Must Warn Others. Must Seek Truth. Must Search On Forever. Must Seek Truth. Must Look Under Every Rock. Must Seek Truth. Must Look Past The Counter Clock. Must Seek Truth. Must Not Give In To Boredom. Must Seek Truth. Must Not Seek Life Down In The Showroom. Must Seek Truth. Must Know The Sound Of The Droning Hum. Must Seek Truth. Must Know Where To The Liars Run. Must Seek Truth. Must Hold Firm. Must Seek Truth Because The Naysayers And The Salesman Are There At Every Turn. Must Seek Truth.
Now More Than Ever
Now, more than ever, it matters tremendously what we designers choose to do with:
- Our Time
- Our Talent
- Our Resources
- Our Ideas
We have the ability to do a lot of good in this world. To move the needle, to keep progress going, to make sure we don’t go backwards. But ultimately, what we do with our time, talent, resources, and ideas are choices that are up to us.
What will be different next year?
In a year with much learning, adjusting, and charging full speed ahead, at some point it will be good to look at what worked this year and what didn’t. And what to do differently in 2017. Before getting too deep, because at the moment, there are just too many deadlines to hit, here’s a running tally of things I’ve been thinking about lately as it relates to work:
- Project Management Percentage Fees
- Will I work with your dev team?
- Which side projects do I want to sink my teeth into?
- Quarterly Mandatory Vacations
- Try not to be too booked up
- Get better at pushing back on scope creep
- Be even more selective with the projects taken on
- Experimental Research Time (weekly)
These items, I think, as of now, are good things to set in motion or give a lot more thought to. All in the name of making the work better without having to feel pushed to the edges.
And in light of recent election events, only taking on projects that are change making or community building. Now, more than ever, we can’t afford to waste any time. We have to make sure we protect the progress we’ve made for so many people in the last 8 years and we can’t allow America to fall backwards toward division, racism, hate, and closed-mindedness. The environment will also be in dire need of extra attention. We’re all Pipeline Fighters now.
