Well hello there savvy web user. Welcome to the new home of the User Advocacy blog. Glad you could stop in. I’m sure you are probably thinking to yourself, “What the heck is User Advocacy?” Great question!<\/p>\n
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At the most basic, as a part of the greater User Success organization, the User Advocacy team talks to Firefox Users from around the world to figure out what we can do to make our products and services better. In fact, we’ve probably spoken already. Have you ever been to Input<\/a>, posted on the SUMO forums<\/a>, or answered one of our about:home surveys? Yep, that’s us. A more eloquent way of describing what we do is:<\/p>\n At Mozilla, our brand promise is a single statement that captures the essence of our experience. It is the internal compass we use to guide the development of our brand. This is not an ad. This is not a tagline. This is our promise to our users. It\u2019s that simple. Firefox answers to no one but you.<\/em><\/p>\n The User Advocacy Team ensures that we never forget this promise to our users. UA is the conduit for the true voice of the user, ensuring that they are heard at all levels of the organization. We distill information gained through user feedback from our various communication channels, then we turn these insights into actions. As a team, we always deliver on our brand promise.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Aimee Forrstrom<\/a> –<\/strong> Aimee is an Open Source rockstar. She’s been involved in countless Open Source projects with speaking engagements all over the globe.\u00a0We are really excited we’ve convinced Aimee to leave her home in beautiful Australia to work with us on UA. She’ll be based out of Portland, OR (arguably the best city in the world). <\/strong><\/p>\n Will Kahn-Greene<\/a> –\u00a0<\/strong>Even though he’s *technically* a part of SumoDev, we’ve claimed Will for the User Advocacy team and we aren’t giving him up. Will is the amazing developer that turns our crazy ideas into realities. He is the one who is responsible for ALL the Input <\/a>awesomeness. Everything Will touches is amazing and we are lucky to have him on our side. He’s also one really cool guy.<\/p>\n Rob Rayborn<\/a> – <\/strong>He’s a Mozillian, CS grad, and Georgian. Proud of it too! Rob likes technology and we are glad he does. Rob is going to be building better backend tools to help us better understand the needs and concerns of our users. On top of all that, he’s going to be driving our Android feedback efforts. In his free time he likes to indoor climb, be outdoors, snowboard, and explore around SF.<\/p>\n Joshua Smith<\/a> – <\/strong>The youngest member of the UA team, Joshua is a programmer who is excited about volunteering for Mozilla, and possibly making a career out of improving the web. We have no doubt he’ll be successful at whatever he does! You should see the Firefox OS apps he’s written. They are HOT! Joshua also enjoys developing websites, helping users, and designing graphics.<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
So what does that mean in practical terms? Let me give you some examples:<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\nUA works Reactively<\/strong><\/div>\n
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\nNow that you know a little more about User Advocacy, let me introduce you to the team:
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\nTyler Downer<\/a> –\u00a0<\/strong>Tyler is our resident Project Manager. He keeps us on track, ensuring that\u00a0 we hit our deadlines, stay on the critical path, and keeps us all sane. Tyler is also one of the BEST troubleshooters I have ever met. Fun fact: He can tell you what any line of about:config does. He lives in Arizona with his wife and two golden retrievers. Tyler was a long time contributor as well, starting way back in 2008.<\/p>\n