On Tuesday, Lisa and I interviewed Rich, President of Menlo. The most remarkable aspect of this interview, aside from his message, was the informality yet seriousness of the set up. Lisa and I grabbed a free table in the factory, Rich grabbed his lunch, and we sat down for an casual conversation. The passion with which Rich spoke was exhilarating. He told us the story of Menlo’s beginnings, of a transformed client, of the “hope” that Menlo’s vision can bring the software world and the professional world as a whole. I was almost brought to tears by his heartfelt words, and by realizing that I have been given such a fantastic opportunity.

I left that day realizing more about who I want to be in my professional life. It may sound cheesy, but each day I grow exponentially as a professional. The open and collaborative environment, the constant feedback from my pair-partner, the energy in the factory and the honesty and integrity of everyone at Menlo is so amazingly refreshing.

It will be my task to capture Menlo’s unique perspective in their website. I am impressed and awed with Menlo on a daily basis, so this feels like a daunting task. I am however, using various user-centered design methods to break down the task into manageable chunks—smaller iterations that can be evaluated more frequently. This process feels slow at times. It also feels thorough and necessary to fully inform the design.

Ultimately, I can’t express how inspired I am. Perhaps the euphoria will wear off in the next couple weeks, and I will do a little less gushing and a little more reporting, but for now it just seems natural.