Steve Libbey

The Challenge

T-Mobile leadership needed a scalable business intelligence platform that could serve both current reporting needs and adapt to predicted forms of data. Multiple access levels required different views of the same underlying data without creating maintenance nightmares.

Key Design Decisions

• Determined user needs across all access levels through stakeholder interviews with leadership
• Designed UI that made the app serve both current and predicted data structures
• Implemented MVC architecture using Angular for clean separation of concerns
• Conceptualized scalable platform to be reused for future internal apps
• Led first team to adopt Agile Scrum methodology, which became department standard

Technical Implementation

Built with Angular MVC architecture, designed for maintainability and reusability. Collaborated with data analysts on ongoing upgrades until sunset in 2020. The platform's architecture was reused multiple times for subsequent internal tools.

The Challenge

Care team needed a redesign that maintained T-Mobile's fun, enthusiastic culture while giving employees clear visibility into bonus calculations. Management needed aggregated statistics organized by location. The challenge: make complex performance metrics feel approachable and motivating.

Key Design Decisions

• Worked with Java developer to realize dynamic tile function possibilities (interactive gauges, real-time updates)
• Designed predictive interface allowing employees to model "what if" scenarios for bonus optimization
• Created enthusiasm-driven UI matching call center culture without sacrificing data clarity
• Built hierarchical views: individual performance → team → location aggregations

Design Philosophy

Turned dry performance metrics into an engaging, game-like experience. The UI celebrated achievements while providing actionable insights for improvement—reflecting T-Mobile's unique approach to employee motivation.

The Challenge

Operating room emergencies are rare, fast-moving, and high risk. In pediatric anesthesia, clinicians must diagnose, treat, and coordinate as a team while managing weight-based dosing and rapidly changing conditions. Printed references were too slow, and even experienced providers can miss steps when cognitive load spikes.

Key Design Decisions

• Translated paper crisis protocols into interactive algorithm flows clinicians could follow in real time
• Structured each event around the same pattern: event selection, recognition, treatment, dosing, escalation, and resolution
• Designed weight capture as a persistent system input so medication guidance stayed relevant throughout the workflow
• Used clear checklist interactions and progressive disclosure to reduce cognitive overload during emergencies
• Maintained the same clinical workflow across iOS and Windows 8 while adapting to each platform's interaction model

Design Principle

Do not ask clinicians to remember the protocol. Put the protocol in the interface, keep it structured, and make the next step obvious.

What I Designed

The system guided clinicians through a repeatable emergency workflow: select the crisis event, enter patient weight, confirm recognition criteria, follow staged treatment steps, review medication dosing, and move to a common end-of-algorithm review. The structure supported rare but life-threatening pediatric events such as anaphylaxis, bradycardia, hyperkalemia, airway fire, hypoxia, transfusion reactions, and cardiac arrest.

How the System Worked

• Converted paper checklists and treatment pathways into interactive Yes/No treatment flows
• Kept patient weight visible and editable throughout the experience so dosing stayed accurate
• Added a crisis timer to track elapsed time once an algorithm began
• Created cross-links between related algorithms for escalation and differential diagnosis
• Standardized a shared end-state screen prompting team review, therapy options, ICU transfer, consults, and procedure cancellation decisions
• Included action logs, settings, hotline information, and other support features for real-world use

Cross-Platform Design

iOS and Windows 8 required different UI conventions, but the clinical workflow had to remain consistent. I adapted the interface to each platform while preserving the same underlying algorithm structure, navigation logic, and treatment sequence. That meant clinicians could rely on the same mental model regardless of device.

Process and Collaboration

Process documents show ongoing refinement with clinical stakeholders. Algorithms were revised to improve symptom ordering, simplify navigation, standardize medication units, merge related pathways, and clarify escalation logic. That collaboration shaped not just the screens but the decision model itself.

Why It Matters

This work sits at the intersection of UX, software, and safety-critical systems. The core challenge was not visual polish. It was making complex medical guidance actionable under pressure, without hiding the underlying clinical logic.

The Challenge

Tracking information for salmon recovery projects required serving vastly different user needs: scientists wanting raw data tables, policymakers needing summaries, and students requiring educational context. Database queries returned massive tables of scientific data that needed progressive disclosure.

Key Design Decisions

• Designed familiar webpage interface with intuitive navigation
• Built progressive disclosure: summaries in graphics/charts for general users, full scientific data access on demand
• Integrated with Oracle database using APEX (HTML/CSS front-end)
• Created visualization layer that made complex conservation metrics accessible to non-scientists
• Also designed commercial fisherman trading app with regulatory compliance built-in

Design Principle

Don't hide the complexity—layer it. Scientists got their tables, students got their charts, everyone got value from the same underlying data.

The Challenge

2013 site launched with bugs due to deliberately obfuscated JavaScript. Lead programmer was fired, leaving company scrambling for 2014 deployment. Brought in late in the game to rebuild entire site with weeks to deadline.

Key Design Decisions

• Threw out previous year's code completely
• Rebuilt from scratch using Bootstrap, jQuery, and Greensock JS for animations
• Optimized for performance under massive traffic spikes
• Built fully responsive (kids use whatever device they can access)
• Created maintainable codebase using well-supported libraries

What I Said No To

Clever code. No custom animation engines, no framework reinvention, no showing off. Used battle-tested libraries and clear documentation so the next person could actually maintain it.

Fun Fact

When NPR ran the headline "NORAD Tracks Santa Begins with a Typo" for the 2014 launch, I nearly had a heart attack before realizing they meant the 1953 origin story.