Lisa deBettencourt, Founder and CEO of Forge Harmonic

Lisa deBettencourt is a product design leader, Founder, and CEO of Forge Harmonic, an innovation and strategic design firm that collaborates with healthcare and life science organizations to envision and create solutions that transform the lives of people, care providers, and health systems. Lisa has been at the forefront of experience design and human-centered design since the pre-dot-com era. Before founding her own strategic design firm, she has worked in-house at notable companies, including Bose Corporation, Autodesk, and Confer Health, and many others. In our conversation, Lisa shares insights on:

• The evolving terminology and roles within design, emphasizing skills over titles
• The integration of design in healthcare, from care delivery settings to tech-based services
• Common misconceptions about design, such as its perceived role as merely aesthetic enhancement
• The critical role of design as facilitation, fostering collaboration and alignment
• The importance of human-centered design and its impact on user experience
• Identifying workflow inefficiencies in e-prescribing and improving patient-doctor interactions
• Prototyping in practice management software and engaging stakeholders early in the process
• Challenges in health tech design, including the complexity of the healthcare ecosystem and distance from end users
• Forge Harmonic's mission to create innovative, human-centered products and services for healthcare
• Her optimism about emerging trends in healthcare, such as the focus on patient experience and investment in femtech

Lisa’s insights highlight the strategic role of design in healthcare and the importance of addressing real user needs, underscoring the transformative potential of empathetic, human-centered design in driving innovation in healthcare.

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Where to find Lisa deBettencourt:

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisadebettencourt/
• X: https://x.com/ldebett
• email: lisa@forgeharmonic.com
• Forge Harmonic: https://www.forgeharmonic.com/

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Where to find Angela and Omar:

• Angela Suthrave
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-suthrave/
  • X: https://twitter.com/ASuthrave
  • email: angela@concepttocare.com
• Omar Mousa
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/omarmousa/
  • X: https://twitter.com/OmarMHealth
  • email: omar@concepttocare.com

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Referenced:

• Forge Harmonic: https://www.forgeharmonic.com/
• Experience Design: https://www.clockwork.com/insights/what-is-experience-design/
• Human-Centered Design: https://www.uxdesigninstitute.com/blog/what-is-human-centered-design/
• Design Thinking: https://online.hbs.edu/blog/post/what-is-design-thinking
• Facilitation for Product Designers: https://medium.com/zalando-design/the-science-of-facilitation-a-guide-for-product-designers-f14bf77910c9
• Conway’s Law: https://www.atlassian.com/blog/teamwork/what-is-conways-law-acmi
• The Myths of UX Design/ Product Design/Whatever They Call It This Week: https://cwodtke.medium.com/the-myths-of-ux-design-product-design-whatever-they-call-it-this-week-ef37a39cac6b
• Product Design Prototyping: https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/prototyping
• Some Resources for Product Designers: https://www.edorozco.com/product-design-resources/

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