For this article, we're pulling back the curtain to introduce you to two of our product designers: Elisabeth Dunn and Carrie Noonan. Carrie has been at Lattice for 3+ years currently working on our Talent Products and Elisabeth is also working on Talent but has only been at Lattice for 3+ months! People are at the heart of Lattice and we wanted to share a bit about our people. We hope you enjoy their chat…
Carrie: Hi Elisabeth.
Elisabeth: Hi Carrie.
Carrie: You ready?
Elisabeth: Yeah, let’s do this. I’ll start with an easy one. What's your favorite way to spend a weekend?
Carrie: I usually spend my weekends outdoors, especially during spring and fall, which are peak climbing seasons where I live. My partner and I dedicate both weekend days to climbing, mainly in Indian Creek, Utah. In other seasons, we enjoy activities like gravel biking, mountain biking, or backcountry snowboarding. Currently, we're training for a 30K trail run, so we prioritize running on the weekdays to save weekends for other activities.
Carrie: What about you, how do you spend your weekends?
Elisabeth: I feel as though it's very hodgepodge. So, it's a mix of playing video games. For a while I was playing a game called Sea of Stars, which is like a Japanese style RPG video game.
Carrie: What kind of console are you using?
Elisabeth: Actually for both of them it's PC. So, yeah, video games is one and I've been trying to get more into reading recently.
Elisabeth: And as you know, 'cause I talk about it all the time, pole fitness and pole dance is something I tend to do on the weekends as well. It's just, I like trying to do at least one thing that requires me to move my body in some way. And I feel as though pole has been a very good one to help with better mind body connection. Similar to rock climbing a little bit.
Carrie: Yeah. That's super cool. Speaking of reading more, what's a book that you would recommend?
Elisabeth: The book that I'm reading right now is called The Priory of the Orange Tree, which people describe as like Feminist Game of Thrones I suppose. But it's more fantasy like than Game of Thrones in my opinion. So it's very cool. It's 800 pages long, so it's a very long book. But I really like seeing the dynamics between women.
Elisabeth: Have you been reading anything recently?
Carrie: Yes. I love reading. My partner gets mad when I read fantasy because I just get sucked into it and all I wanna do is read and he's like, ’Hey, can we hang out?’
Elisabeth: (laughs)
Carrie: Right now I'm reading the Fourth Wing series, which has been pretty popular so I figured I would check it out and I'm on the second book. It's pretty good.
Elisabeth: Going back to what I was talking about earlier in regards to hobbies. I know you moved recently, what has it been like trying to integrate yourself into your new community?
Carrie: Moving here from Denver, we left behind a bustling community and convenience. Monticello, our new Utah town with just 1500 residents, seemed like quite shift. But, reaching out on a climbing forum quickly connected us with kindred spirits. Our outdoor adventures became the foundation of new friendships. Despite its small size, Monticello exudes a welcoming vibe reminiscent of the '90s. Kids roam freely, neighbors wave, and conversations flow easily. It's been an intriguing journey building community here.
Elisabeth: Would you say that you and your partner feel like this is home for you yet? Or are you still growing into that feeling of it being home?
Carrie: Yeah, we are feeling pretty committed to staying here for a while. I would say we're pretty settled in and just gonna see how it goes for the next couple years.
Elisabeth: I'm happy that you have both been able to find somewhere that matches your hobbies and passions that you enjoy while also feeling like a good sense of local community. That's awesome.
Carrie: Thanks! Do you feel like San Francisco is your home?
Elisabeth: It's hard to answer that. So for context, I'm a military kid so I moved around quite a bit.
Washington DC is still the place I consider home because that's where my family was for the longest. I have high school friends that are there, my family still lives in DC, but San Francisco outside of DC has been the place that I've stayed the longest. And so it's the place that I have a more solidified group of friends made in adulthood. Long term, I see me and my partner moving back to the east coast potentially, but who knows.
Elisabeth: Pivoting into work related stuff, I'm curious what made you decide to join Lattice originally?
Carrie: Before joining Lattice, I was part of a small design team, which was fantastic for honing my skills but left me wanting more growth opportunities. So, in my job search, I sought out a larger team with diverse backgrounds and experiences. I also craved a company with a meaningful mission—I wanted to design something that made a real difference. Company culture mattered a lot to me too; I'm all about building relationships. When I came across Lattice's branding, I was impressed and intrigued. It spoke volumes about the design ethos here. And of course, Jared, our leader, is amazing. Lattice checked all my boxes.
Elisabeth: I love that.
Elisabeth: Following up on that actually, because you've been here for three years now and the impression that you've made on people has been so amazing. People are always referencing all of the amazing things that you're doing. Are there any big things that you're wanting to see improve within yourself or things that you want to up-skill on?
Carrie: Ooh, that's such a good question.
I'm really excited about the current stage we're in. The design team has gone through some ups and downs, but we're fully staffed now, especially on the talent design team. I'm eager to see what kind of culture we can build within talent design and how it can impact the broader EPD culture. Forming strong partnerships and promoting transparency across teams is key. Ultimately, I hope to see this positive influence extend across all domains.
Elisabeth: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And that makes me excited that I joined.
Carrie: Me too. Why did you join Lattice?
Elisabeth: Similar to you, I wanted to pivot into a role where I felt more passionate about the work I was doing. While I hadn't worked in HR Tech before, the idea of fostering collaboration and building connections intrigued me. During the interview process, I appreciated the close connection between design, product management, and engineering. Experiencing cohesive teamwork within EPD was important to me. Since joining, I've observed a strong emphasis on continuous feedback and improvement, which aligns well with my goal-oriented nature. These factors influenced my decision to join Lattice, and I've been enjoying it so far.
Carrie: As a newer person, do you have any observations or things we're not doing that you wish we were doing or wanna try?
Elisabeth: I think it's important to make our different product areas and design patterns more connected so that Lattice feels like a cohesive suite. This means ensuring that information from one area can be easily referenced or integrated into another. Maintaining UI consistency across Lattice is crucial to achieve this goal. I'm pleased to see efforts like the Design Pattern Club, but I'm also exploring ways to contribute to this initiative and pursue my own ideas for improvement.
Carrie: Well I will say one thing I love about the design team is that we've always been really like experimental and iterative and open to evolving. So don't feel like just because something is already existing or works a specific way that it has to continue that way. If you have ideas or if you would wanna try it a slightly different way, I think everyone's usually pretty open to trying stuff out.
Elisabeth: That's honestly very good to hear. And I feel as though a good example of that was what we've done with our crit on the Talent team. I do really like that about our team, just like the openness for new ideas is really good.
Carrie: Yeah. Always open to evolving.