Hi, I'm Maurice Wright.

I solve problems using the analytical and creative parts of my brain. I am a Digital Strategy Coach. I like helping people solve problems using the analytical and creative parts of my brain.

I help leaders solve problems using both sides of their brain. I help leaders solve important problems that have an assigned value. I help leaders, entrepreneurs, and founders who recognize that they have a problem, and have a value assigned to it, but don't quite know what to do about it.

I help them with what I consider the 4 pillars of great project management: teamwork, strategy, prioritization, and implementation.

Why?

Ed Edelman, Founder and Former CEO, Ambient Weather

Mo has the unique ability to cross between technical and management skills. Beyond his technical skills, Mo is a highly collaborative team player. He is punctual, unfazed, driven, and an effective negotiator when the inevitable uncertainty arises with a complex project.

David Dibble, Former CTO, Charles Schwab

Maurice is the best engineer I've ever worked with.

Arree Chung, Multi-Award-Winning Author-Illustrator, and Webmaster for the Alameda County Assessor's Office

Mo is a wizard. Literally. Getting things done in a local government environment is difficult. Mo was able to cut through red tape like it wasn't even there, and was compliant with county policies.

Oliver Wise, Founder, The Present Group

Mo combines deep technical expertise with outstanding interpersonal skills, consistently creating inclusive environments where all team members feel valued.

Michael Naughton, CTO, Nielsen-Kellerman

Mo's team was one of the best I've ever encountered — a credit to his ability to identify talent and cultivate a positive, high-performing work environment.

Kristopher Floyd, Managing Partner @ Frontier Syndicate & Pan American BJJ Champion 2023

Mo exemplifies a true warrior spirit. His IQ on and off the mat gives him a big advantage.

Philosophy

The Philosophy of What I Do

Humans make technology. That's who we are. We are destined to be creators because we are the children of the most high. The Creator. The Heavenly father. God. Allah. Jehovah. Amen.

Our task on Earth is to make improvements to it, so that He knows that we are His children.

And, be joyful in our contemplation of what we plan to do with it. We are not the original creators, but we can co-create with the original creator.

Unfortunately, we often absent-mindedly try to build helpful technology, not knowing that our inventiveness can hurt the planet, or our co-inhabitants, with by-products, waste, natural resource consumption, and pollution.

When we manifest our ideas, we should aspire to do it in a way that is beneficial on all levels.

I learn and teach martial arts because it gives people confidence in so many other areas of their lives.

If you feel afraid when someone unfamiliar approaches your personal boundary, you may be more likely to react in a way that is driven by negative emotions.

With proper training, your reaction is more disciplined, which gives you more power to direct the interaction how you see fit.

AI can't replace who you are. So, have an opinion and share your thoughts bravely.

Have a point of view, and use tools like AI to amplify your skillset and create something meaningful.

Human thought is the most powerful force in the universe.

The thoughts of other people impact what we believe, so it's important to choose your information sources carefully.

The people that I consider to be my friends all have kind hearts and feel a responsibility for others.

What's your point of view?

What I do

My interests

AI is an amplifier of skill. For those who choose to engage with it, I help them get to "here" from "there" using AI tools like Cursor, Claude, and ChatGPT. Together, we identify the things possible that you may not have considered. We go over basic concepts, prototype, communicate and execute.

I am a Digital Strategy Coach. I help people and organizations define how to use AI to their advantage, and then help them implement it. And, on occasion, I build things. Sometimes for clients. Sometimes for myself.

I also help martial arts masters (and beginners too, occasionally) fight with and against bladed and blunt weapons. Kung fu. Jeet Kune Do. Capoeira. Brazilian Jiujitsu. Tae Kwon Do. I have taught, or am currently teaching black belts, advanced students and masters how to fill the limitations of their current art by giving them the skills to interact with armed opponents.

But, as deadly serious as life can be, approaching it with energy, a kind heart, and humor will consistently yield win-win positive results for everyone in your sphere of influence — and especially for your team.

I received a mechanical engineering degree from UC Berkeley. I've spent years experimenting with electromagnetic phenomena and studied the patents of Nikola Tesla, as well as the work of Nassim Haramein, Randell Mills, and Robert Edward Grant whose recent contributions to physics, math, and archaeology have transformed the world as we know it.

It is said that those who sought the Philosopher's Stone — the object that would allow them to turn lead into gold — had to first have a great command of the world around them.

It is therefore important to know all things that we are AND that we interact with — seen and unseen. This is why I teach people to consider soft skills and other areas of knowledge that are not typically taught in school. This is what I do.

Why I start at $5k minimum?

Why I start at $5k minimum?

I help people solve problems of great value. Whether it's value creation or risk avoidance, if you have a clear understanding of what your problem is worth, I can bring to bear the tools at my disposal to help you solve them.

If you don't understand the worth of the problem you want solved, or the problem is worth less than what I charge, I would still be happy to meet with you. But in order for us both to move forward in a positive way financially, we must strive to build solutions that are worthy of our time.

Any good developer will tell you that coding is the easy part. Connecting things is the hard part. So, to be a good developer, you must know how to connect lots of things. APIs, MCPs, hardware, repos, front-ends, etc.

This applies to life as well. A deep understanding is useful, but it's more valuable to be able to bridge things together — people, ideas, businesses, etc.

If you'd like to find out more, schedule a time or join my mailing list.

Soft Skills

True Stories

Teamwork — You Did What With The Laptop?

Trust, respect, and courage are the foundation of a successful team. Traits I've cultivated through years of martial arts training and project execution.

True Story

One of my team members was getting backed up on a job. When I asked what was going on, he said that he had left his work laptop in a bag that he forgot at a club in San Francisco, and the club only opened once every two weeks. He said he tried to get it back, but was told he would have to wait until the club opened again.

I could have chastised him, but instead, I laughed with him about it, because I trusted that he was being truthful, and recognized that he was terrified that he had done something that was irreversibly bad. Then, I called the club, and told them I was coming. We got in the car, drove across the bridge to San Francisco from Berkeley, and my team member identified the front door of the club.

There is no easy parking on Market Street in downtown San Francisco, so I parked illegally in full view of the club's front door in my black 1993 F150 Lightning and lit up the modified exhaust a few times before I went and banged on the door as hard as I could. When someone answered, I told them about the bag that was left at the bag check, and told them that the contents of that laptop were critical to our company—insinuating that I wasn't going to leave without it.

I explained to him that these things happen, and that my response was typical of what he could expect from me if anything like that ever happens again.

My team member then described the bag, and the club representative went into the bag check and retrieved it. We thanked the person, got back in the truck and drove back to work. My team member smiled the whole trip. Partially in awkward disbelief, partially surprised at how audaciously I presented myself to the club owner, but mostly because he was relieved to have his computer back.

I explained to him that these things happen, and that my response was typical of what he could expect from me if anything like that ever happens again. How do you think that made him feel? Empowered, right? How do you think the trust and respect in our relationship changed? It went up by a factor of 10. To this day, I can call him and ask for his help on any project and he would be there for me even though he has a full-time job someplace else.

The three pillars of trust, respect, and courage are the martial traits that I try to exemplify and instill in my own team.

Strategy — You Can't Get "There" If You Don't Know Where "There" Is

"One thing". What is the single most important outcome that you expect to achieve? Focus on this first when a project's direction seems unclear.

True Story

When redesigning FirstData.com, I was technical director and had a responsibility for all online company and partner assets in the contiguous U.S. FirstData, at the time, was the largest credit card processor in the world. Their infrastructure powered corporate behemoths like Walmart, Bank of America, Chase Bank, Sam's Club, PayPal as well as companies all the way down to sole proprietors.

There were A LOT of stakeholders, which made the problem of what to do with the website a big point of contention. To stakeholders and to leadership, I made it clear that nothing of consequence would be accomplished if the company was not able to define what the single most important objective was. So, in separate meetings, I surveyed all of the key players and we were able to make the determination that generating leads was the company's most important focus.

... having that single point of authority in the form of the most desired outcome always helped override requests that were not in line with generating leads.

Once that was done, we began the design process. Unsurprisingly, at each step, there were requests that effectively deviated from that goal. So, having that single point of authority in the form of the most desired outcome always helped override requests that were not in line with generating leads.

Eventually, the design we settled on had a sizable right-aligned design element that would appear on almost every page of the corporate site. It was consistent and persistent, and eventually led the company from accruing 5% of its sales through online channels to 45% during my tenure. The importance of understanding the core purpose of a project is essential to it being a measurable success.

Prioritization — When Laziness Wins

New technologies consistently expose "low hanging fruit". High impact, low effort opportunities can move the needle quickly.

True Story

When I was approached to help AmbientWeather leverage the internet connectivity of its personal weather station devices, their market was being flooded by inexpensive competitors manufactured cheaply in China. They knew that there was an opportunity to use the internet connectivity, but didn't know what to do or how to do it.

First, we established that the single most important thing that the website had to accomplish was to provide online access to data generated by its devices. So, our lowest hanging fruit was building a dashboard, but doing it in a way that leveraged the most current UX principles and design philosophies. This meant getting rid of the "Save" button—so that devices could be renamed dynamically and settings could be changed without having to refresh the browser.

After these changes were implemented, the company saw product sales grow by 40% over a three-month period

Once the dashboards were live, the next low effort, high return project that I determined with the company owner/founder, Ed Edelman, was mapping all of the devices that were online. Being able to have a map with hyper-local weather AND being able to see detailed data from the devices of other users ultimately became a huge differentiator between AmbientWeather products and those of inexpensive competitors.

After these changes were implemented, the company saw product sales grow by 40% over a three-month period, which greenlit a host of other new projects. Mobile app development, APIs, browser embeds, data downloads, and much more. We eventually had to make decisions about longer-term projects, but it was by prioritizing the low-hanging fruit that we were able to determine that spending more time and money on the project would be justified.

Implementation — Does That Actually Work?

"Where am I?" and "What am I supposed to do?" Clarity in these questions should underpin all user experience design, especially with AI-enabled tools.

True Story

I was asked by a startup to help them get their product MVP ready for a key pitch to a VC firm. We had a meeting with my team, the founders, their designer, and their tech lead where they explained the product, and the designer explained the visual flow of the application. But something was missing.

In a situation like this, it is not uncommon for designers who have recently moved from print to web design to not clearly understand the importance of not only aesthetics, but of clear (and many times redundant) navigation systems. This was one of those cases. However, it's never a great idea to throw a designer under the bus in front of their company's leadership.

Instead of objecting to every screen that was presented, I simply asked "How do people know where they are?" and "What should visitors be able to do from this page?" Although the answers to those questions were plainly obvious to the designer, they were not relayed in the design. So, she started to get irritated with my question. Partially because it was the same set of questions for every page she demoed, but also because it felt like I was challenging her authority.

Instead of objecting to every screen that was presented, I simply asked "How do people know where they are?" and "What should visitors be able to do from this page?

But that was easily resolved when I explained that as far as UX is concerned, having answers to those two questions is by far the most important. If you have a page that has charts, is it possible to get the raw data? Once you're five levels deep into a website, how do you get back out? These are simple questions, but you'd be surprised how easily they are forgotten.

Letting your application's visitors know where they are and what they are expected to do, and having that in alignment with the goals of the application and the company cannot be overlooked. The startup, My90 did eventually finish the prototype and used it to raise their first round of funding.

Case Studies

Ambient Weather — $20M Success Story

I helped a leader transform a US-based company run by an MIT graduate that was quickly losing market share to an onslaught of Chinese-manufactured competitor products.

I helped that leader redefine his product, regain market leadership, and successfully exit for $20M.

His name was Ed. He sold his company, Ambient Weather, to a larger company where Mike is the CTO.

Alameda County Assessor — Zero to Compliant in 3 Months

With a 3 month deadline, I helped a local county agency get their website ADA compliant in 2 months.

We did a design refresh in month three. this was accomplished with the help of their webmaster, Arree, using AI.

Now, I teach their IT team how to use AI.