Beyond Personas: Designing with Jobs-to-be-Done in Mind with Michele Oliver

Beyond Personas: Designing with Jobs-to-be-Done in Mind with Michele Oliver, Ph.D.

Tuesday, September 23rd at 6:00 PM to 7:30 PM ET.
This is an online event.

Tired of vague personas and guesswork? The Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) framework offers a powerful lens for understanding what truly drives user behavior. In this session, we'll break down how JTBD helps uncover the real motivations behind choices, align cross-functional teams around customer needs, and prioritize product decisions that solve the right problems.

Whether you're a UX professional, product leader, or researcher, you'll leave with practical strategies to put JTBD into action, grounded in real examples and ready for immediate use.

About our speaker: Michele Oliver, Ph.D.

Michele L. Oliver, Ph.D. is a Principal UX Researcher at Ellucian, a leading educational technology company, where she drives research strategy for global digital products focused on improving student and institutional outcomes.

With over 10 years of experience, she brings deep expertise in qualitative and quantitative research methods, user-centered design, and data-driven decision making.

Dr. Oliver holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Experimental Psychology from Central Michigan University, where she specialized in sychophysiology, statistics, and research methods, and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the NYU Tandon School of Engineering (formerly Polytechnic University).

She began her career in academia as a professor of Statistics and Research Methods at Texas State University. During her tenure, she also served on evaluation teams assessing educational and community programs, merging her passion for teaching with real-world impact through data analysis, interpretation, and reporting.

Before joining Ellucian, she worked at Newell Brands as a Senior UX Researcher, where she helped improve consumer product experiences through evidence-based design recommendations. Across sectors, she is known for her ability to synthesize complex data into actionable insights that improve products, systems, and services.

Connect with Michele:
LinkedIn

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About UX Akron
Haven't attended a UX Akron event before? This is a perfect time to get to know some amazing User Experience people, ask questions if you are interested in UX as a career, and learn about UX happenings in Ohio (and beyond).

This is an online event.