Jesse James Garrett

Apropos of nothing, here’s an appreciation of my Adaptive Path co-founders, and especially their careers after AP:

Indi Young went from being the elusive mystery founder who was rarely seen in public to an internationally acclaimed author and speaker. Her groundbreaking mental model methodology continues to influence research and strategy practices even as her work has delved deeper into the mechanisms of interpersonal connection. She’s the author of the books Mental Models, Practical Empathy, and Time to Listen.

Lane Becker has been a product startup founder and advisor to VCs, but his long career of leadership in organizations like 18F and Code for America—not to mention his current role as President of Wikimedia (as in Wikipedia)—highlights his deep belief in the power of technology as a public good. Lane is co-author of the book Get Lucky (with his Get Satisfaction co-founder Thor Muller).

Jeffrey Veen left Adaptive Path to join Google when they acquired our product Measure Map. His team then transformed Google Analytics before they eventually left and reformed, Terminator-like, to start Typekit. Jeff joined Adobe when they acquired Typekit, where he casually helped them reinvent their entire business model. Of course, by the time we started AP, he’d already written the books The Art and Science of Web Design and HotWired Style (1997 y’all!).

Janice Fraser has been a product startup founder, consultant, and advisor to entrepreneurs whose work brought human-centered thinking to lean product development. She’s also been a passionate advocate, mentor, and straight-up inspiration for the next generation of women entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley. She’s co-author of the book Farther, Faster, and Far Less Drama (with her co-founder Jason Fraser).

Mike Kuniavsky went on to create the UX practice at Xerox PARC, where he became head of design before moving on to Accenture Labs. Meanwhile, his Sketching in Hardware conference has been a highlight of the IoT community for more than a decade and a half. Mike’s books include the IoT book Smart Things and the classic Observing the User Experience (with Dr. Elizabeth Goodman and Andrea Moed), still going strong after 20 years (!).

Peter Merholz‘s career as a design executive in companies large and small led him to dive deep on the organizational challenges facing design teams. He’s now a consultant and advisor helping design leaders sort through those challenges and tackle the new. He’s co-author of the books Org Design for Design Orgs (with Adaptive Path’s Kristin Skinner) and Subject to Change (with Brandon Schauer, David Verba, and Todd Wilkens, all from Adaptive Path). He also co-hosts an excellent podcast.

Of course, many other talented folks were a part of AP over the years, but I doubt it would have been what it became without these unique personalities in the room at the start. We don’t talk much anymore, but I can’t help but be grateful every day that I got mixed up with this group of extraordinary people.