Stefan Regehr
About Me
I lead UX Design at Arctic Wolf, managing a team of UX Designers, UX Researchers and UI Developers who research, collaborate, design and help implement the User interfaces for all Agile Development teams at Arctic Wolf. I help bridge the gap between Product Management and Application Development Teams by facilitating Design Workshops, leading Design Reviews and getting alignment with leadership to prioritize the most important User Experience Outcomes and plan research activities to uncover latent needs and innovative solutions.
I also have over 15 years experience designing and implementing web and mobile applications for K-12 Education, Higher Education and Enterprise markets. I have a designer's mindset and toolkit coupled with a developer's skillset and I enjoy the craft of building user interfaces that are both useful and a delight to use.
As a Design Leader my goal is to elevate and inspire my team by leading by example, supporting their growth and career progression, removing roadblocks and distractions, and supporting them through open, authentic, and transparent communication.
Stefan Regehr
I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me.Stuart Smalley
Product Design Strategy
UX Outcomes over Outputs
I believe that UX Research should be integrated into the development process and new features should be evaluated based on UX Outcomes and Success Metrics
Leverage Design Principles
I believe that every design decision should be well thought out and validated by core design principles that are specific to the user context and goals rather than opinion.
Collaboration & Shared Success
I believe that design should be informed by cross-functional roles and that designers should facilitate conversations from a broad range of stakeholders and even include them in UX Research.
Build Fast, Iterate and Test Frequently
I believe in rapid prototyping using whatever tools that suit the goal, whether it's Figma or an HTML prototype - the goal is to validate design ideas and success metrics.Featured Case Studies
Over the last 15 years I have designed and built dozens of new Web Applications, major features and enhancements, several Design Systems (D2L, InFlight and Arctic Wolf) and led several new products from conception to implementation in both Education and Enterprise markets. Here are a few projects that stand out from the bunch and best highlight my skills and experience.
Enterprise Employee Experience Platform for IBM
We partnered with IBM to design and implement an employee experience platform for their customers (mostly US Government agencies). I lead the research and discovery, design and implementation of a new Time Tracking application, Manager Approvals, Learning Management modules, and a Portal to tie it all together.
Business Problem
IBM had invested a lot of time and money in PeopleSoft tools but the User Experience was beyond bad. Users were unable to complete basic tasks and mobile devices weren't supported at all.
How our design solved the problem
We created a new Portal to centralize business functions, streamine workflows and create fully mobile solution to support and complement it. We rolled out a new Benefits Enrollment solution in under 4 months and feedback and Analytics showed a massive improvement in usage and satisfaction.
Challenges
IBM had very aggressive timelines so we needed to work fast and efficient. I created a process of regular reviews and direct contact with end users for immediate feedback on designs. It became logistically difficult to do this working with the client but we managed to build good relationships with one representative who helped improve the process.
What I learned
This project validated the investment in the Design System. Since we had to move very quickly to implement we leveraged the out-of-the-box components and design patterns establish in the InFlight Design System. Even though a Design System can be costly up front, the investment pays off pretty quickly.
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Design Systems at InFlight and Arctic Wolf
I have researched, designed and implemented several Design Systems in both Angular and React front-end frameworks.
Business Problem
InFlight Engineering teams were building a lot of the same features and functionality but there wasn't a centralized library of components or documentation to support them. This resulted in rushed implementations, lesser quality and increased maintainability cost.
How our design solved the problem
I advocated and received investment for the intitiative, hired two UI Developers and a UI Designer to design and implement the InFlight Design System. We ended up building a new Design System from the ground up (based on Nodejs and Angular and NPM for package management) and a repeatable process for incorporating new components and adding documentation. As a result, new implementation times were cut dramatically (3-4x) and quality and feedback from customers was dramaticly improved and seen almost immediate.
Challenges
It's difficult to argue for investment in a Design System when there's competing priorities and time commitments. We also had to build an entirely new build process and versioning system to ensure that we had full control over who and when new versions were rolled out.
What I Learned
Design Systems are an ongoing commitment and require investment and time allocation to keep them up-to-date. Just releasing is never enough - it's a new mindset shift and needs buy-in from everyone. It should be managed like a product and resourced with intention and measured by value added.
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HBS Online Learning
In collaboration with HBS, I lead the Design and Implementation of two new flagship products - D2L Calendar and D2L Seating Charts
Business Problem
Harvard Business school needed an online and mobile solution for the students in their Masters and Executive programs. They relied heavily on scheduling and content integration and chose to work directly with D2L to design and implement a solution.
How our design solved the problem
I lead the entire design process and worked directly with HBS to build two new Apps from the ground up Calendar and Seating Charts (Desktop, Ipad, and Mobile). We created a small team at D2L of all the best UI people (Platform and UX) and successfully launched two new Products D2L Calendar and D2L Seating Charts. Both tools were launched on time and used extensively by HBS Masters and Executive programs.
Challenges
HBS was a very demanding customer and the deadlines were almost laughable. I traveled to their campuses to meet with their leadership teams and directly with students to test features and improvements in a real-world setting. Because the timelines were so tight, we formed a dedicated team at D2L and relocated to a meeting room for two months to work in tight collaboration until the dev done date.
What I learned
This was such a challenging project on multiple fronts. I learned so many things during this project, most importantly the value and necessity of collaboration - both with the customer and internal teams to deal with and work around constraints without sacrificing quality.
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