Fluxible's “Speaker Spotlight” series features an interview with a 2016 Fluxible Conference speaker. We asked Gretchen Anderson some questions about her work, her inspirations, and what she's most looking forward to at Fluxible. Here is what she said:

You are a product designer, author and speaker. What does a typical day look like for you right now?

I've been running my own consulting business working for several clients recently, and writing a short report on Pair Design for O'Reilly, which can pull me in a lot of directions. I tend to get up in the early mornings to do writing, since that's the only time I'm ever fresh enough to wrestle with that. I often have a few meetings during the day to meet up with clients or do user research. And I use afternoons for sketching and reviewing design with other designers. As a working mom, keeping a regimen going is important to my sanity and my family's stability.

How did you move into product design and your current work with surgical robots?

My career has been a series of happy accidents, and surgical robots is one more. I worked at frog design and LUNAR for many years, where I was fortunate to work on a lot of healthcare-related projects including insulin pumps and laser eye surgery suites which really piqued my passion for complex, systemic design challenges. And I learned to work on physical product UIs at the same time. So, when a former client called me up to work on a surgical robot, I leaped at the chance. I love being in the OR, watching people get their jobs done, and being able to help them work even better.

What have you found rewarding and challenging about designing for hybrid environments?

Physical product design and development moves much more slowly than digital-only projects, which means you get the luxury of having time to design and test ideas, but it also means waiting a long while before you see the fruits of your labor.

What advice would you give to designers who are looking to do more social good projects and mission-minded work?

As Michael Beruit once said (more or less), "be careful what work you take, because that's the work you'll get." On the flip side, if you can start in a field, you'll build momentum. So, look for organizations that work in an area you care about, or do a portfolio project on an issue you think could help a community. If politics and government is of interest, check out what 18F and USDS are doing, as well as startups such as POPVOX or CivicEagle. But you can also look for ways within a for-profit organization to make them supportive of the greater good. My favorite example is Red Bull, who ostensibly sells branded sugar-caffeine-water at a massive profit. But they also run things like the Red Bull Music Academy that helps to launch young musicians' careers. I always imagine that their mission statement is "to make the world so exciting, I want to be awake for it!" Can you find alignment between profit and purpose for your organization?

What makes being a designer meaningful to you?

I feel so blessed that I get to use my brains, my hands, and my words to be creative every day. This job didn't really exist when I was a kid, but if I could have imagined a job I'd love, this would come pretty close. To have a craft that you continually practice is a real blessing in the business world, where it can be easy to become un-centered. I also love observing people and using empathy and abductive reasoning to generate strategic design ideas. The feeling you get when you can make teams understand their customers more fully can't be beat.

What books/movies/music have inspired you?

Too many to fully name, but here's a playlist I made earlier this year that helps me when I need to "get ish done."

What are you looking forward to most at Fluxible 2016?

Meeting new people and getting to see what the Toronto/Kitchener design scene is all about!

Will attendees find you sampling beer or at the espresso machine?

Espresso before beer, never fear.