GovWebworks Team Spotlights

GWW Opinion

April 30, 2024

GovWebworks News

Our teams make up the bones of our organization. The following GovWebworks team spotlights highlight the unique and valuable contributions that our Creative, Quality Assurance, and Drupal teams provide for our clients. We wanted to give our clients and potential clients, as well as job seekers and other collaborators, a chance to learn more about the people that make our company shine.

See below to learn what the teams do and who makes up the teams, and follow the link to the full spotlights to find out what projects team members are on, where they’ve worked before GovWebworks, and what they enjoy about the work they do.

We hope you get the chance to connect with a GovWebworks team member on a project soon!

Creative team

People often ask, “What exactly is the difference between UX and UI designers?” We thought we’d take this opportunity to answer that question, and introduce our User Experience (UX) and User Interface (UI) designers. Multiple perspectives are crucial to designing good solutions. The Portland Webworks/GovWebworks Creative team is highly collaborative, with UX and UI designers represented on most projects.

So, what’s the difference between UX and UI? User Experience (UX) team members are involved in requirements gathering, research, business process analysis, user testing, and low-fi wireframe solution designs. User Interface (UI) designers are responsible for exploring and developing new styles, branding, look and feel, high-fi page designs, as well as logos and other aspects of a site or agency’s brand.

For more details, visit the Creative Team Spotlight at Portland Webworks (our parent company).

Here’s a snapshot of perspectives from our Creative team:

User Experience

Sarah Crossman: Director of User Experience
“I love the collaborative approach we take to every project and the way we help one another deliver our best work.”
Brett Kana: User Experience Designer
“The Creative team has each others’ backs and are always sharing new ideas and resources to boost our collective capacity.”
Tracy Totman: User Experience Designer
“I love working collaboratively to combine artistic touches with user-friendly solutions to find the perfect balance between looks and functionality.”

User Interface

Peter Clark: User Interface Designer
“We all bring something unique to the table and accentuate our team’s goals when we are involved on a client project.”
Hunter McPeak: User Interface Designer
“I’ve found a home and a calling in creating beautiful site designs and I’m always trying to learn where design is heading.”

Find full details at the Creative Team Spotlight…

Quality Assurance team

“Some people think QA is just the testing phase of a project,” says PWW Quality Assurance (QA) Engineer Diane Bienkowski, who wrote a blog on Why Quality Assurance Shouldn’t be an Afterthought. “QA is ideally part of the whole project, from discovery and requirements gathering to implementation and project planning, client interactions, and of course the actual testing process.”

As Diane notes, at Portland Webworks, the Quality Assurance team is known for its active participation in the agile project lifecycle, from kickoff to completion. QA engineers are deeply involved in scope planning, sprint grooming, and ongoing communication with the rest of the project team. By identifying issues early on, QA can help mitigate potential risks and minimize costs and delays in later stages of development.

For more details, visit the Quality Assurance Team Spotlight at Portland Webworks (our parent company).

Here’s a snapshot of perspectives from our QA team:

Alison Schestopol: Director of Project Management and Quality Assurance
“Our QA team is focused on the highest level of quality with every project, using new tools and methods to ensure we never disappoint our clients and their users.”
Diane Bienkowski: Quality Assurance Engineer
“I enjoy the fact that our QA team is involved in the whole software development lifecycle process. A holistic view of application development makes QA exciting for me.”
Sol Blair: Quality Assurance Engineer
“Because our team has collectively worked across many sectors of the software industry, we bring a wealth of testing methods and project management experience to the company.”
David Read: Quality Assurance Engineer
“I value the opportunity to contribute to the creation of websites and apps that are functional and accessible for all users, thereby making a meaningful impact in the digital world.”
Alice Wilkins: Quality Assurance Engineer
“While testing is a big part of the QA process, we’re more than just the end of a story, we’re there at the beginning, the middle, and all of the parts in between.”

Find full details at the Quality Assurance Team Spotlight…

Drupal team

“Portland Webworks stood out from the other companies I applied to because they use Drupal for their content management system (CMS) of choice,” says PWW developer Dang Tran. “After 10 years of working on web development, I wanted to focus on complicated projects using the Drupal CMS and I saw many big and diverse projects showcased on the company’s website.”

Dang’s experience is similar to that of the entire Portland Webworks Drupal team. They enjoy the diversity and depth of our Drupal clients and projects and appreciate that many of the sites we build provide important public services to citizens. Since our first Drupal project in 2014 with the Iowa Department of Administration, we’ve found Drupal to be the best fit for government teams that need to update and manage large sites requiring depth of security and functionality.

For more details, visit the Drupal Team Spotlight at Portland Webworks (our parent company).

Here’s a snapshot of perspectives from our Drupal team:

Hellen Fitzpatrick: Software Development Manager
“Drupal’s global community is made up of experts and specialists that share what they make for the greater good.”
Adam Kempler: Drupal Software Developer
“Augmenting Drupal with AI is transforming the experience of creating, finding, and consuming content for clients and audiences alike.”
Dang Tran: Drupal Software Developer
“I love working on open source software and building flexible customizations that allow developers to extend and modify functions as needed.”
Brian Martino: Drupal Software Developer
“The Drupal CMS allows the freedom to create completely unique web applications to suit the individual client.”
Rasha Sharif: Drupal Software Developer
“Drupal’s rich feature set, coupled with a supportive community and commitment to excellence, contributes to its success as a versatile and reliable platform.”