Morning Brief — Friday, February 27, 2026

The Scopely NDA is fully executed — one less thing to track. Two warm GDC leads arrived overnight: Dead Nice (Paolo Parrucci + COO Jasmine Christmas) and Dead Monkey (Sara Angel), both interested in GDC time. Your day has two real meetings: Ric Neil at 9 AM and Boss Rush at 11:30. Mission 42 staffing is still the open call — Ashley needs your decision on Sarah's split before she can finalize scheduling.

🚨 Act Today

TODAY Ric Neil — 9:00 AM call starting now

60-minute external call. Pull Copper for relationship context and last touchpoint before you dial in.

TODAY Mission 42 — Sarah's time: .5 or .25?

Ashley is waiting on your decision. See Slack DM thread — reply today so scheduling can be finalized.

New Lead Dead Nice — Paolo Parrucci + Jasmine Christmas (COO)

GDC intro overnight. They want a meeting slot at GDC. Reply to confirm time before slots fill up.

New Lead Dead Monkey — Sara Angel (collab interest)

Jason replied + CC'd Ashley. Ashley is investigating the collab angle. Check in with Ashley on status today — may need to get a GDC slot on the calendar.

Matt / Jason

Feb 26 · Early AM · Internal

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

GDC deck review — Jason needs to incorporate coffee content and address open questions before the company meeting.
Figma MCP integration with Claude discussed; Matt using it for non-proprietary content to generate vectors. Jason having difficulty with Figma write functionality — only generating SVGs, not editing Figma files directly.
Claude Cowork demo — Jason showed calendar, Gmail, Krisp, and CRM integrations with automated meeting briefings. Matt wants the tool integrated into master docs so anyone joining a meeting can get up to speed fast.
AI and SaaS disruption discussed — agentic approaches expected to gradually replace profitable SaaS solutions.
Follow-up catch-up scheduled for 11:30 AM (Matt's time) to dig into Matt's written thoughts from their last conversation.

Action Items

Jason: Review and incorporate deck content, address open questions this morning
Jason: Get Matt's help setting up Figma MCP integration with Claude to enable Figma writes
Jason: Send Matt a calendar invite for the 11:30 catch-up

SEGA / Creative Assembly — Intro Call

Feb 26 · ~8:30 AM · External · Total War partnership

Hot Lead 📝 Krisp

Jon Kay · Core Dev & Outsourcing Manager · Sega Studios LI search

Aron Riordan · UX Producer · Creative Assembly (Total War) LI search

Grant Mullock · UI/UX Product Owner · Creative Assembly (Total War) LI search

Brandon (EVE) · Sega Studios LI search

Key Points

Sega Studios seeking a CODEV partner to integrate developers into team ceremonies for Total War games — looking for long-term partnerships that scale up and down across multiple titles and timelines.
Ideal profile: UX Designers experienced with dense strategy games on mouse/keyboard or gamepad console, preferably Total War or similar IP. UXIF confirmed strategy game creds via Dave's Big Huge Games RTS background and Ara (Xbox) turn-based work.
Three-stage pipeline: L1 wireframes/prototypes in Figma → L2 implementation in proprietary UID tool (context system scripting) → L3 visual mockups + assets + motion in Spine Enterprise.
UXIF lane structure (~$15k/lane, partial directors for consistency) and full-spectrum services (including C++/C# engineering) aligned well with Sega's backend UI requirements.
Grant wants one person to start ASAP to build relationships, with potential to scale quickly across multiple Total War projects.

Action Items

Brandon: Send UXIF illustration-focused decks/videos to Grant and Aron at Sega Studios
Aron: Send Total War UI pipeline YouTube video link to Jason + Ashley
Jon: Put together examples of work at different quality levels (design, art, technical) for UXIF to review
Jon: Follow up with each team re: progression and next steps on the potential partnership

Post SEGA / CA Debrief

Feb 26 · ~9:45 AM · Internal · Jason + Ashley

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

Strong opportunity — Ashley sees SEGA as a good foothold to start small and scale across the broader SEGA organization.
Jason/Ashley coordination during the pitch needs improvement — they were stepping on each other. Need a clear pre-call protocol and divided roles.
Automated briefing tool found useful; Ashley copied content directly into the SEGA cover sheet. Copper CRM data quality needs improvement before the briefing can be fully trusted.
Building a European team will be necessary to serve clients like SEGA long-term — needs trusted contacts for recruiting abroad.

Action Items

Jason + Ashley: Establish a coordination protocol for client calls — divide roles, avoid talking over each other
Jason + Ashley: Improve Copper CRM data quality to support better AI-generated briefs
Jason: Build requested AI tools/features for Ashley as discussed

Weekly BizDev Regroup

Feb 26 · ~10:00 AM · Internal · Jason + Ashley

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

7 active projects — pipeline is healthy heading into Q2 with the March cliff already backfilled.
GDC deck still needs work — Jason needs to block focus time to prep content before the company meeting.
DICE themes across 21 meetings: globalization, early-stage prototyping, AI tooling, and clients wanting UXIF in early were the dominant patterns.
Globalization strategy shifting — away from Game Shaster toward identifying global talent and building minimum viable teams grounded in UXIF's existing DNA.

Director Project Discussion — Brian Powers Transition

Feb 26 · 1:00 PM · Internal

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

Brian Powers is leaving to join a client — departing after rebuilding the UX department from zero. Zero complaints, zero internal issues throughout his tenure.
Mission 42 onboarding Katrina + Felicity next week — team at 4 going into March, potential April additions.
Sarah Benjamin formally promoted to Director of UX — natural progression based on client leadership, quality standards, and hiring initiatives.
Jason to travel to Seattle before GDC for international networking; targeting Malta by end of April for European expansion exploration.
Wren's streaming channel is a 10x value multiplier — need to protect that capacity and potentially find additional prototyping talent beyond Wren (Harrison and Grant trusted to lead).

Monthly Company Meeting

Feb 26 · 2:00 PM · Internal · Full team

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

7 projects active — 45% more billing vs Q1 last year, with 76% of all of last year's total revenue already contracted and waiting for signatures in the current pipeline.
Riot TFT expanded massively — now one of the company's largest teams. Mission 42 evolved from a 3-week trial to a 12-month contract for 4 pods / 8.5 people.
GDC: 20+ meetings scheduled, Board Game Night expanded to 40 attendees, co-hosting the AI+Games event (up to 300 people) with Cartesia and an AI agency.
Brian Powers officially announced as departing to join a client. Sarah Benjamin promoted to Director of UX — team-wide appreciation shared in the meeting.

GDC Deck Sync

Feb 26 · 2:30 PM · Internal · Matt, Dave, Ashley

Internal 📝 Krisp

Key Points

Dave praised the authentic DIY aesthetic — especially the "proven code partner" slide with the bear on the shoulder.
Visual revisions needed: elastic capacity model → step-ladder step function (new title: "The right people at the right time"); "You covered end to end" slide background figure to bleed off the top; hero images to use recognizable IP (Valorant suggested).
Typography: yellow text + white doesn't read as bold — use toned-down gray to make yellow pop. Loop lines from the AI version preferred for the validated iteration section over white bubbles.
Global advantage revised: "blended teams" over "blended rates"; three value props — global reach (expanding markets), blended teams (pricing), global ecosystem (cultural relevance).
Ashley received a $2,500 bonus for exceptional leadership and initiative. Sophie to create custom illustrations Monday; 4 days allocated for pre-GDC prep.

Action Items

Jason: Copy editing on multiple slides — blended rates section, talking points
Jason: Rapid prototyping slide — "innovate with confidence" messaging; consumer validation as the key differentiator
Jason: Finalize hero images with recognizable IP across first few slides
Matt: Explore offline/browser-based iPad presentation solution for 17 slides
Sophie (Monday): Create custom illustrations for specified slides; 4 days budgeted

9:00

60 min

Ric Neil External

1:1 call · CST

Copper LI search

No Copper context was loaded for Ric Neil in time for this brief — pull CRM before dialing in to see relationship history, who owns this relationship, and what was last discussed. If there's a prior Krisp transcript, it's worth a quick scan. This call starts imminently.

11:30

50 min

Boss Rush Internal

Recurring internal sync · CST

Recurring internal meeting — no external prep needed. Based on yesterday, likely agenda items: SEGA next steps, GDC deck remaining revisions, Mission 42 Sarah staffing, and the two new GDC lead requests (Dead Nice + Dead Monkey). Come in current on the BizDev and company meeting outputs.

📬 Email

✅

Scopely — NDA fully executed

Done. No action needed. One less thing heading into GDC.

🎮

Dead Nice — Paolo Parrucci + Jasmine Christmas (COO) New Lead

GDC intro overnight. They want a meeting slot at GDC — reply to confirm time before slots fill up.

🐒

Dead Monkey — Sara Angel New Lead

Collab interest. Jason replied + CC'd Ashley. Ashley is investigating. Check in with Ashley today — may need a GDC slot added.

⚡

Riot — Monday kickoff confirmed

TFT kickoff is set. No action needed today.

❓

Mission 42 — Sarah staffing: .5 or .25? Decision

Open Slack thread with Ashley. Your call — respond today so scheduling can be finalized.

📄 Drive — Modified Yesterday

📋

MIS193 Master Doc — Ashley

Mission 42 project doc. Review if you need context on the Sarah staffing question or for Monday's Riot kickoff.

📊

GDC Deck Sync Notes

Notes from yesterday's deck sync. Reference for remaining slide revisions before GDC.

⚡

Riot League doc

Recently updated. Good to review before Monday's kickoff.

🥧

Pie Trap notes

Edited recently. No immediate action flagged.

🌍

Globalization doc — Jason editing

Strategy shift from Game Shaster → global talent sourcing and minimum viable teams. No action needed today.

💬 Slack

💬

DM: Ashley — Mission 42 / Sarah time split Waiting on Jason

Ashley needs your call: Sarah at .5 or .25 for Mission 42. Thread is active — respond today.

💬

DM: Ashley — Dead Monkey collab

Ashley is looking into the Dead Monkey collab angle after Jason's reply to Sara Angel. No action needed from Jason yet.

🤖 Claude Improvements

claude

Edit text & save back to Copper/Doc — ability to edit AI-generated summaries and push changes back to Copper CRM notes or Google Docs

claude

Participant error-checking — Krisp sometimes mis-transcribes names; system should reconcile attendees against Calendar + Email + Copper, and flag uncertain matches for follow-up

claude

Quick Krisp jump link — from any meeting card, one-click to open that Krisp conversation to edit/update/query the transcript

claude

Quick Reference tab (tab 6) — add 6th tab to the morning brief with a glossary of key skill names and existing scheduled tasks

💼 Work

work

Assess client engagement preferences — engage clients to understand preferred short-term vs. long-term engagement types

work

Review proposal submission process — analyze current methods across project phases to optimize cost and value delivery

work

Explore AI and globalization opportunities — gauge client openness to AI-empowered tools and global talent/globalization

work

Develop RFP inclusion strategy — create approaches to get into bids where UXIF is currently not considered or visible

🧍 Personal

personal

Personal errands — Tenor sticks, headphones, Venmo