Meet The Analyst Covering Design Workflow: Sheila Mahoutchian
What Topics Will You Be Covering At Forrester?
I’m excited to dive deep into coverage areas revolving around design workflows, tools, and services for the customer experience (CX) function. Some buckets I hope to explore in this realm include:
- Design thinking in practice and how to make it accessible, specifically for collaboration teams that work with design and CX professionals.
- Service design tools that enable a connected conversation throughout the process of digital reinvention or new service offerings.
- Design for work, which will investigate the ROI of employee-facing CX and how to apply design to positively affect change.
- General design service engagement and tools, helping clients sort through the sea of options to optimize their approach and ambitions for their own CX efforts.
Tell Us About Yourself!
I call myself a third-culture kid; my parents are Persian immigrants, and I was born in upstate New York. That experience, along with growing up in North Carolina, has embedded within me a practice of occupying the space between binary extremes and of examining and dissecting most blindly accepted assumptions with a fine-tooth comb.
As a result, I constantly challenge myself to embrace fear. I spend hours contemplating unsolvable philosophical quandaries on the state of being human, and I have adored the game of chess since I learned it from my dad at age seven. I also haven’t had a car in 20 years — I instead drive a motorcycle —get excited by complex and unrealistic DIY projects, and recharge by getting lost in the woods with nothing but a backpack for days on end.
I’ve moved similarly through the world in my career as a designer, constantly reinventing, building my understanding, and pushing the envelope on new ways that design might be able to make a difference in the world around us. I’ve worked in multiple design functions, contexts, and capabilities, advocating for the power of design as I’ve iterated my role from visual design in print to interaction, to agency, to in-house, to consulting and business development, to design strategy. I have experience as an individual contributor and design practitioner, as a facilitator and workshop designer for design thinking workshops, and as a strategist on multimillion-dollar digital transformations. I’m so excited to finally bring this knowledge to the table at Forrester to help clients both challenge their own thinking and reach further than they think they can go.
What Are The Key Issues In Design Workflow Right Now?
I’ve watched the world mature its understanding of design and what it can bring to the table to help leaders make decisions and solve problems, but I’ve also watched clients struggle to place value on this impact and instead prioritize practical realities over visions of possibility. But at the end of the day, businesses exist to serve the needs of humans, and design can keep us focused on that critical impact goal. In every role I’ve had, I’ve advocated passionately for design’s capability to understand and meet human needs, but I have also learned along the way that design cannot succeed in a silo; it requires business and technology professionals to work collaboratively to fully realize its potential. Enabling this collaboration should be every CX, design, technology, and/or innovation strategist’s priority, regardless of background or discipline.
Are You Available For Inquiries And Briefings?
Absolutely, I’ve been taking briefings and inquiries since my first week. Please feel free to reach out, especially if you have thoughts or questions on design workflows, tools, or service providers.