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As chief designer at the Santa Cruz, Calif., headset company Plantronics Inc., Darrin Caddes is the bridge between technology and customers (who are 911 operators, disc jockeys, front-desk receptionists and astronauts). For Caddes, the job is about a perfect fit. A former BMW motorcycle designer and enthusiast, Caddes was permanently disabled in a motorcycle crash several years back.
"Working on BMW products and watching someone else ride off into the sunset on them made me a feel a little bit melancholy," says Caddes, who now uses a wheelchair. "At the time of the accident, I almost instantly became a constant headset user."
And that's when he went looking for new work. Attracting talent from Nike and Nokia to Plantronics, Caddes now heads a team of 15 designers who are revamping headset construction and accessories as well as a corporate culture that used to treat designers like short-order cooks. "We aren't being asked to package technology anymore," Caddes says. "Literally, we are now defining product opportunities. We are driving technology choices."
Ellen O'Brien, a former senior editor at CIO Decisions, is now a senior editor at Storage magazine. Write to her at eobrien@techtarget.com.
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