Martin Gude
Strategic Catalyst for Digital Products
Profile
My name is Martin Gude. I am an experience strategist, product manager and agile enthusiast. I help people and teams generate exciting ideas and turn them into reality.
I focus on design strategy, using tools such as personas, scenarios, customer journeys, business model and value proposition canvases to create a product vision. I design and facilitate workshops using the Liberating Structures toolbox. I take the results as input for delivery. Then, I write user stories from a customer and experience perspective. I hold certifications from scrum.org (Agile Leadership, Product Owner, and Scrum Master) and APMG (Change Management).
With a strategic mindset and experience in product, programme and change management, I bring a mix of design and content work with project management and customer service.
Professional Experience
since Dec. 2017
Freelancer
Senior User Experience Consultant
As a freelance Senior User Experience Consultant, I help my clients to drive digital transformation. I help to implement agile methodologies and lay the foundations for further project growth. I also conduct strategic research and help my clients generate knowledge about digital transformation
Customers
- DACHSER
- Japan Tobacco International (via Blitzen, Berlin)
- innogy
Jan. 2020 – Sep. 2020
Senior User Experience Designer
Experience One is a digital agency with a strong focus on customer experience and digital platforms. With roots in the automotive industry, they take a customer-centric approach to solving problems.
My personal focus was on understanding and modelling user needs to inform product development. This ranged from designing and facilitating workshops to conducting user research and creating strategic assets such as personas.
Customers
- smart
- Mercedes-Benz Vans
- AOK Bundesverband
- KIA Europe
Oct. 2018 – Feb 2019
Senior Consultant
CGI is a leading IT consulting firm. I was responsible for employer marketing for the automotive cluster. I conducted strategic research, which was then translated into marketing materials. I was also responsible for mentoring junior colleagues to help them grow in their projects and careers.
Tasks
- Cluster Marketing
- Mentoring Junior Colleagues
June 2016 – Nov. 2017
Senior User Experience Consultant
MRM//McCann is the digital unit of the McCann advertising agency group. While working in the Frankfurt office, I specialised in user experience strategy for a large retail client.
I bridged the gap between the strategy and the user experience architecture units. My work ranged from strategic research translating user needs into requirements to writing user stories and creating wireframes. Furthermore, I was responsible to raise the User Experience voice in the scrum team and to drive decisions from that perspective.
Customers
- ALDI Nord
Oct. 2011 – May 2016
Freelancer
Senior User Experience Consultant
As a freelance senior user experience consultant, I focused on user experience design, information architecture and concept design, as well as strategic consulting.
The main target platforms of my work included desktop applications, mobile applications and web applications. I have also consulted on social media and marketing communications.
I have worked for Fortune 500 companies such as Deutsche Telekom and Daimler as well as small companies such as game publisher Red 5 Studios.
Customers
- Deutsche Telekom
- Daimler
- Direct Line Versicherung
- Red 5 Studios
- Congstar – Deutsche Telekom Group
- n-tv – RTL Group
May 2014 – June 2015
Chief Experience Officer & Head of Product
PR Germany is the in-house agency of the glass fittings company KL-megla. I was responsible for the strategic planning and development of the group's software products.
My main focus there was to build a team to create a new software product (TEYIA) to help glaziers plan, create and use glass installations. As Head of Product, I was responsible for translating customer needs into product requirements, user stories and epics. I also managed the development of the product.
I was also involved in business development aspects such as forecasting and staffing to set up a new company that would produce TEYIA.
Tasks
- TEYIA – a glass construction software
- Setup a new team for the development of TEYIA
- Develop early concepts of the software and envision a MVP
- Manage the requirements in a Scrum process
Mar. 2013 – Oct. 2013
Senior Information Architect
SapientNitro, now Publicis Sapient, is one of the world's leading agencies. Its studio in Cologne specialised in mobile projects for major clients.
During my time there, I integrated and extended our clients' interactive experiences to mobile platforms. This ranged from defining the strategic foundations to creating detailed specifications and interactive prototypes.
Customers
- REWE Supermarket
- Aegean Airlines
- Lufthansa German Airlines
- Miles & More (Lufthansa Group)
- AUDI
May 2008 – Sep. 2011
Consultant and Concept Designer
At nexum - a digital agency and consultancy based in Cologne, Germany - I worked as a consultant and concept designer specialising in user experience design for web applications.
My most important project was the website relaunch for Switzerland's largest retailer, Coop. I was responsible for the overall concept and interaction design of most of the web applications.
I was part of the editorial team that launched ux-zentrisch - one of the first German user experience blogs.
Customers
- Coop (Switzerland)
- REWE Supermarket and REWE Group
- Telefónica O2 Germany
- Soennecken
- Hertha BSC Berlin
- Deutsche Eishockey Liga (German Ice Hockey League)
Dec. 2003 – Feb. 2010
Freelancer
Concept Designer and Webdeveloper
While studying Media Informatics, I started working as a freelance concept designer and web developer.
In most of my projects I was responsible for the entire development process, from user experience design, information architecture and interface design to HTML implementation and CMS development.
Customers
- Samsung Electronics
- KL®megla
- FDP and Junge Liberale Oberberg
- Junge Union Oberberg
- nexum
- Agentur Lichtblick
- Agentur BO-TE
Jan. 2007 – Nov. 2007
Graduand: Consulting and Concept Design
I worked at Pixelpark as a graduand in the consulting and conceptual design department. I mainly worked within the European Union Information Society Technologies research project »LIVE – staging of Media Events«. I designed and developed a model for recommending interactive live television to viewers. This work served as the basis for my Master’s thesis.
Project
- Designing and developing a recommendation engine for interactive live TV - EU research project »LIVE - staging of Media Events«
Universities
Sep. 2004 – Jan. 2008
Media informatics, Master of Science
During my postgraduate studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, I focused on human-computer interaction, interaction design and digital media. I also took courses in development methodology, project management and accessibility.
I wrote my master's thesis in cooperation with Pixelpark within the research project "LIVE - staging of media events". The paper based on my thesis was accepted for EuroITV 2008.
Projects
- Master's Thesis: »Recommender Systems for Live-Transmission in interactive Television: Gathering and Rating User Feedback«
- MyFH project to develop a central directory server at Cologne University of Applied Sciences
Apr. 2004 – Aug. 2004
Computer Science, Master of Science
My main subjects at the University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg were colourimetry and colour theory, object-oriented component architecture, medical informatics and theoretical computer science.
Oct. 2000 – Mar. 2004
Media informatics, Bachelor of Science
During my bachelor studies I focused on human-computer interaction, project management in multimedia development and operating systems.
For my bachelor thesis, I evaluated the web-based e-learning course SIMATIC-telestart in cooperation with the Institute for Automation and Industrial IT at the Cologne University of Applied Sciences and Siemens.
Projects
- Bachelor's Thesis: »Usability Evaluation of a Web-based e-learning course«
- Mobile Media: Design an application with photo geocoding
- Concept design and development of an SMS server for communication between students and university
Honorary appointments
June 2018 – Sep. 2023
Co-Organizer of the Berlin Based User Experience Barcamp UXcamp Europe
Feb. 2015 – Jul. 2016
UX Camp West
Co-Organizer of the Düsseldorf/Cologne Based User Experience Barcamp UX Camp West
Apr. 2011 – Dec. 2014
Better Experience
Co-Organizer of the »Design for …« action conferences in Cologne
Publications
June 2008
Predicting future user behaviour in interactive live TV
Martin Gude, Stefan M. Grünvogel & Andreas Pütz. (2008). In Tscheligi, M., Obrist, M. & Lugmayr, A. (edt.), Changing Television Environments, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 5066, pp. 117-121, Springer Verlag
Nov. 2007
Martin Gude. Master's Thesis.
Skills
Languages
- German (mother tongue)
- English (fluent)
- French (fluent)
- Swedish (basic knowledge)
- Dutch (basic knowledge)
- Hebrew (basic knowledge)
Methods
- Customer Journeys, Business Model Canvas, Value Proposition Canvas
- Liberating Structures
- User Stories, User Story Mapping, Business Process Models
- Card sorting, ethnographic research and evaluation
- Personas, scenarios and usecases
- Wireframes and prototypes
Certificates
Tools
- Paper, pencils, flip charts, whiteboards and stickies
- Miro, Mural
- Axure RP, UXPin
- Jira, Confluence, git
- Microsoft Office, Apple Keynote and OmniGraffle
Contact
m@martin-gude.com
Profiles