Lionel is currently a design analyst and joined Kosmos three years ago. Working in our Product County, which offers a solution delivered in SaaS mode (Skolengo), Lionel represents the customer and his needs to the team of UX-UI designers, developers and designer-testers.
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Hi Lionel! Can you tell us a bit about your background?
After engineering school, I started my career in test automation with a telecommunications operator. I was then transferred to Nantes, where I worked as a developer for a few years. After that, I joined a Services company to work on project management, but that wasn't my first passion. That's when I thought about joining Kosmos with the intention of becoming a design analyst.
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What made you want to join Kosmos?
Several things! I'd done quite a lot of technical work, and this stint in project management had taken me too far away from it. I wanted to get back into tool production rather than supervision. I also had a number of friends who were already working at Kosmos and who spoke very highly of it. The product, too! What I often say is that I'd rather design tools for schools than make missile guidance software. I've always been attentive to the purpose of what a company produces.
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What about your career at Kosmos?
When I arrived, there was a need in the project management teams. So I was a project manager for a while, before moving on to become a design analyst on Skolengo. Today, I'm very familiar with the products, and have a fairly broad vision of them.
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Can you tell us what your day-to-day life as a Design Analyst is like, as if you had to explain your job to your grandmother?
I'd say it's identifying the rules that make a computer application work. For example, we're going to have Teachers who have to do the Attendance register in a Class. My job will be to identify all the essential points to meet this need and write the operating rules so that the developers can produce the screens that will then be used by the teachers.
- What do you like best about your job?
I like the fact that I'm trying to find the best possible solution: pleasant to use, efficient, and if possible, easy to develop. I'm most proud of the fact that the end result is a solution that satisfies the customer, the User and the developer. It's also very varied, which is something I really appreciate.
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What qualities do you think are required for this job?
You have to be curious and a bit creative, because it's a permanent loop: invent, integrate feedback, give up, start again, change direction... Knowing that there won't be one and only one solution. You also need to know how to manage your time, because the time it will take you to complete a framework or design is not easily quantifiable. You need to set limits for yourself, while managing to grasp the complexity of a subject.
Last but not least, we need to be organized, because we can tend to spiral out of focus. -
An achievement or project that made you proud, or your best moment at Kosmos?
I have very fond memories of the project for the engineering school in La Rochelle, which concerned their registration portal. I was in charge of both the management and the design of this project, which was a bit like my take-off at Kosmos. And the setting doesn't spoil anything - La Rochelle's not bad!
One of my best moments was the "newcomers' song" (integration ritual). I had a lot of fun and made friends with a lot of Kosmonauts. -
What are your key references in your field?
The concepts formalized by the IREB (International Requirements Engineering Board) around the elucidation and processing of a User's needs are a good starting point.
KISS and YAGNI are also useful backgrounds. I'll leave DRY to the developers, and if they can avoid TLDR all the better... ;) -
If you hadn't done this job, what would you have done?
Policeman or investigator. I think there are quite a few parallels with my previous experiences. Each time, it's a case of trying to find the element that makes you go in one direction rather than another (I admit that the less "risky" side of the current job doesn't displease me).
Renovation (masonry, electricity, plumbing), to solve problems and reveal under-exploited nuggets! -
What do you like best about Kosmos?
The challenge the company is taking up to make its mark in a market that's not necessarily easy. I enjoy being part of this adventure! Not to mention the hypercentre location in Nantes and the human-scale premises.
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2 truths and 1 lie about you?
I know what I do. I know what I'm worth. I know where I'm going.
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Do you have a wish or an idea on your Bucket list?
To show my Children the crater of a molten volcano. I've always been fascinated by the majesty of it, and I'd be blown away!
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