Avid names new product designer
That would be me. It’s official. I’ll be joining Avid May 1 as a (not the) Product Designer for Editors. We made it public at the Avid customer event last night in Las Vegas. How’s that for new thinking?
It’s a great time to be joining Avid. The recent product announcements are exciting and point to a much needed, and oft promised change in direction. Media Composer with hardware at $10,000. Now we’re talking. Xpress Pro gone. I’m not in mourning.
Over the years I’ve had some colorful exchanges with Avid management. As a journalist, blogger, reviewer, and commentator, I never hesitated to say what was on my mind – sometimes more diplomatically than others. Every company has its own culture, but I have always found Avid to be among the most open to constructive criticism. That weighed very heavily on my desire to come on board. I’m joining a great product development team – Owen Walker (Media Composer Product Manager), Greg Staten (Product Designer for editors), Steve McNeill (Product Designer for editors) Olivier Karfis (Product Manager for editors) and Tim Claman (Director of Product Management for editors).
Between now and May 1 I’ll be winding down my activities with Kingpin and Xprove. I leave both in very good hands. Dave Bryand will take over Kingpin, and Dan Sharp will join Dave in heading up Xprove.
While Avid and I were in discussions, I chose not to blog. It wouldn’t have been right to comment on the release of Final Cut Server or Avid’s recent product lineup changes without disclosing that I was actively seeking to join Avid.
My blogs, here and at ProVideoCoalition, will change. The reality is that I just won’t have the time to put into writing that I had before; and working for a publicly traded company puts limits on what I can say about Avid, its market space, and its competitors. Enough interesting topics remain, and writing serves a very important role in my professional development. Putting words to ideas helps me think concepts through. Getting feedback from readers lets those ideas evolve.
Keep those calls and letters coming.
