Richard Howard

“Richard and I worked closely on the AWS Panorama project, where he led and managed a team of UX designers. The project was one of the most challenging ones, with different user personas involved in the product journey. Richard put himself in the customer’s shoes and created UX designs that were intuitive and well appreciated by users. His ability to understand the big picture while not missing out on the details was outstanding, making the UX flow seamless and easy to follow. Richard is thoughtful, providing strong design insights that are backed by research and experience. Richard is well respected across the team for his unique insights and valuable perspectives. He is an excellent asset to any team with his creative thinking and collaborative style, and I would love to work again with Richard. ”

“For 7 years, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Richard Howard on several Autodesk UX Design initiatives spanning web, mobile and desktop software solutions for a broad range of industry segments and applications. We worked together on platform capabilities and first experience design patterns when Richard was on the suites and web services team. We also worked on point solution enterprise software products, an online marketplace, and Experience Design community events such as the “X Summit” series. I’ve always respected how Richard combines his excellent UX design craft, refined by years of solving thorny UX design challenges, with his ability to dive deep into the latest disruptive technologies, exploring this intersection and the potential experience innovation he can uncover. Richard is deeply skilled in fluidly applying design thinking frameworks as an integral way of working. While we were each leading different teams and initiatives, Richard and I frequently worked together to help ensure end-to-end customer journeys and respective touch-points were cohesive and frictionless in preparation for Autodesk’s migration from a perpetual license to subscription business model. I truly appreciated Richards relentless focus on the nuances of holistic customer experience, that helped enable Autodesk’s successful migration to a cloud-based XaaS subscription ARR business model. It’s wonderful to see Richard is continuing to design and deliver disruptive next generation customer experiences with his teams. If you’re looking for a Professional UX/CX Design Leader that is on top of their game, I highly recommend reaching out to Richard! ”

“Richard is one of the most talented designers I have worked with. His knowledge is astonishingly broad and his experience is deep. He has developed brilliant solutions to thorny problems that created elegant experiences while being technically sound. He not only knows his stuff, he knows himself. I learned a lot from working alongside Richard and look forward to working with him again. ”

“I worked as a researcher with Richard and his design team at Autodesk on a initiative to improve the first experience and account management for customers. Richard’s talent for understand complex technical constraints and dependencies while championing simplicity and experience is impressive. His design leadership transformed the way customers relate to Autodesk today. Not only did Richard bring a strong creative vision to his team, he always made time to mentor and grow designers and researchers. Richard’s impact at Autodesk was huge. He was responsible for innovative features on Autodesk Geospatial products, Infraworks, and the transformation to a cloud licensing system. I recommend Richard for any design or product related leadership role.”

“Working with and learning from Richard while designing desktop and web software experiences at Autodesk has been a real pleasure for me. His extensive and varied experience spanning across human factors, interaction design, technical software development, as well as architecture make him an extremely well-rounded and sharp user experience professional. Moreover, I deeply appreciated Richard's constant willingness to collaborate and help at all times, his ability to truly listen, always constructively criticise, and his optimistic realism. I wholeheartedly recommend Richard as a software product design and development leader.”

“Richard has been a great client to work with over the past 10years. He is extremely thoughtful and considerate in the way that he approaches solving a problem. By always questioning the “why” and “what if” we were able to produce some amazingly innovative solutions. Some of which were filed for patents. Overall, I would hands down recommend Richard for any digital user experience project / challenge to solve. I look forward to being able to continue to work with Richard on perhaps the next big “why” and “what if” project! 😊”

“I worked with Richard on and off for a number of years. I always found his input valuable and insightful. Richard's communication and work style is collaborative and respectful. Discussions with Richard are a delight - and a chance to be rewarded with interesting (and usually correct) alternative points of view. I would definitely jump at the chance to work closely with Richard.”

“I have Richard to thank for my understanding of the space I currently work in. When I first came onboard the install, updates and product delivery team at Autodesk, he patiently explained the background of the team as it had evolved in his many years at the company, and the various ideas that he and his team had proposed over the years. He no longer worked in my team but was so enthusiastic about sharing his learnings and ideas in order to help us make better future decisions. Richard's explanations are very eloquent, and he is able to present workflows in a very succinct yet meaningful way. I was able to follow along complex backend system interactions that get triggered by user events without prior knowledge of certain behaviors because of the way he was able to explain it. I would recommend his strategic thinking and presentation skills. He would be an asset to user experience related fields, especially involving complex ideas as he is able to distill the conversation to the important factors that affect a user's workflow, and what should be hidden but still performed by backend systems.”

“I worked closely with Richard on creating a new platform experience. His experience solving complex problems in a collaborative process allowed the UX team to create a vision for the product and articulate it across teams. Richard elevated the design thinking of our team by keeping us connected to customer needs, and bringing in the right method at the right time. Richard applies design systems thinking - taking multiple scenarios into account and then creating usable and logical framework. His design leadership has had a deeply positive impact on the UX culture and the platform. ”

“I had the pleasure of working with Richard in 2017. He impressed me with his keen intellect, his vast knowledge of anything relating to UX at Autodesk. Richard is a masterful storyteller, and can explain complex concepts in an elegant and eloquent way. This, coupled with his sense of humor, make him a wonderful colleague.”

“I worked with Richard for several years at Autodesk for Geo-spatial Team. He mentored me on many aspects of AutoCAD Map Testing and Automation. He is extremely knowledgeable with User Experience and design principles. He is visionary, passionate, and intelligent and goes above and beyond. I loved working with Richard and would highly recommend him for a leadership role in user experience team.”

“I worked on various projects with Richard for 12 years. He is an amazing human being who rocks the profession. He manages people and projects with a keen awareness of the entire picture. He can focus on individuals, mentoring and advising, as well as dive in himself to tackle highly technical challenges, big and small. He makes sure things get done efficiently, delivering the best customer experience in a timely fashion. When our paths did part, we often caught up at work-related conferences, as his passion for continuous learning and sharing what he know is endless. Richard may be a published author with several patents to his name, but I recommend him because he is one of the kindest and most caring people I've ever worked with. A powerful leader and a assign-it-and-forget-it contributor, Richard is up to any business challenge you have for him.”

“Richard took a chance on me right out of school. He was my first manager and set a high standard for design leadership for my career going forward. He guides design teams with a unique ability to connect creativity and innovation with business and organizational value. This skill is hard to come by but one of the most valuable assets he brings to leading design teams (designers are notoriously blue sky thinkers, albeit often impractical :). I also appreciated that he was an advocate for the design team. As any situations arose, you can count on him to do what’s necessary to correct them. Additionally, he maintains an intuitive sense of when people need help, and how to challenge others to do their best work. I can credit much of my development as a designer to the lessons he taught me over the course of my first several years at Autodesk. Strong design leaders are hard to come by and in my decade in the industry, I can’t point to any that match the strategic design leadership skillset Richard possesses.”

“Richard’s skills are a rare combination of strategic vision, creative leadership, and forward-looking product design. The impact he had on products and services at Autodesk is undeniable. Many critical initiatives that sparked from Richard’s vision range from reimagining software delivery and licensing to new innovations for software tools for civil infrastructure, building, and construction. The depth of knowledge Richard has on technology, customer centered experience design, usability, and research practices never ceased to amaze me. I had the pleasure of working closely with Richard on a complex, cross-organizational platform project at Autodesk. Interacting on almost daily basis, I was always delighted to work with Richard. His support for younger designers and other team members enabled success for everyone on the team. I loved working with Richard, and would jump on an opportunity to work with him again. I warmly recommend Richard to any product and experience leadership role.”

“Richard and I have worked together for several years in parallel roles working to align our customer experience around software access, download, and install. Richard is deeply analytical thinker with a keen eye for systems-level details, while his designs are methodical and well-organized. I found Richard a pleasure to work with!”

“Of the many Experience Design professionals I've worked with over the years, Richard stands out as one of those rare individuals who is able to draw upon a deep and broad range of interdisciplinary skills to develop and articulate innovative solutions to complex design and related business problems. During the time we worked at Autodesk, I found Richard to be a truly indispensable member a cross-functional team that successfully re-imagined and executed on the company's transition from desktop to cloud application value, and perpetual to subscription licensing. I also was extremely impressed by Richard's customer skills, and had the pleasure participating in numerous interactive sessions he led at Autodesk's annual customer event, AU. I highly recommend Richard as a Design and Product Leader, who would be a phenomenal addition to any company lucky enough to have him.”

“Richard was the key user experience architect for Autodesk Geospatial products. At the time, we were working on delivering value to existing customers through better data integration as well as working on innovative new products such as 3D Geo and Infraworks. Richard always struck me as a thoughtful and resourceful UX leader. He led a strong UX team made up of a dozen designers in 5 time zones that consistently delivered high quality work. Over the years, Richard worked on a number of notable projects ranging from the reimagining of desktop software delivery via a cloud service and on supporting new eCommerce/buying models and user experience. Richard also contributed to our development community and culture and actively participated in our annual technical and design summits. I enthusiastically recommend Richard to any team that is looking for an experienced user experience leader.”

“Having worked with Richard for a number of years, I know of his great dedication to understanding customer needs and workflows, and leading in devising seamless solutions to address these needs. Combined with his strong communication skills and team focus, Richard would be a highly valuable addition to any venture”

“I've had the opportunity to work with a fair number of Software Designers: many were self-appointed "UX specialists"; only a few were truly inspired masters of the craft. I place Richard very clearly in that latter camp. Unlike so many "wannabe's" of this day and age -- who seem to have strange contempt for the user, decreeing design dogma to the masses from some self-styled ivory tower -- Richard has never forgotten that Human-Computer-Interaction needs to put the human first and foremost in the design. The successes of his many accomplishments, including many aspects of Autodesk's Geospatial products, speak clearly to a philosophy of embracing the future, while not forgetting that it's all about the User's ability to use the product naturally and easily. I very much enjoyed working with Richard at Autodesk -- being a beneficiary of his well-thought-out designs -- and hope to be able to work with him again. Until that time, I'm sure that anybody else who works with him will come to the same conclusion.”

“Richard was one of my primary work contact for years when we developed Autocad Map. His responsibility was to create technical requirements and specifications for this product. In my recollection Richard was energetic and smart about everything he was doing. His documents was clear and detailed, which made it easy for developers to get to the implementation without much friction. I also would like to note that Richard impressed me as articulate and passionate in team discussions, presentations and other forms of communication with his colleagues and supervisors. In my opinion Richard would be a powerful addition to any software organization that require high-end designer with inclination to design architecture.”

“I've known Richard for over 30 years - first as a CAD Manager and Associate Architect of an award winning Architecture and Planning firm, then as a manager of a new line of business supporting hundreds of companies in CAD technologies and automation in Los Angeles and Orange Counties, and then after his move to full time software development at companies like Autodesk helping create CAD applications for millions of users worldwide. Richard is both visionary and technical, able to deal with the big picture as well as the nuts and bolts. He not only sees the future of how technology can be leveraged, but he actively builds it. We collaborated on several ventures over the years where these attributes made him a key contributor. More recently, his work at a scope and scale of products like Project Metropolis, and the impact it has made not just on his company, but on the industry, demonstrates his ability to envision and create amazing things. I have been impressed, but not surprised by Richard’s success. I'm ready to be impressed again and curious to see what he'll create next. ”

“I had the pleasure of working with Richard on a couple of occasions that involved novel concepts that we were considering for patent protection. My role was to review Richards invention and call attention to the innovative aspects. Richard was able to describe his invention in a clear, concise way that made it very clear that the invention was valuable and worth protecting. His written description as well as in person description streamlined our patent process and ensured that we got the invention on file in a timely way.”

“I had the good fortune to report directly to Richard early in my UX career. Richard’s analytic clarity, vast domain knowledge, and fair-mindedness were inspiring and enriching. He champions and cares about his team, and delivers tactful and effective design critiques. I'd gladly work with him again.”

“Richard is a rare talent, and a pleasure to work with. Yes, he has a very keen eye, and yes, his ability to grasp highly complex technical environments and somehow wrangle them into simple user experiences is uncanny. But what stood out to me most about Richard was the way he worked with others. It's how you work with those with less status that show your true character, and Richard proved to be a fantastic mentor and leader. I worked with Richard on Autodesk's transformation into a subscription based company. He brought clarity, focus, and collaboration into every meeting, and he inspired the best in those he worked with.”

“I worked closely with Richard on various projects for our Subscriber Platform Group. This team is responsible for many aspects of business transformation at Autodesk. With his years of experiences, he has the ability to effortlessly foresee potential obstacles, rapidly evaluate challenges and provide sound recommendations. The knowledge of Richard's discipline makes him valuable to any team he is apart of. Any team would be lucky to have Richard as a member.”

“As a UX designer, I have worked with Richard on several projects. Richard is an outstanding UX architect who is a rare mix of technical and design skills and great creativity. Richard has exceptional analytic skills. He is very sharp at pin-pointing the key of complicated problems and usually articulates them precisely and beautifully. He sees the corporate big picture while handles the technical details well. Richard has a solid technical background and tackles design challenges at the system level. Richard is very passionate about what he does and constantly provides great creativity to the team. I will highly recommend Richard to anyone who needs a seasoned design leader on their team.”

“As a principal engineer working in IT 15 years, I strongly recommend Richard as an excellent designer, persuading architect, accountable stakeholder, and well-respected leader. Managers, designers, engineers form up the team. They do not always play well together, in fact, most of the time not. It is commonly seen that one role blame the others for lack of transparency or proper reasoning. However, when working with Richard in last a few years, this is rarely happening to us. Richard not only provides clear, rational, user-friendly design guideline and spec, he also clearly communicate with the team and explain firmly from each role's own interest point of view. This requires profound cross-domain knowledge which covers from product management, project schedule, engineering technology and best practice. Often I'm surprised by his broad skill set and working experience, not limited to desktop software application but also inspiring thoughts on the web, mobile domains. It's truly pleasant working experience with Richard and I hope I have the chance to work with him again in future.”

“It's rare that you come across someone like Richard who has a combined deep understanding of User Experience, software architecture, business needs, and leadership expertise. I had the pleasure of working with Richard on several Autodesk projects through the span of a few years. These projects ranged from cloud-based software UX design, user flows, prototyping, and visual layouts, to name a few. Richard can take complex, multi-faced problems, then distill them into simplified workflows. He knows when to push the status quo, striving for optimal solutions. He is dedicated to his projects, friendly and approachable, and a pleasure to work with. I recommend Richard as a design leader and would be happy to provide more information as needed. ”

“I worked with Richard on several projects when in Autodesk. His tremendous experience and knowledge in UX design as well as domain in Geospatial products are very impressive. He is able to see the big picture and in the mean time, paying attention to the feature details. He is very adaptive, embracing the industry trend, learning quickly and applying the new skills to projects, e.g. moving from desktop products to cloud, and shifting to the new business model. Richard was a dotted line manager to the UX team of the Autodesk R&D Center in Shanghai. He was a great mentor to me through regular communication regarding project and team management. It was my pleasure working with Richard, and I recommend Richard as a strong design leader.”

“I worked with Richard on the same team since I joined Autodesk in 2015. I came from Marketing/Branding side of Visual design, and Richard was very patient with me help me understand the complex behavior of our products. Richard has such a deep knowledge of human interaction with a strong technical background, which always helped us understand what we can push more, and what are the limits. It was a great pleasure working with Richard, and I've learned a lot about Interaction design from him. ”

“Richard is a rare person who combines a deep understanding of software architecture, business savvy, and wide knowledge of best practices in user experience design. He is highly detail oriented, yet also keeps an eye on the big picture. He also is wicked smart and has a great sense of humor, which helped to make his presentations even more engaging. While I was at Autodesk, Richard and I collaborated on projects that involved Autodesk's new subscription business model. It was a great opportunity to brainstorm on wireframes, prototypes, usability testing, and visual design. I would highly recommend Richard to any team that is looking for a seasoned UX leader.”

“I highly recommend Richard as a design leader. He is a talented interaction designer, user experience architect and design manager. He is one of the best design planners I have has the pleasure to work with and helped to bring the level of our design practice up in the fundamentals of design ideation, workflow iteration, and executing on quality deliverables for software development. Richard was key to establishing our design review practice and transitioning the team to agile development from a waterfall process in a large, multi-product organization. No matter if it is elegantly integrating a new feature into an existing experience or leading the conceptual design of a new experience, he anchors his work to a solid design process and embodies the leadership skills to drive any project to market. Richard was the principle designer when we introduced Suites to Autodesk customers, including a new out-of-box experience that moved our customers from legacy DVD media to USB. Richard is very adept at understanding and pushing on technical constraints. In my experience at Autodesk, designing new capabilities into a complex engineering workflow can be much more difficult than simple device or web design. Richard has been able to consistently deliver complex and multi-faceted design programs across different disciplines within Autodesk's design customer base, from 2D and 3D experiences for architects to the purchasing and managing of customer entitlements in a cloud delivery model. Please contact me directly if you would like to hear more about my experience working with Richard. ”

“It was a pleasure working with Richard on a number of key initiatives. Although we're on different teams and based in different continents, Richard always made himself available to provide guidance to the projects we've been collaborating on. He's an excellent communicator. Be it over emails, voice calls or in person, you can be sure that he is delivering clear concise information that has already been well thought of. The nature of our projects involved deep thinking through multiple difficult and complex scenarios. Through our working sessions, I’m constantly impressed that Richard is able to consider these scenarios though in a snap, and quickly get a solution that meets both ends of the users and business needs. I strongly recommend Richard for any project needs, and would be happy to provide additional information as needed.”

“Richard is an experienced and talented UX Leader who can distill requirements and technical architecture to come-up with great solutions that solve customer and business needs. I had the pleasure of working with Richard during my tenure at Autodesk. We were on the Suites & Web Services team and Richard provided advice & guidance to key projects. I was impressed by Richard’s leadership in managing complex projects with teams across continents and continuously producing great experiences to customers. Richard’s calm demeanor, listening skills and thoughtful feedback are traits of a great leader. I would highly recommend Richard. ”

“I had the pleasure of working with Richard for a considerable length of time, both as a colleague and as his direct manager. Richard is an intelligent and skilled designer with the ability to see the big picture while still paying attention to the smaller details. I have seen Richard's work on several levels and I believe that he would be a valuable addition to any team seeking an experienced designer, whether as an individual contributor or as a design architect. Richard is also personable and easy to get along with and is a good team member. ”

“Richard is singularly effective. Working in a context of tumult, with constantly shifting requirements and management, he worked independently with development teams to deliver product after product. These were well-conceived, user-tested, and flawlessly executed. I remember remarking to colleagues “How does he DO that?” The answer, in part, is his quiet, mature demeanor, and his determined leadership.”

“I would like to recommend Richard to product management or product design roles. I worked with Richard on AutoCAD MAP product where he was a lead designer for multiple key features like Map3D Display Manager, Data Table, FDO integration, and Map Books. His innovative design defined AutoCAD Map for many years and contribute to substantial revenue growth. As a software engineer it was a pleasure and fun working with him. Richard is very collaborative, opened for other ideas and is willing to reasonably compromise. His designs are always clear and well thought. Richard will be an excellent addition to any teams and is capable of making immediate impact. ”

“I have worked with Richard for the number of years, when he was the leading designer for AutoCAD Map. Features like Map Display Manager, Data Table, FDO integration, Map Books. Always innovative and well thought through. I am saying this because I was developing some of them. He is also very responsible, keeping time table well. When we both left Map, Richard went working on Web applications, managing team of several designers, delivering various Autodesk commercial and internal products. He will be a good addition to any team. ”

“Having worked with Richard for a number of years, designing new products and strategies, I can honestly say he was one of the best teammates I had. It wasn't that Richard played the coconspirator role either. Rather, Richard always always always advocates for the customer, the users of the products. This meant, that as a teammate, he was always willing to challenge the status quo - and me, as a product lead - to take our customers into account, and to go to our customers to answer some of our biggest questions. In this, Richard was a terrific leader and designer! I would work with him again in a heartbeat!”

“Customer focused, problem solver, empathy for users, and a great listener are all traits I would use to describe my friend and colleague Richard Howard. I worked with Richard on a number of key projects at Autodesk and found that as a key collaborator, Richard would always put the customer first, understanding the needs of our target audience and then applying the right approach of UX towards solving their requirements. Richard would always bring a fresh approach to the table on how best to address the goals of our business. Richard has always been adept at gathering, analyzing, and utilizing feedback from users on their experiences with Autodesk products and services. He led our usability tests and research work as we worked together to solve our company’s problems. I would certainly work with Richard again, I find him to be a passionate professional who can balance his creativity with the requirements to grow the business. I would be happy to recommend him and would gladly provide my feedback as needed for any future opportunities. ”

“Richard Howard was my direct mentor and a respectable peer when I started working for Autodesk as UX manager for Shanghai R&D Center. During that exciting four years, I have worked closely with Richard on Autodesk Geo-spacial products like Map3D, Topobase, and LandExplorer, etc.. His leadership and extensive knowledge in design, user research, engineering and management, has made our cross-region design team (5 time zones) one of the most valuable resources in the company. During Autodesk's transition from a traditional desktop focus to cloud-based, Richard was always early in making plans and push for solid progress towards upcoming trends. For example, enabling online software delivery and installation in project Rover and later building new business models on cloud licensing system. With two decades of experience in UX design and product development, Richard would be a great leader to take any innovation-driven company to the next level, and I would not hesitate to recommend him. ”

“I worked with Richard as a UI software engineer for several years. It is vitally important for a UI designer and the programmer implementing a design to have a good working relationship in order to bounce ideas off one another. Richard was the right person to do design. He is open to criticism and at the same time defends his choices and doesn’t cave in to the easy way out. He is a superior designer and was a real pleasure to work with. He would be a wonderful addition to any software development effort.”

“I worked with Richard as part of the engineering team at The Archsoft Group and then at Softdesk prior to our acquisition by Autodesk. Richard's creative approach to problem solving blended with his technical analytical skills made him a true asset in our startup environment where everyone had to work in a multifaceted manner. I also enjoyed Richard's playful sense of humor and willingness to set aside time to help others whenever asked. ”

“I have worked with Richard over the last 10 years on several related projects as peers, either as UX Managers or UX Architects. But in my opinion, Richard has been a very influential UX Architect at Autodesk providing visions ranging from individual product features to company initiatives. Even though we were peers, I saw Richard as a mentor. Richard's biggest asset is his ability to see the future and translate that vision into reality by helping others to see the need and the future. He has been on the forefront of our geospatial products and was influential in acquisitions that are a big part of the future of Autodesk. More recently, we worked on projects related to a modernization of software delivery. Richard was early with the vision for Autodesk software and license delivery. This vision provided a solid foundation for the next team to build on, thanks to Richard. ”

“I have worked with Richard in his role as a UX Architect and involvement in the Subscriber Platform Group. Richard’s passion for the customer’s experience is clear, as is his sense of ownership and investment. He possesses a breadth of understanding of the customer, the business direction, UX design, and technical architecture. Beyond his own work in design and direction, I have experienced Richard to be extremely valuable as an adjunct and foil when pulled into meetings exploring new ideas or working through architectural problems. ”

“I worked with Richard extensively on Autodesk's geospatial and urban design products while I was product manager and later product line manager. Richard has a deep knowledge of UX and UI design, with a focus on not only how to make it usable but also to be useful. This requires not just understanding the user, but also stretching the user's imagination as to what "could be". A notable example of this was during the early stages of Project Metropolis - which would later evolve into the current Autodesk Infraworks product - we needed to create a compelling presentation of concepts that would engage and excite the potential user community. Richard created a series of mockups, videos, and prototypes that were used at conferences, focused workshops, and customer events. A testament to the quality of these is that I used them in 14 different countries to engage potential customers and users in discussion, and they consistently generated interest and useful input that helped set a validated product roadmap at that early stage.”

“Richard was our leader during our time at Autodesk Geospatial, which was one of my most challenging and involving times because the sheer amount of data, the technological prowess, how we could make sense of it and how we empower our users with tools to shape the world around them. Richard was a mentor and led by example. His strategic insights and vision made it simple for us to push the boundaries of what is possible and make things easier for our users. Richard’s design vision and concept on Project Metropolis made it simple to comprehend the cities of tomorrow in ways that made sense for our own products and users and provided a collective vision that was bold and yet motivated us to be better and strive towards a common goal. For a team spread across Asia, Europe and the Americas in five team zones, Richard was a mentor and he effortlessly juggled the matrix organization to make us all feel like part of the same team. He encouraged us to push the boundaries of what’s possible, thinking of new ways of making things simple through collaboration and a focus on our user. He also led by example, doubling up as a subject matter expert, thinking of new business and delivery models to bring cloud services to our customers, leading concepts on service and platform initiatives or when we initially started looking at new consumer markets when we transitioned from desktop to mobile and cloud services. Richard is a great leader and strategist and his all-round experience in product, design, research, technical and strategic background are keenly sought after by engineering, product and design teams. I had one of my most wonderful experiences learning and observing things under Richard and I still appreciate his advice and mentorship. ”

“Richard stands out to me among the UX professionals I have worked with for the way he has been able to elevate user experience into a broader solutions vision. Though he drove UX for a long stream of innovative products and initiatives, I think the visionary role he played on an internal concept-project, Project Metropolis, illustrates Richard’s unique set of skills best. As UX lead for Metropolis, Richard was a core team member and thought-leader on a project that ultimately established a new paradigm for how broadly-defined “geographical” data sets could be used by professionals and the public in conceptualizing infrastructure projects. The finished vision sent a powerful and positively disruptive ripple through the organization that not only reoriented Autodesk’s corporate strategy but ultimately played a role in reorienting the industry around broadly accessible visualization and analytical tools. Metropolis was truly a category-buster that drove some key corporate acquisitions and ultimately found expression in Autodesk Infraworks. It also, perhaps more importantly, anticipated the potential of cloud services, and its UX paradigms set the tone for Autodesk’s later initiatives in that area. I collaborated with Richard across corporate boundaries as a product line manager on Autodesk’s content and cloud platforms groups, which gives some sense of Richard’s influence within the organization. I found him to be an ideal combination of visionary but hardnosed, expansive-minded but disciplined about deliveries. He engaged with engineering and business partners with energy and curiosity, and unfailingly commanded his opposite numbers’ respect. I always found it educational and just plain fun to work with him, and that was his reputation throughout the organization. ”

“I worked with Richard as a Program Manager at Autodesk. He was a thoughtful product owner that I enjoyed working with. He had a good design sense and great ability to understand the product both technically and from a customer's perspective. I would be happy to work with him again, personally, and would recommend him for positions as a PM or manager.”

“Twelve years ago, when I joined Autodesk, Richard served as design lead for our geospatial product family. At that time, he mentored me in practicing product design for CAD products. He was very helpful and I was impressed with his deep knowledge in our customers workflow and with his thoroughness in exploring the problem space. Richard has a strong passion to make our enterprise products powerful yet intuitive to use. He worked with the team to practice User Centered Design by conducting contextual inquiry and enforcing usability study at various phases of the product development. As UX architect, Richard is always able to see farther and shows people a big picture. He can pinpoint customers pain points and call for designers attention to address those issues. Over years, it proves that many customer challenges that he pointed out and persisted working on are the right ones to solve. Richard closely follows the technology trend and sees potentials to apply new technology into our products or services to address customer issues. I always feel enlightened talking with Richard. He can be of great value to any design team that want to solve complex reality issues. ”

“I loved working with Richard at Autodesk in so many ways: First, he pays attention to research and can conduct usability tests with as sound a protocol as anyone on the research team. He’s not just a UI/UX designer. He's what I’d call a true “full stack designer” in that he can design, engineer, test, and product manage a new experience from soup to nuts. He’s also a natural systems thinker with a passion for incorporating emerging technologies into his work – not because he can, but because he sees how an experience could be improved with it. Richard is an incredibly intelligent, deeply knowledgeable, and kind person who I often turn to for guidance. I miss working with him.”

“Richard is very competent technically, and passionate about making complex software work intuitively for users. I've been in many meetings where he was an outspoken user advocate. Sometimes there's a developer or two who genuinely doesn't understand, and occasionally there's someone in the room who simply prefers to take a route that would be easier for the developer, but harder for the user. Richard's an especially good person to have on your team during those situations, because he's able to educate and convince while keeping things friendly.”

“Richard is a “tell-it-like-it-is” kinda’ guy and I always value his honest and thoughtful perspective even when we passionately disagree. He is a savvy strategic thinker and natural leader, widely respected for his depth and breadth of experience at Autodesk where we worked together for over a year as part of the Subscriber Platform Group. Richard is the one who would connect all the dots, and was generally the one I would first turn to when I needed to understand some business nuance or historical context at Autodesk. He was truly the cornerstone to the team. I feel fortunate to have worked with Richard, and would gladly recommend him as a design lead or design leader.”

“I've been working with Richard on countless number of projects during our long years at Autodesk. It brings up some really good memories - he always found the way to come up with an elegant UX/UI solution that not only would make customers happy, but also accounted for reasonable implementation efforts. Besides that I know Richard as a very intelligent and likable person, somebody you enjoy being around. I miss those days we were working together and would certainly recommend Richard to any group who is in need for a smart UI/UX brain; you will not regret! ”

“I worked with Richard for many years at Autodesk. He is a skilled designer and leader. He designed many large and innovative features for Autodesk Map that improved usability and customer experience significantly. As a leader, he contributed to building and mentoring the Map design team. He would be an asset to any growing or mature design team.”

“Richard Howard is a dynamic, talented, brilliant experience designer at the top of his craft. I’ve had the pleasure of working with him, both directly and indirectly during our decade of overlapping service together at Autodesk. We were on the Suites and Web Services team together for many years, and while we worked on different projects there, we sat in regular weekly design reviews of one another’s work. Richard was a respected UX manager at the time, and I always appreciated his crisp feedback during these sessions and the way he supported his team. His deep knowledge of our customers, his passion for professional experience design as a discipline, and his mastery of the extremely complicated technical and business requirements which formed the boundaries of this chapter of his practice yielded fantastic results for Autodesk: Under Richard’s leadership his team somehow made the previously tedious experience of acquiring and installing Autodesk's products not just tolerable, but genuinely informative, elegant and delightful. For the past few years Richard has also been a rock star photographer and conference lead for a volunteer event photography team that I organize at Autodesk. He has the eye, the stamina and the technical chops of a professional event shooter, to be sure, but he also knows how to manage and mentor a team of volunteers successfully through a stressful, multi-day conference shoot, all while keeping internal customers happy. Richard has been relentlessly and selflessly supportive of the project, generously giving of his time, experience and leadership — a real team mate.”

“It's a real pleasure to work with Richard. He has very deep and wide GIS knowledge, has very strong technical skills and is very sharp in interaction design. This addition of knowledge makes of him the perfect product design manager for a geospatial business unit. Richard is also able to manage, mentor, coach and guide other designers. He has a very precise way of communicating and can lead and build high performing team.”