buttons

ABOUT / BUTTONS

Between a question
and a useful thing.

I’m Mathias Burton—codename: buttons—a research, design, and product leader who is happiest in the space between an unresolved question and a useful thing in the world. I bring research depth, systems thinking, visual judgment, and organizational leadership to ambiguous zero-to-one work: setting direction, making the artifact, and helping a team see how the pieces connect.

HOW I WORK

Research finds the direction.
Product work carries it forward.

RIPEN helps me investigate and shape a problem. TASTE helps a team turn evidence into decisions, delivery, and learning. The case studies show how these practices work in context.

MY RESEARCH PRACTICE →

RIPEN

Investigate and shape the problem.

01 RESEARCH

Study real work in context and gather the evidence before narrowing the frame.

What are people trying to accomplish?
  1. 01Work in context
  2. 02Interviews
  3. 03Observed behavior
A grounded problem
PitchBook / complete-deal inquiry →
02 IDEATION

Open the possibility space, sketch systems, and choose a point of view worth testing.

Which possibility is worth exploring?
  1. 01Possibility A
  2. 02Possibility B
  3. 03Possibility C
A direction to test
Socrata / connective platform →
03 PROTOTYPING

Make the riskiest assumption tangible enough for people to encounter and critique.

What needs to be made real to learn?
  1. 01Assumption
  2. 02Tangible prototype
  3. 03Encounter + critique
Evidence to work with
RefWorks / redesigned workflow →
04 EVALUATION

Put the work back in context, invite critique, and judge it against observed behavior.

Where does the experience hold up?
  1. 01Intended experience
  2. 02Observed behavior
  3. 03Critique in context
Keep, change, or rethink
PitchBook / CLO structure →
05 NEEDFINDING

Return to unmet needs as the work evolves; discovery continues after the first release.

What does real use reveal next?
  1. 01Use in the world
  2. 02Unmet needs
  3. 03Next inquiry
Discovery continues
RefWorks / sustained field research →

TASTE

Turn evidence into decisions, delivery, and learning.

01 TRIAGE

Sort urgency, risk, opportunity, and constraints before work enters the system.

What deserves attention first?
  1. 01Urgency + risk
  2. 02Opportunity
  3. 03Constraints
Work ready to consider
Government Cloud / platform gaps →
02 ANALYSIS

Make the ambition legible by examining feasibility, dependencies, and strategic fit.

What would this direction require?
  1. 01Feasibility
  2. 02Dependencies
  3. 03Strategic fit
An ambition made legible
PitchBook / role model →
03 SYNTHESIS

Connect separate observations into a model the team can use to make decisions.

What connects the separate signals?
  1. 01Observation
  2. 02Pattern
  3. 03Shared model
A basis for decisions
PitchBook / timing + agency →
04 TACKLING

Clarify ownership, sequence delivery, and remove the next constraint with the team.

Who carries the next decision forward?
  1. 01Ownership
  2. 02Delivery sequence
  3. 03Next constraint
Coordinated action
Tyler Forge / shared system →
05 EXTRACTION

Pull learning, reusable patterns, and the next bet from what the team delivered.

What should we carry into the next cycle?
  1. 01Delivered work
  2. 02Learning
  3. 03Reusable patterns
The next bet
PitchBook / multi-year roadmap →
Original portrait.

RESUME / CV →

WANT TO KNOW MORE?

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE

Get to know me. Two statements are true; one is invented. Can you spot the lie? You have two guesses.

Choose the statement you think is made up.