Hi, I'm Randolph.
Let me introduce myself
I earned my Ph.D. in cognitive psychology from the University of Texas at Austin in 1978. I spent 21 years in industry, as a member of technical staff at Bell Labs, as a human factors scientist at IBM, as the first Usability manager at BMC Software, and as a co-founder of Austin Usability. I have spent the last two decades teaching the next generation of UX professionals, and human-computer interface scientists, at the UT-Austin School of Information, including one year as interim dean.
I am a UX generalist. I have applied and published articles about, a wide variety of UX methods, including remote usability testing, crowd-sourced usability testing, and the pluralistic usability walkthrough (which I pioneered).
I have co-edited two editions of the book Cost-Justifying Usability, which truly undergirds this current approach.
I was the 2017 User Experience Professionals Association (UXPA) Lifetime Achievement Award winner. I’ve been doing this UX stuff a long time and am eager to show you the amazing value of it.
And I believe strongly that we will need to craft this plan together. I will listen to your needs and wishes, and I will propose a course of UX work, but then we will fine-tune that plan together.
WHAT COLLEAGUES HAVE TO SAY
"As the old saying goes, Randolph Bias has forgotten more about usability than I ever knew. (Not that he's forgotten much; it's just that he knows that much more.) I would always trust his advice over mine, and recommend that anyone else do the same. And then there's the fact that he's an awfully nice guy."
Steve Krug, Author of Don’t Make Me Think and Rocket Surgery Made Easy: The Do-It-Yourself Guide to Finding and Fixing Usability Problems
Dr. Michele Peterson, User Experience Research Manager at Indeed.com
"Randolph is absolutely one of the best user experience professionals I have ever known. I have known him in person for 10 years now, but I actually "met" Randolph for the first time through reading his book, Cost-Justifying Usability. I have always appreciated the advice and guidance that he has given me. You'll be hard-pressed to find anyone kinder or more knowledgeable."
"Dr. Bias is a leading authority in the field of usability engineering, evidenced by his exceptional work, and numerous awards, honors, as well as publications. His skillset includes an impressive list of competencies and methodologies for collecting user data, and he has the experience and discernment to know which strategies will gain the most insights and provide the best return on investment. Bias also brings with him a healthy balance of feasibility and business acumen to every project. He breaks down ‘usability engineering’ to be easily accessible to the non-expert, as well as bringing joy and wonder to the discovery process. I highly recommend both his work and process!"
Natalie Miller, Creative Director of Digital Products at Under Armour
Jon-Eric Steinbomer, Co-Founder & Research Director, Progress UX Research
"Randolph has a unique talent for not only identifying opportunities for usability enhancements, but also for seeing the big picture and understanding exactly how those enhancements will benefit the business. Conveying usability recommendations across the organization can be challenging, but this is where Randolph shines as a gifted, thoughtful communicator. Randolph has a way of delivering findings and recommendations in a manner that is both approachable and authoritative."
"I’ve known Randolph since the early 90’s when we were both at IBM, and have had the genuine pleasure of really getting to know him and work with him during his time at UT Austin. OpenText has partnered with Randolph and the School of Information since 2009 with an extensive array of projects in which he and his students delivered amazing value through research, usability testing, and impressive reports with actionable results. While Randolph is one of the true leaders within the UX discipline with vast knowledge of the field, the fact that he is genuine and a man of integrity makes working with him an even easier choice."
Tony Haverda, Senior Director, UX Design, Product Information, Localization, OpenText