Monty Hammontree is the Partner Director of User Experience Research for Microsoft’s developer tools and platforms division. He has over 30 years of industry experience in product design and user research management. In recent years Monty has been at the forefront of the formation and adoption of “lean” customer, product, business development, and innovation best practices within Microsoft. A primary theme of his career is the development and utilization of team-based techniques for uncovering innovation opportunities, exploring creative concepts, visualizing solution alternatives, and evaluating/refining candidate solutions. Monty lives with his wife Amy and their two Newfoundland dogs, Rosie and Buddy, in their proverbially dream house on a lake in South Carolina. From his newly found remote workplace he thoroughly enjoys glancing over his desktop monitors at the blue waters of lake Keowee as he works.  His five children, now grown, and six grandchildren are the pride of his life and his never-ending fountain of youth. He holds a PhD in Human Factors Engineering from Old Dominion University.