Dov Jacobson
Verified Expert in Product Management
Product Manager
Artist, technologist, and businessman, Dov brings a fresh perspective and inventive energy to the most difficult of problems. After an in-depth discovery dive, he leverages a team's unique strengths and exploits gaps in the marketplace to bring meaningful new products into the world. Most often, these involve new twists on technology, novel user experience, and often a bit of humor. Dov's work has won Editor's Choice Awards, is used by US Intelligence, and helped millions improve their lives.
Project Highlights
Expertise
Work Experience
Managing Director
GamesThatWork
- Assigned to survey all research projects at Bell Labs to analyze the commercial potential and develop product plans for the most marketable. (Client: AT&T).
- Designed and built a digital media system to train US Intelligence analysts to overcome cognitive bias. Independent 3rd-party testing found it highly effective. (Client: IARPA).
- Created 'Brush Up'—a brush-along toothbrush training game. Won multiple professional awards and has over 40 million YouTube views. This is available as a mobile app, VR experience, and Alexa 'skill'. (Client: National Institutes of Health).
- Built a game where young officers learn to influence the behavior of those outside the chain of command. Trained 30,000 for deployment to Iraq. (Client: US Army Center for Army Leadership).
- Created a game to eliminate a class of lifecycle management errors committed by aerospace engineers. [NDA]. (Client: Boeing).
- Assigned to innovate game-based technologies for STEM learning. Designed and patented Algebractor, a digital manipulative for algebraic operations. (Client: DARPA).
Mobile Game Conceptualization Product Manager
Gwaam Games Limited
- Collaborated with the founder to produce an entrepreneurial roadmap that features: (1) design ideation, (2) game mechanic playability testing, and (3) pre-investment market validation.
- Handled design ideation: supplied several dramatic variants of basic game concepts and outlined a mechanism for crowdsourcing more highly valid options.
- Contributed to game mechanic playability testing: architected an inexpensive data-collection methodology for evaluating gameplay variants against large numbers of naive players.
- Engaged in pre-investment market validation: provided a few sample market presentations and outlined a no-code methodology for measuring the relative market appeal of these and other ideas.
- Contributed to the ideation, after which the testing and validation phases may offer the entrepreneur hard evidence to support an investment pitch or help him avoid squandering his time on a project doomed by wishful thinking.
Adjunct Faculty
New York University
- Led the new Game Development Intensive at NYU's Center for Advanced Digital Applications. This was a 5-week program with 60 hours of class and studio time per week.
- Directed a faculty of four instructors, some of whom I recruited. Designed the curriculum and the course schedule. Oversaw individual syllabi.
- Assessed the starting skillset and attitude of every student and ensured they were placed in a team that would bring out the best of them.
- Conducted an annual festival where each team demonstrated a playable 3D action game completed in five weeks.
- Introduced students to game design and development on the Unreal 3D engine and conducted a morning Game Sketch exercise in 2D.
Studio Head | Vice President (Creative)
Turner Broadcasting Service
- Started with an empty office and a competent assistant and built this studio into a major industry player in five years.
- Planned, built, and launched a strategic slate of nine mass-market entertainment games.
- Oversaw the creative and technical quality of five significant game titles and earned Editor's Choice awards.
- Recruited talent at every level across multiple disciplines. Organized them into teams and maintained a balance between creative passion and orderly work in each.
- Managed a production pipeline that started with opportunity research and talent acquisition and proceeded through various stages of software development and artistic production to market launch and after-market support.
Director of New Product Development
Pansophic Systems
- Initiated, designed, and managed the development and market introduction of a groundbreaking vector animation system.
- Oversaw five teams working in three countries to develop the product in less than one year.
- Worked with Marketing and Sales to introduce products successfully in the US, France, and Japan.
- Introduced OOP to development staff with in-house, off-site training events.
"Telesoftware Developer" (Online Game Producer)
Time
- Introduced the game feature into Time Magazine's early digital journalism, enabling games by inventive exploitation of technology designed for very different purposes.
- Trained colleagues on the capabilities of the novel technology they were pioneering.
- Invented and developed 'Luna Tic,' the killer app among the hundreds of features in Time's service rollout.
- Assembled and led teams to pitch, develop, and test each of several games.
Project History
Brush Up
http://brushupgame.comThis toothbrush training game has improved dental health for millions.
The Enemy of Reason
http://gamesthatwork.com/home/portfolio/the-enemy-of-reason/This long-form game was created for the Intelligence Community—to help FBI, CIA, and NSA analysts defeat their worst adversary—their own human instincts that cloud good judgement.
GeoVoices: Cherokee
https://cherokee.geovoices.orgPitched, proposed, programmed, and produced this project with the Museum of the Cherokee Indian and tribal authorities.
Education
Graduate Cinema Studies in Cinema
University of Southern California - Los Angeles, California, USA
Animation Studies in Animation
School of Visual Art - New York, New York, USA
Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Physics | Cinema
Antioch College - Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA
Skills
Tools
Flash, Chrome Developer Tools, Jira, Git, Mercurial
Paradigms
Gamification, Waterfall Development, Agile, Augmented Reality (AR)
Other
Game Design, Game-based Learning, Product Strategy, Pitch Preparation, Character Development, JavaScript, Product Design, Voice Direction, Pitch Decks, jQuery, Proposals, Presentations, Learning, Writing & Editing, Digital Media, Creative Direction, Voice Over, JSON, Product Management, Product Vision, Game Development, Video Games, Computer Graphics, Technical Product Management, Ideation, Conceptualization, Gaming, Mobile Games, Complex Problem Solving, Project Management, New Product Development, Virtual Reality (VR), Full-stack, Talent Management, Three.js, WebVR, Phaser.io, PHP, MySQL, Humor, Public Speaking, Digital Health, Storyboarding, Motion Capture, Mobile Apps, Node.js, Creative Strategy, Product Roadmaps, Project Timelines, Staffing, Risk Management, Requirements, User Engagement, Graphical User Interface (GUI), Planning, Budgeting, Mockups, User Experience (UX), User Interface (UI), Wellness, Technical Writing, Pitch Deck Consultant, Copywriting, Mobile App Development, Adobe Photoshop, LAMP, Unity3D, AWS Lambda, Discovery, D3.js, WebGL, WebRTC, Chrome Extensions, Visual Studio Code (VS Code), Linear Algebra, Market Segmentation, Customer Discovery, Minimum Viable Product (MVP), Amazon Web Services (AWS), Team Leadership, DirectX, User Requirements, B2B Partnerships, Client Services, Games, 2D Games, 3D Games, 3D Graphics, Development, Card Games, Leaflet, Geolocation, Autonomous Navigation, Curriculum Development, Instruction & Coaching, Creative Tech, Leadership, Strategy, Art Direction, QA Testing, Game Testing, User Research, Market Research, User Stories, Product Discovery, Competitor Analysis & Profiling, Data-driven Dashboards, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Progressive Web Applications (PWA), Culture Management, Tourism, Museums & Exhibits, Roadmaps, Monetization, Wireframing, Customer Data, Data Privacy
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