After my PhD I returned fulltime to the commercial world, spending the next few years leading and advising the UX function on complex enterprise scale IT projects. But again I was frustrated; both at the intrinsic inefficiency of the UX functions themselves and how poorly UX was integrated with the wider System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Guess what, I set out to fix this!

Since 2012, I've been evolving an approach to the SDLC that blends elements of Soft Systems Methodology (SSM), UCD, Agile development methods, Agile UX, Lean Start-up and Lean UX. Key to this are what I call CIDS (Collaborative Interface Design Systems), such as Axure RP Pro.

I've used this approach several times now on large projects and the early indications are promising! Fortunately for me, helping organizations transition to this approach involves lots of training, coaching, and mentoring; not only on the methodology, but also on the specific tools and techniques--something I still find the most rewarding part of my work.