Cisco

Security and Collaboration, Chief Of Technology Team

Since 2019, I’ve led product design for Cisco’s Security & Collaboration Incubation Team, transforming early-stage ideas into fully functional proofs of concepts. I integrate strategy, user centered research, and design to shape product direction.

My role spans:

• Led continuous research: including qualitative interviews, surveys, contextual inquiries, cognitive walkthroughs, and usability testing to uncover pain points and directly inform design iterations.

• Crafted executive storytelling artifacts such as visuals and storyboards that translated complex technical concepts into clear, actionable insights and secured executive buy-in.

• Facilitated innovation workshops with executives, VPs, engineers, and sales teams to align business goals with user needs and identify new opportunities for the portfolio.

• Delivered comprehensive design outputs: personas, wireframes, flow diagrams, storyboards, high-fidelity prototypes, and AI-assisted front-end code to validate concepts with both users and engineers.

• Drove cross-functional alignment by running roadmap sessions and weekly stand-ups, prioritizing work, balancing impact vs. effort, and ensuring milestones were consistently met.

This work allowed me to bridge strategy, research, and design. Delivering incubation projects that shaped Cisco’s roadmap and advanced the future of collaboration.

Webex Hologram - From Vision to Award Winning Collaboration Tool

Project:

Led the design of Webex Hologram, an award-winning proof of concept exploring how AI and mixed reality can transform collaboration.

My role spanned from strategy and research to design deliverables and rapid prototyping, guiding the project from early brainstorming to industry recognition (Auggie Awards, 2024).

To validate real-world use cases, we partnered with a leading medical device company in a year-long research engagement. I conducted continuous interviews, contextual inquiries, and usability testing with clinicians and engineers to uncover workflow pain points and refine holographic collaboration scenarios for diagnostic review and surgical training. These insights informed prototypes, storyboards, and executive presentations that secured buy-in, shaped the roadmap, and guided the project’s hand-off to the business unit.

Project scope and road map

Objective

The goal of this research was to get a pulse on the improvements made, based on prior feedback and determine where we still need to iterate that would provide the most impact.

• Aligned business and user needs by conducting stakeholder and user interviews, refining objectives while surfacing emerging requirements.

• Informed design direction by facilitating prototype walkthroughs with stakeholders and gathering feedback on the latest iteration

• Grounded decisions in real-world use through user interviews and cognitive walkthroughs with demo program participants.

Process

Demo Program: Customers set up the prototype onsite and used Webex Hologram for meetings over a 6-12 month period.

• Drove continuous feedback loops by meeting weekly with demo participants and frequent users, conducting quick interviews and contextual inquiries to capture evolving insights.

• Led a midpoint cognitive walkthrough of an updated prototype, surfacing refinements and defining next-phase priorities based on real user interaction.

• Synthesized research findings through inductive coding, distilling insights into themes and presenting them to the team and leadership to shape direction.

• Facilitated prioritization and planning with leadership, using an impact/effort matrix to align on scope, then translating priorities into user stories and a roadmap that kept the team focused on high-value outcomes and firm milestones.

Synthesizing Insights

Insights from continuous research were translated into cognitive walkthrough notes, an impact/effort matrix, and prioritized user stories. These activities ensured our design direction stayed anchored in real-world feedback and focused on high-impact outcomes.

Webex hologram - Visual and Interaction Design

Objective

When I began designing Webex Hologram in 2019, mixed-reality design best practices were still emerging. My goal was to establish design parameters for comfort, usability, and consistency across mixed-reality devices, while ensuring the experience could scale to complex collaboration workflows.

Process

Researched publications and studies on distance, motion sickness, haptics, and ergonomics to ground design decisions in human-factors principles.

• Conducted ad-hoc user testing to surface usability patterns and refine comfort guidelines through direct observation.

• Developed an agnostic design paradigm that worked across different mixed-reality devices and form factors.

Design Framework & Style Guide

I synthesized research and testing into a design framework that captured emerging best practices for mixed reality, defining parameters for comfort, ergonomics, and interaction.

• To make these principles actionable, I created a style guide that unified visual elements, standardized interaction patterns, and embedded usability findings directly into prototypes.

• Together, these outputs ensured the prototype was visually cohesive, cross-device compatible, and grounded in research-driven standards for mixed-reality interaction.

Webex Hologram - Comparative Research study

Objective

As mixed reality became more common in enterprise collaboration, we wanted to understand how different modalities influenced engagement. In collaboration with Boston University’s Emerging Media Studies program, we designed a study comparing photorealistic holograms, avatars in 3D spaces, and flat video conferencing. The goal was to examine how each medium shaped trust, rapport, and task performance, and how these differences should inform our design direction.

Process

Identified a research partner with expertise in human-computer interaction and emerging technologies, selecting Professor Jim Cummings at Boston University.

• Collaborated on study objectives, methodology, tasks, and participant recruitment, ensuring alignment with Cisco’s design priorities.

• Held weekly cadences to refine study design and provide feedback.

• Managed logistics end-to-end: drafted the SOW, navigated legal approvals with Cisco and BU, and coordinated budgets with both institutions.

Key Insights

Photorealistic holograms build stronger interpersonal engagement than avatars or flat video, with participants describing them as feeling “in the same room” as their partner.

• Avatars often felt distracting; they implied the need for action but reduced clarity in conversations and emotional connection.

• Nonverbal cues (facial expressions, eye contact) were critical to trust and rapport. Poor resolution and narrow field of vision limited the effectiveness of mixed reality and reinforced the need to prioritize fidelity.

• Modality matters by task: holograms worked best for interpersonal collaboration and technical support, while avatars suited tutorials and object demonstrations.

• For simple exchanges, flat video was often “good enough”, underscoring the need for mixed reality to deliver clear value to justify its complexity.

Impact

These findings reinforced Cisco’s design direction to prioritize photorealistic holograms over avatar, a key differentiation from competitors at the time. The research helped frame Webex Hologram not just as a technical prototype, but as a strategically positioned collaboration tool built on evidence of user engagement and trust.