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Bryn Dews |
Delivering Better Tech Tools to MITRE Staff
Bryn Dews
March 2008
Multi-tasking is second nature to Bryn Dews. The MITRE human factors
engineer has spent her career managing people, budgets, benefits
programs, and massive software implementations. She had two children
while simultaneously working full-time at MITRE and earning her
master's degree in computer information systems. Today she puts
her considerable juggling skills to use leading the User-Centered
Design team in MITRE's Center for Information and Technology, overseeing
user interface design projects and conducting software usability
studies.
"My team designs the applications that MITRE employees use in their
work every day," says Dews. "In user-centered design, we consider
how people want to work and keep this in mind as we design the interface."
The idea is to help workers use critical applications as productively
as possible, while minimizing the difficulty of learning to use
new software and Web applications, she explains.
It's a job that keeps her constantly on the move. She can often
be found overseeing new employee orientations and is involved in
the ongoing development of MITRE's extensive employee intranet,
known internally as the MITRE Information Intranet, or MII. "I've
become the demo queen of the MII," Dews says with a laugh. It's
no small task, given that the constantly-evolving MII provides the
company's 6,700 employees with access to a huge variety of information,
including research data and technical papers, and gives them the
tools to perform functions such as managing payroll and benefits
data. But Dews' 17 years of experience at MITRE, in both IT and
human resources roles, has provided the ideal on-the-job training
for her current tasks.
"My original job at MITRE involved designing benefits and compensation
plans," Dews recalls. One of her responsibilities was to serve as
team lead for MITRE's PeopleSoft benefits software implementation—a
huge project that helped form her views about how employees can
work more effectively with well-designed tools. She also served
as project lead on the development of Web applications such as MITRE's
MyTravel and phone book applications on the MII.
Flexibility—and Fun
Dews credits MITRE with supporting her as she transferred among
these different jobs within the company and eventually returned
to school for her advanced degree. "MITRE paid for my degree and
let me work a flexible schedule while I was in school," she says.
"My kids were very little, and I just took one class at a time."
The effort paid off, allowing Dews to move into progressively more
responsible roles while building on her pre-MITRE experience as
an employee benefits specialist and business analyst in the banking
industry.
She describes the work as challenging but also fun. "I love getting
to draw the engineers out and figure out how they like to work best,
so we can help them do their jobs more efficiently," she says.
Dews is active in numerous volunteer activities at MITRE, including
the company's support of the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer
Walk to benefit cancer research. She has also supported the "Locks
of Love" organization, which collects donations of human hair to
be used in making wigs and hairpieces for children with cancer and
other ailments. And she's a longtime player in MITRE's intramural
softball league.
As a member of MITRE's Corporate Diversity Awareness Committee,
Dews leads a discussion group devoted to increasing awareness of
diversity issues within the company. The committee promotes cultural
events and dialogue about diversity as it relates to cooperation
and teamwork in the workplace. Dews says it provides a great opportunity
for employees to make their voices heard on important issues and
helps make MITRE an even better place to work.
"MITRE really values the opinions of its workers, and that's a
great thing," she says.
—by Maria S. Lee
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