# About

> Designing via building is my way.

How Monika works, in four principles.

## Building is how I design

I understand a problem best once something real exists, so I prototype early - and often in the production code.

## Product DNA, not what everyone else is shipping

I shape the few core ideas a product is built on, rather than watching what everyone else is doing, so every feature has a reason.

## Concepts align the team

A rough concept in front of people early teaches the team more than a polished answer shown late; at McKinsey that meant 100+ users. **It settles how the product should feel, and it creates urgency - which is how I get work to actually happen.**

## Hands-on polish, in production

I stay in it to the end. The last ten per cent happens in the real thing, not in the file.

---

Full page: https://monika.fyi/approach