Tell us a little bit about yourself—what do you like to do outside of work?
My name is Alex Young-Davies and I’m a Canadian product designer living in San Francisco, California. Today, my role is Product Design Lead for Athelas Air, Commure’s EMR offering. I really enjoy this position because, simply put, there is so much opportunity for modern design practices and UX improvements in the healthcare space. This is especially true when it comes to EMR software. Many of the physicians, nurses, schedulers, and staff who care for us every day are being forced to use extremely outdated software because there is simply no alternative. Having the opportunity to shape what could come next in this space is really interesting and exciting.
Outside of work, I like to keep myself busy with other active and creative activities. I’ve been an avid skateboarder since I was a kid, and I still try to get out at least once a week to learn something new or find a new park. I also genuinely enjoy digital design, so I often work on personal projects in my free time. In the last few years, I’ve been using my free time to create an icon library for digital products that is flexible and modern in appearance. Very nerdy, I know, but it brings me a lot of joy, and I love tweaking the tiny details for each pictogram.
As a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?
When I was a kid, I dreamed about being an architect. My grandfather was an architect, so I was exposed to the craft from an early age. Looking at all his drawings of structures and people was so inspiring. As I grew up, this interest broadened, and eventually I knew I just needed to do something creative for my career. I eventually studied Industrial Design at Carleton University, which introduced me to fabrication, product development, and even a stint in lighting design. That shift toward product design is what ultimately led me to digital design, where I’ve happily stayed ever since.
Describe a day in the life of your role.
My day-to-day will often vary, but it’s usually a mix of designing, strategic problem solving, and exploration. I primarily work in Figma for UI design and determining user flows, Notion for requirements and documentation, and Cursor for building realistic prototypes.
While there is no “standard day” for me, I usually begin by doing a little bit of ideation and open exploration for whatever I’m currently working on. After this, I’ll have discussions with other individuals around the org to work through implementation challenges and plan out the future of where we want to take this modern EMR product.
When I’m not in the office, the team and I will visit real customer sites so we can talk to the people who are using our tools in their day-to-day. These days are incredibly rewarding and valuable because there’s so much to learn from watching people use the tools you design in a real clinical environment.
How would you describe the Commure company culture?
Commure’s culture is one that thrives on speed and ownership. Like many start-ups and Silicon Valley companies, the pace here is very fast, and the mentality of “fail early, fail often” is alive and well. While it can feel chaotic sometimes, it ultimately yields an ability to be much more responsive and nimble when compared to our competitors. This ability to quickly change direction and apply learnings is a fundamental differentiator for us, and is what helps us be the first to give customers exactly what they want.
In addition to the speed, Commure encourages and rewards a good combination of ownership and collaboration. While some companies require layers of management approval or universal consensus to move forward, Commure gives its employees the agency to identify opportunities and take actions on them. Think of it as side-quests. If you can highlightan opportunity that supports product and business goals, you have the agency to dive in, gather a team, and tackle it. Often, this has actually led to new features and even products that get incorporated into the main product offering.
What advice would you give someone on their first day at Commure?
In my opinion, the best way to begin your tenure at Commure is to ask questions and be a student. Given the complexity of healthcare, there is a lot of contextual knowledge that one can acquire. While it may seem daunting initially, building a really strong understanding of who it is we’re building for and what their true needs, challenges, and desires are is invaluable. There isn’t one book or document that will give you everything you need to know; it will come in time from exposure to customers and discussions with colleagues. The key here, though, is to go in with a bias towards wanting to learn and expand your understanding. There is no such thing as a bad question here, and everyone will be more than happy to help you build your knowledge.
What has been your greatest accomplishment so far at Commure?
While ‘greatest accomplishment’ feels very grandiose, I’d say the challenge I enjoyed working on the most was our EMR calendar redesign. Throughout the process of determining, first, what makes a good calendar and, second, what makes a competitive EMR calendar, I discovered that calendar UX is super interesting and unique. The greatest challenge I faced was determining how we could show lots of critical medical details on a calendar block while also reducing its size footprint by at least 50%. While this was challenging, it was so interesting to dive deep into the world of calendars and so rewarding to have real users try out my proposals and return positive feedback.
The most rewarding aspect of this experience was that it was fun. Getting to identify a real problem and take a solution from the initial proposal to implementation was an incredible learning experience. Plus, seeing some of my design work helping real people in their day-to-day life is incredibly humbling, and it motivates me to keep chipping away at the incredible opportunities that a modern EMR presents.
Interested in a career building the next generation of healthcare technology powered by AI? We are always looking for talented people across our departments.
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