About Brad Nunnally
I am a design, research, and delivery leader focused on helping teams navigate complexity in digital work.
What OneStrayThought Is For
I use OneStrayThought as a place to write, document experiments, and share lessons from the parts of digital work that do not always fit neatly into a portfolio, project plan, or meeting recap.
That includes design leadership, UX research, delivery strategy, information architecture, facilitation, AI strategy, and the everyday judgment involved in moving complex work forward.
Some of the work here is reflective. Some of it is tactical. The case studies document experiments and project lessons as they are ready to share.
Professional Background
I have spent more than 15 years working across UX, design leadership, research, delivery, and strategy. My work has included public sector modernization, national security and mission-focused programs, Fortune 500 enterprise consulting, and time at 18F, the former internal digital agency that was housed within the General Services Administration.
Across those environments, the work has usually come back to the same set of questions: What problem are we really trying to solve? What do users and staff need from the system? What decisions are unclear? What needs to be true for delivery to succeed?
Most of that work has involved helping teams better understand the problem in front of them: what users need, where delivery friction exists, what information is missing, and what needs to become clearer before execution can succeed.
How I Work
My work is usually most useful when a problem is important, messy, and not fully defined yet.
I help slow the work down enough to understand it, then make it concrete enough to move forward.
That may involve discovery, facilitation, information architecture, delivery planning, AI readiness work, or leadership alignment. The format changes depending on the situation, but the goal is consistent: helping teams make thoughtful decisions under complexity.
Books, Writing, and Speaking
I am the co-author of two books:
- Designing the Conversation: Techniques for Successful Facilitation, with Russ Unger and Dan Willis
- UX Research: Practical Techniques for Designing Better Products, with David Farkas
The writing and speaking connected to OneStrayThought focus on leadership, delivery, research, AI, information architecture, and the human side of technology work.
I also give talks and workshops for conferences, universities, community events, and organizations that want a grounded way to discuss design, delivery, AI, leadership, and research practice.
Selective Advisory Work
Through OneStrayThought, I am available for selective advisory engagements, workshops, speaking opportunities, and strategy conversations. Engagements are remote-first and shaped around the needs of the team and the problem itself.
If you are interested in working together, inviting me to speak, or talking through whether there is a fit, start with a short note.