Hi there, I’m Dani — a fractional design strategist and writer based in Watertown, MA.

My work helps product teams unpack big, gnarly problems that help them define MVP, bring clarity to product direction, and embed research in a scalable way. My work uses combines AI-powered analysis and prototyping with expertise in all types of research. I specialize in helping teams rapidly get the insights they need to make good decisions without sacrificing rigor.

Most recently, I spent eight years at athenahealth, the last five as a Design Architect, doing strategic research to underpin cross-organizational initiatives including Voice/Ambient, Interoperability, Clinical Content, Specialty Support, and Ambulatory Surgery Centers.

I also write and say things in front of people, online and in person.

Current

Writing fiction and thought leadership content while setting up my own fractional Design Strategy and Research consultancy.

Testimonials

People like working with me

Dani, thank you for being so generous with sharing your knowledge and time, over the years, when it comes to research methods, best practices, and tools! You've helped me and others design leaders on my team grow our research practice.

UX Zone Lead, Clinicals

Thank you for everything Dani! You are a change maker and you consider the details that nobody thought of yet. My whole team took OOUX training because of your influence and great ideas!

Clinical Content

Dani Nordin was the first to suggest [a design improvement] after watching a few of these calls, and it immediately clicked as an approach that could solve 3 or 4 other pain points in this study that had felt unrelated before.

UX Zone Lead, Mobile

Select Case Studies

athenahealth

Understanding behavior patterns for an AI-based Chart Assistant

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As part of our Voice/Conversational strategy work, I used Claude to identify and illustrate behavior patterns across over 7,000 questions asked of the Sage Chart Assistant. The resulting work ended up informing iterations to AI-powered features across Clinicals.

athenahealth

Envisioning AI’s role in improving document processing

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I completed 10 research projects over the course of 9 months to help our Document Services team make sense of how to extract more value from unstructured documents and reduce excessive burden associated with managing documents across athenaOne.

athenahealth

Elevating UX practice in a design org of 100+

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Throughout my years at athenahealth, I brought the tools and techniques I’d learned over my career into the design org. As a result, designers across the company improved their ability to synthesize insights and solve complex design problems at scale. I also gained a well-earned reputation as "work auntie" across all levels of UX.

athenahealth

Unpacking how configuration experiences impact clinician experience and feature adoption

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I led an internal discovery initiative to expose how EHR configuration and content accelerators drive provider satisfaction. The resulting insights changed how athenahealth developed clinical content, documented releases, and onboarded customers.

what you get

AI fluency and expertise in lean research techniques help me bring insights to product teams at a rapid clip. But my biggest value is in the connections I’m able to make among teams, systems, business units, and seemingly unrelated concepts.

Experience Strategy

Years of helping teams determine which problems are worth solving, how to pace improvements, and where the gaps still lie.

Storytelling

Top-tier presentation and writing skills that help bring clarity to even the most complex concepts. My Confluence pages are legend.

Systems Thinking

A variety of tools to help show how the pieces fit together across software, humans, and stages of the workflow.

Research & Synthesis

Pulling data from a variety of sources and methods to bring clarity across a vast problem space — with and without AI.

Design for/with AI

Working with teams to iterate on and improve AI-driven experiences across form factors — even informing the prompts.

Rapid Prototyping

Building quick but comprehensive prototypes to test ideas, and a variety of techniques for getting quick feedback.

Facilitation

Collaboration and influence across multiple layers of the business to move even the stickiest initiatives forward.

Coaching/Mentoring

Leveling up designers’ toolkits and techniques, with a drive to keep evolving alongside the craft.

Get in touch

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dani nordin | Product design leadership & strategy | Boston MA