John Pagonis

Dr. John Pagonis is a certified senior UX researcher with a Ph.D. in content recommender systems, genetic algorithms, and machine learning from the University of Essex. He has an extensive background in helping organizations produce useful software and transform to agile ways of working. Dr. Pagonis is currently the Principal UX Researcher (qual & quant) at Zanshin Labs. He previously served as the UX Lead – The Mortgage Works and Mortgages at Nationwide Building Society, Independent Instructor (UX Research & Design) at Hult International Business School, and Visiting Lecturer (UX Research) at The University of Sheffield International Faculty, CITY College. Additionally, Dr. Pagonis has served in a variety of roles including Agile Coach / UX Consultant at AXA Insurance Gulf, CTO, Software Engineer - Co-founder at Missum Ltd, visiting lecturer at City, University of London, Software Engineer - Co-founder at Pragmaticomm Limited, and Senior Software Engineer at Symbian.

Additionally, he has a passion for machine learning and humans, especially in Scrum. Dr. Pagonis thrives on complex problem-solving and systems thinking, as illustrated by his quote from anthropologist Franz Boaz, "Everything is connected to everything else. Real life is lived in a complex world system where all the subsystems overlap and affect each other. The common mistake is to deal with one subsystem in isolation, as if it didn't connect with anything else. This almost always backfires as other subsystems respond in unanticipated ways."