Philip Sugg

Overview

A generalist researcher, drawing on a technical skillset and breadth of industry experience. I have a deep background in knowledge work, which came together through an unusual education: a Ph.D. in the humanities. My strengths include the ability to structure novel and intractable problems, comfort with both team-driven and independent work, idea generation, communication across the organization, and a focus on results in difficult settings. I am adept at working with software in data-rich frameworks, but have the analytical skills to stay attuned to the bigger questions behind the tools and methods.

Timeline

• Wrote documentation for a variety of skill levels (e.g., expert technicians, typical software users) on topics related to building automation and systems integration, critical environment (e.g., lab and hospital) monitoring, and cloud-based representations of the built world. Contributed to both legacy and next-generation products.
• Communicated across a complex global organization with irregular knowledge management practices. Worked with teams on almost every continent, including loosely aligned external contractors. Technical writing in this type of environment is a form of detective work that requires tenacity to find the right person with the right information. I had to learn to overcome entrenched institutional silos and traditional practices to model an Agile-style approach to technical writing.
• Got up to speed quickly on many obscure issues, including both hardware and software topics. In a significant number of cases there was no chance for knowledge-sharing (previous experts were either no longer available or over-subscribed), and so I had to construct an adequate set of notes with very little guidance. Developed a "fix-it" reputation for stepping into any project, no matter the status, and coming up with a solution.
• Led technical writing initiative to pilot new use cases for chatbots in technical writing. Presented to key stakeholders across the organization, leading to $100k in exploratory funding from divisional headquarters to explore further uses of LLMs.

• Taught writing to students at University of Chicago Booth Business School class, "Storytelling and Narratives in Business;" helped over 75 business school students rethink their professional trajectory through personal narrative essays
• Revised and redrafted Ph.D. dissertation for publication as a book
• Wrote or co-wrote dozens of content pieces for commercial clients, including white papers, technical documentation and product category analysis

• Began as a customer-facing developer, writing Python and Javascript for high-value clients exploring custom use cases for our software; core task was to rethink how to present analytical concepts in data so that they were meaningful/useful to a broad business audience with varying skills.
• Member of product team that conceptualized, prototyped and released a new analytics and artificial intelligence product
• During a crucial pivot for the company (complete redesign of next-generation analytics product), acted as one of a handful of internal user researchers, conducting dozens of interviews with external and internal audiences, including several focus groups

• Returned full-time to graduate school to finish what I started, successfully completed dissertation and Ph.D. degree

• Doctoral (Ph.D.) thesis, a multi-year research project, turned an abstract and theoretical research problem (changing norms of Western individualism) into a book-length study about the importance of work to identity in modern postindustrial cultures.
• Assembled and persuaded a dissertation committee of senior-level scholars across several academic disciplines. Managed the often-conflicting and/or ambiguous input from these advisors; secured approval for Ph.D. proposal and steered the writing to completion.

• Adapted specialized, scholarly thesis topic into several popular undergraduate courses about the concept of vocation; attracted enrollment above course capacity. 90% of students agreed that course “motivated them to think independently” about their career and values.