesome Navy Captain who took me under his wing when I was working for the Navy as a contractor. He helped me to stop muting myself or making myself smaller to appease other coworkers. Through his mentorship, I gained confidence to speak up when I do not agree with something instead of keeping quiet just to keep the peace. What is a cause or charity that you care about?
St. Jude's Children's Hospital The best piece of advice I've ever been given is...
"The best leaders can also follow." On Sunday mornings, you can usually find me…
In bed if I'm not working weekends once a month Which magazine would you take on a long flight?
I'd rather have a book! If I weren't so damn good at my job, I'd probably be... Taking a whole lot of vacations that involve beaches and water Cats or Dogs (or Other)?
Both. The most important thing I learned before I finished high school was... Family is everything! My favorite person, people, or thing(s) is... My parents. If I could invent a holiday, it would definitely involve...
Food! I would just reinvent Thanksgiving because it's my favorite. Flashback to when you were 10 years old. What did you want to be when you grow up?
I wanted to be a secretary like my mother was at the time What is a cause or charity that you care about? St. Jude's Children's Hospital :: THANK YOU FOR SHARING BRANDY! ::| Panel |
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| Brian Flaherty
Brian is currently a Senior Design Strategist with the Human-Centered Design Center of Excellence (HCD CoE). The HCD CoE is an organization that impacts the way the CCSQ delivers policy, products and services to its customers. Brian has been a graphic designer for more than 25 years, and has been practicing human-centered design for 11at least 13. Prior to joining Tantus as an HCD Strategist, Brian spent 12 years as a Creative Director, Communications Supervisor, and HCD Practitioner at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory supporting classified and unclassified communications, primarily for the Department of Defense. Brian holds a BA degree from the University of Pittsburgh where he majored in Creative Writing and Public Relations. Brian is happily married, has a daughter just about ready to begin college, and considers two cats, two dogs, 26 chickens, three ducks, a crested gecko, and an Alpaca named Skinny Pete as his step children. |
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