Honesty. Towards myself, towards my collaborators. I won’t be able to lie to myself about the usefulness or value of what I’m doing for too long, and not without cost (wellbeing). I intend to cultivate working relationships characterized by complete honesty. Relationships in which feedback flows freely and concerns are shared openly. I don’t tolerate being lied to or being kept in the dark. To me, this signifies a lack of respect and I’d rather be hurt by honesty than spared by deceit.
Holism. Whatever it is that we’re making, it exists in a complex web of factors, is part of a socio-technical system, is but a small part of the world of the people we’re making it for. I believe that meaningful change depends on understanding the system you’re operating within. I develop a working model of the system we’re operating in to inform our project and rely on my collaborators to fill in the gaps where their experience exceeds mine. In the same vein, I intend to cultivate holistic relationships with my collaborators. Relationships in which I see you and you see me as the whole person behind the role we are to each other. Tell me about your weekend, your relationships, your hopes and fears.
Impact. I need to feel that what i’m working on is worth my while. If you ever see me working on an Automation Tool For Sales Using AI To Scale Your Business ™️ — please ask if I’m ok (I’m not).
Currently I care about problems of self and problems in science.
in early stage projects. I love a white canvas. I enjoy exploring, researching, and learning about a new (problem) landscape. I dislike feeling constrained by an immature or inappropriate commitment to how we might solve a problem. A big part of my work is research, and if the evidence points in a direction different from the one we’re heading in, I want us to be able to change course. I accept and embrace ambiguity and consider myself able to navigate uncertainty with relative ease.
when I can manage my own time. I’m usually on maker schedule. To me, this means regularly having the freedom to spend uninterrupted, generous chunks time on either research (understanding the problem), design (exploring solutions), or coding (implementing solutions). I take care to respect my collaborators’ time as well as the things they need to enter flow.
with short feedback cycles. I thrive when I perceive progress. My motivation dwindles when I feel stuck. Fast feedback is one of the most reliable ways to keep the progress-motivation loop going. I try to provide feedback as soon as I can (respecting my own schedule), and value this in others. I try to expose my ideas and solutions to collaborators and external opinions as soon as possible.
when I feel in sync with my collaborators. I value and need shared thinking with collaborators. I want to know what you’re thinking about and where you think we should go next. I’ve found this to work via regular check-ins, in-person time, and async updates.
when enthusiastic. When I feel my values, skills, and interest aligned with what we’re doing, when I feel positive relationships with collaborators, and when I feel encouraged through feedback and progress, I have incredible drive. Conversely, I intend to be encouraging and engaging with my collaborators to inspire the same enthusiasm in them.
**steep hierarchies.**I realize that full anarchy is not productive and that hierarchies can be good organizing tools. I do prefer flat hierarchies and dislike having to follow a direction I do not believe in. On the same note, I struggle accurately assessing my own authority and tend to under-estimate the value of my own contributions and opinions, most profoundly when in conflict with those of more experienced collaborators. Working on it.
assessing the quality of my own work. Likely related to the point above, I have trouble knowing if my work is good, and also when it is good enough. I rely on honest feedback from my collaborators and users/customers/others for better signals.
unclear connections between tasks and larger goals. If I don’t see how what I’m asked to do contributes to the larger purpose of our project, I will ask you to clarify. I might disagree with you in case I have come across evidence that warrants challenging, and I will do so openly and respectfully.
resting beep face. This is a serious and so far incurable condition. I’ve received feedback from various independent sources that when doing focused work I look angry. I’m not! Should we be working in the same room and I’m on my computer, don’t read into my facial expression.