We’ve got a guest blogger this week – ITK superfan and creative partner Liz Borseti, who shares her story of working with Team Toolkit.

As a member of MITRE’s strategic communications team, I thought I knew the most creative people who work at the company. From writers to designers to photographers, my colleagues are brimming with imagination. So when I was asked to work on a communications plan for the new Innovation Toolkit, I figured it was an ordinary assignment. We would bring an artistic perspective to the table, using a part of the brain most of our engineering colleagues don’t usually tap into.

But from the first meeting with Team Toolkit, I was surprised and happy to learn that I was wrong – creativity and imagination exist in abundance across the organization. And ITK turned out to be one of the most creatively intelligent and collaborative projects I have ever had the pleasure to work on.

As we worked diligently to evolve items like the ITK website and logo, there was a constant back and forth between the teams, learning from each other and building upon each other’s design ideas. Where strategic communications brought expert knowledge of writing, editing, and design, ITK complemented with user-centric concepts, toolkit expertise, and even a cartoon series.

Team Toolkit even encouraged our communications team to use the Premortem tool as we designed a pamphlet for the Premortem tool (Toolception!).

Team Toolkit has the skills to extract the maximum potential of any team or individual. Along with their toolkit, they bring a positive, forward-thinking attitude to every project. I was lucky to experience this first hand as we completed some great work together, using the power of collaboration and systemic creative thinking.

For anyone looking to deliver mission impact on their project, ITK is the place to start. Team Toolkit are not just curators for ITK, but they truly believe in the power of innovative thinking to deliver success for MITRE, our sponsors, and our mission.

Liz Borseti
ITK collaborator, user, and superfan