SOFACONF - Key Persons

Job Titles:

• Director of M & C Saatchi Saturday School
• Head of Strategy and Research

As Head of Strategy and Research at COMUZI a design invention studio Akil works with global brands to develop new digital products, services and experiences. In his work he has produced work for BBC, B+A, Samsung, ustwo, adidas and Mozilla. Akil is also the Director of M&C Saatchi Saturday School, where he leads a development initiative helping underrepresented communities start businesses around the world. As of June 2020, the school taught its 300th business. Organiser of a programme to mentor 300 Black business, from a recent crowdfunding campaign, Akil is determined to progress a community of strong small businesses. With a background in Biology and a deep interest in people, Akil works to develop products and services and experience which benefit the community.

Job Titles:

• Content Designer and Design Systems Expert

Amy is a content designer and design systems advocate. She has recently finished a role as Product Manager for Babylon Health's design system. Prior to joining Babylon, Amy 3 years working as a Senior Content Designer at the Government Digital Service. In that time, she led the content strategy for the GOV.UK Design System, including a straightforward and inclusive approach to documentation.

Job Titles:

• Board Member of Loch Lomond
• CEO / Snook
• CEO of Snook
• Chief Digital Officer for Northgate Public Services

Sarah is the Chief Digital Officer for Northgate Public Services and CEO of Snook. She is a designer and serial idea generator. She co-founded Snook, MyPolice, CycleHack, Dearest Scotland, Alloa Pride and The Matter. For this work she was awarded a Google Fellowship for her work in technology and democratic innovation and named as Good magazine's 100 extraordinary individuals tackling global issues in creative ways. Sarah was given an honorary doctorate from the Glasgow School of Art for services to design in 2019. In 2018 Sarah was named by Nesta and the UK's mainstream publication the Observer as a New Radical, individuals who are tackling society's biggest challenges. Daily, Sarah is the CEO of Snook, an award winning global design consultancy based in London and Glasgow and the Chief Digital Officer of Northgate Public Services, supporting the business to design and deliver services fit for the 21st century. Snook are on a mission to design a world where people and planet thrive. Sarah is a board member of Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park, WithYou a mental health charity and Settle a charity dedicated to tackling the causes of youth homelessness. She is a fellow of the RSA, sits on the Mayor of Hackney's Digital Advisory Board, and is a fellow at the Edinburgh University centre for Service Excellence

Job Titles:

• Designer, Author
• Designer, Strategy Consultant, Coach, and Author

Josh Seiden is a designer, author and coach who works with teams to create great products and services and help companies create the culture, processes and practices to do great work. He helps teams solve real problems for customers and create value for businesses. He also works as a coach to help teams improve the way they work, build more effective collaborations, and enjoy the journey of product development. He's a co-founder of Sense & Respond Press, a micro-publisher that creates short, focused books on innovation, digital transformation, and product management. And he's the author of "Outcomes Over Output" (S&R Press) and the co-author of two books: "Sense & Respond" (from Harvard Business Publishing) and "Lean UX" (from O'Reilly).

Job Titles:

• Director of Housing and Land Transformation / UK Government
• Director of Housing and Land Transformation for the UK Government

Lou Downe is Director of Housing and Land transformation for the UK Government, based at Homes England and author of Good Services - a book about how to design services that work.

Job Titles:

• Principal Product Designer

AB testing is one of the tools that is used to validate product, design and engineering decisions whether that's testing a different image, string of text, to testing a completely new feature. In this talk, Sim Wishlade will talk through lessons learned from AB testing during his time at OpenTable: what feels right to you often isn't right at all, when tests win but aren't the right thing to do, and making sure you're set up to give your tests the best chance of winning. His goal for this talk is to help those that would like to get into AB testing but unsure of where to start, and once started how to avoid some of the common pitfalls and lose less - helping your work have more impact on the business and helping it to grow.