I really enjoy building efficiencies that scale for our clients — whether that means using automation to help their people do more with less, scale their products, or make their day-to-day workflows more efficient. Name: Chris StimmelTitle: Development Studio LeadLocation: Thornton, Colorado 80602 What is your role at TrendyMinds? What are your responsibilities in your role? Chris: I am the Development Studio Lead, and that makes me responsible for many different aspects of the work our team does. One of my constant priorities is to foster trust and innovation within the Development Studio team. I am also responsible for growing the team members, growing our Studio’s business, and delighting our clients.Delighting clients! Tell us what you mean by that. Chris: Well, one recent example comes from a project we did with one of our longest-running clients, IU Health. We’ve been working with them to revamp their web infrastructure and have been able to guide them toward more flexible, streamlined options that will have a positive impact on their user experience as well as make the site easier for their team to manage and maintain. In addition to delivering quality work, though, we used this opportunity to push our team — and theirs — to adopt more streamlined, agile workflows. This enabled us to implement improvements faster than we have before. Our IU Health contact said this has been the best work and the best partnership we’ve shared since pre-Covid. That’s what we mean by delighting our clients: we are always looking for ways to better understand their challenges, goals, and pain points so we can transform how we work together. Tell us more about Development Studio? What services or capabilities does Development Studio offer? Chris: Development Studio is focused on three high level capabilities: Web and Mobile build outs; Digital Transformation; and Automation consulting. Recently, we’ve also begun exploring the possibility of building out our own AI Productivity tools. As we’ve been seeing and hearing everywhere, we’re only just starting to scratch the surface of AI’s potential. In working with partners across so many industries, we see this everywhere, including healthcare. Right now, we’re looking into ways to use AI to develop tools that make the healthcare search experience easier so that patients can connect with the right providers instantly. What types of challenges does your Studio help to solve for clients? Chris: We solve a lot of business challenges for our clients. Most often, we help our clients build modern, usable, and performant websites that keep their customers engaged and elevate their brand. I think of a website as a product. Like any product, a new website has to have the right message and its own go-to-market plan. This approach allows us to tackle pain points for our clients in ways that impact their business far beyond the initial website launch — considerations such as scale, resilience, flexibility, and ease of management for the present and future. What types of projects do you enjoy most or find fulfilling or intriguing? Chris: I’m enthralled by complex projects that involve problem-solving or give me an opportunity to learn about a new market segment. I love anything that requires developing new automation. I really enjoy building efficiencies that scale for our clients — whether that means using automation to help their people do more with less, scale their products, or make their day-to-day workflows more efficient. To bring up healthcare again, this industry is ripe for innovation, and we are in an excellent position to help our healthcare clients become forerunners in the space! If you’re a healthcare brand, patients are your most important proponents. There is so much opportunity to use automation to drive stronger engagement among patients — and perhaps better health outcomes as well. What is your background? What were you up to before you joined TrendyMinds? Chris: Before joining TrendyMinds, I served in leadership roles across for a dozen different types of software companies — everything from startups and security firms like Webroot Software and Swimlane to communications giants like SendGrid. I also worked for Athlinks, the technology arm of Lifetime Fitness. My skills and experience have tended to focus on helping companies scale up and grow their technical product engineering teams. What new developments or current trends do you find most exciting about your area of expertise? Chris: I am intrigued by everything that’s happening right now around the rapidly growing AI tech bubble. I’m interested to see how AI will transform traditional technical segments like healthcare, government, and education. How will these segments look to leverage AI, and what problems will they try to solve first? Each of these segments tends to move slowly when it comes to technical adoption, but they can’t wait to adopt AI this time around or they risk being left behind. Do you have advice for anyone starting out in your area of expertise? Chris: To be successful in the product technology space, a learning mindset is an invaluable asset. Technology changes constantly which means you’ll never be able to know everything (and this is exciting!), but you must be able to learn quickly and continuously. What are your hobbies outside of work? Or what is something people are surprised to learn about you? Chris: I have a lot of hobbies outside of work. I live in Colorado and my family is very active. We ski on the mountains and on the water. We play a lot of tennis, and I am an avid golfer. I think the thing that surprises people the most, though, is that I played soccer for the US National team when I was younger.