CMM Labs site
Lab notebook. An extension of my portfolio — tightly integrated, loosely coupled, each with a distinct purpose. My portfolio shows my experience and what I’ve done. CMM Labs shows what I’m working on, what I’m learning by doing and what I’m sharing with others.
- STAGE
- Published
- BUILD TYPE
AI-assisted- DECISION
- GoThe site is live and people can use it. It is a sister site to callmemandy.com, my portfolio.
- STARTED
- Sep 21, 2026
- PUBLISHED
- Oct 16, 2026
- UPDATED
- Oct 17, 2026
Question
My portfolio shows who I am and my experience. How can I share my current work and skills, along with what I’m actively learning?
Hypothesis
My personal brand needs a focus on where I’ve been and who I am — callmemandy.com. I also need to share what I’m exploring now, what I’m making and learning, and where that work is taking me.
The portfolio: Who I am, what I’ve done and what I’m seeking.
CMM Labs: What I’m doing, why I’m doing it and where I’m going. Most importantly, how I apply it.
Can one small site hold that second story and stay simple enough that I keep it current? CMM Labs & Consulting is the portfolio’s sister brand. Like any good multiproduct architecture, the two are tightly integrated but loosely coupled.
Data
No outside data. The copy, the decisions and the headshot are all mine. I created a client prospect page to host my own assessment of a public product. It was the first real thing from CMM Labs.
What I did
- Started in September with a placeholder home page and a lab index to which every “Read the write-up” link pointed.
- Used the site for real work right away. I built and published a password-protected, interactive product assessment page for a prospect, with an assessment timeline and a downloadable PDF version.
- Put a work-in-progress cover over the home page while I worked out what the site was for.
- Launched the home page on Oct. 15: hero, values, About and footer. Everything else waited behind a switch.
- Started with a simple style and brand rules, then refined them as I went: Pine and Linen, logo bubbles for callouts, one social card and a three-bubble favicon. Retired the three-dot row because it read as an AI tell.
- Defined how lab work moves: six stages (Concept, Research, Specification, Design, Build, Published), a go/no-go decision at every stage and a notebook from Design onward.
- Made each lab entry one small file in GitHub that I edit myself. The site checks it before anything goes live.
- Added a “Let’s talk” contact form and a feedback form so visitors can reach me.
- Replaced the AI-assisted chip with two build-type icons: AI-assisted and Applied AI.
What I found
The site is not only a home for lab work; it is a lab project itself. It came from a real problem. It took my product judgment, foundational design sense and systems-thinking style. I made decisions. You’re here and can use it. Lab work doesn’t have to be a standalone tool. This is a destination to help me reach you.
Most of the work was deciding what to leave out. Sections waited behind a switch until they were ready, and the first tool I planned to publish was pulled back for cuts. I also learned about branching strategies in GitHub along the way.
What surprised me
How many small rules a site needs before it feels consistent: one word for “stage,” exact decision values, one callout pattern and plain-language labels.
The first finished thing in the lab was the lab itself.
Under the hood
A static site built from a GitHub repository and hosted on Netlify. Lab entries are YAML files, and notebooks are Markdown files; a build check rejects anything malformed. Forms are handled by Netlify Forms. Designed with Claude and built with Claude Code (Opus 5 and 5.5). Editing and review assisted by Claude and Notion. Icons and images made at my direction by ChatGPT (GPT-6).
Let’s talk.
You don’t need an agenda or a problem to reach out. I love to connect and share ideas!
Let’s talk