Automattic Lexicon: +t +d

Automattic is a fully distributed company; we all work from where ever we are, any flat surface with access to the internet. This comes with many benefits, as well as some curious downsides, but one of the most interesting things is the way that a fully global, exclusively-online working community interacts socially.

Like any group who spends time on the internet (ie in 2014, most groups) we are exposed to different memes and cultural references, and like any group, we create our own sort of tropes and references and inside jokes. One of these is “+t +d.”

20141102_144227

“+t +d” on the most superficial level is an abbreviation of an abbreviation – you begin with “Totally, Definitely,” which is reduced to save time and increase it’s cool factor, to “Totes Def,” which of course is naturally shortened even further to “+t +d.”

Yes, there are those who see this as an affront against the English language, a further breakdown of the same sort as emoji and text message shorthand. There’s something to that – I can see it both ways. However, I think that looking at this piece of the Automattic Lexicon and seeing it only as a shorthand is missing a bigger piece of the message here.

“+t +d” represents to me not just a quick affirmation, but rather an aspirational view of the way that Automatticians (and I would suggest all remote workers) have to approach The Work. “+t +d” is our version of “Yes, and…” the cornerstone to all great improvisational comedy. It represents a necessary positivity that absolutely needs to be injected into all of our work, and all of our interactions.

Working with people almost exclusively through text means that you have to be generous; you have to read only what’s on the page, and make assumptions only when they are justified and work toward a goal. It’s very easy to slip into negativity and read a message into a sentence that simply isn’t there – but if you maintain a sense of positivity, an ingrained automatic response of “Totally, definitely,” things work. Things flow. Great stuff is created.

Working with distributed teams on cohesive products means that you have to make space for error, and for oversight, and for outright missteps. Your response to these things cannot be defensive or accusatory, but rather “+t +d, what can I do to help?” – “+t +d, how can we fix this?” – pushing for the positive, for the tide that lifts us all rather than the torpedo that sinks.

Rick Steves, reknowned travel author and someone I consider a role model, talks about the need for militant optimism in travel – this resonates with me when I think about The Work. I think that “+t +d” is our militant optimism. It’s not always easy, and I’ve certainly fallen victim to defensiveness and pointing of fingers – but I try to stay positive. We all do. And from that trying, we’re able to work together, from all around the world, to make things that simply did not exist before.

+t +d everybody.

What a Way to Start a Book!

“The antifragile loves randomness and uncertainty, which also means – crucially – a love of errors, a certain class of errors. Anti fragility has a singular property of allowing us to deal with the unknown, to do things without understanding them – and do them well. let me be more aggressive; we are largely better at doing than we are at thinking, thanks to antifragility. I’d rather be dumb and antifragile than extremely smart and fragile, any time.”

From Antifragile

November Reading Goals

After touching base with Jeremey and Ian, I’ve decided to follow their recommendations (respectively) and read the following in November:

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us (272 Pages) and
Antifragile: Things That Gain from Disorder (544 Pages!)

I’ve decided to put Just Enough Research on the back burner, since these two books alone represent 0.74 Infinite Jests (versus October’s mere .574 Infinite Jests) and November involves a lot of travel for our hero.

October Reading Goals Recap

I almost made it – I finished Microinteractions, Elements of UX and Lean UX. I am only about halfway through Gamestorming. I do have an excuse – I picked up and spent some time in the excellent Just Enough Research, part of the Book Apart family. So, I’ll call it a draw.

Here are my thoughts in the order I read the books;

– Microinteractions: I was concerned that my lack of professional experience with UX topics would make this one a bit out of my reach, but to the contrary I found it really interesting, and it has certainly changed the way I think about the tiny pieces of software and websites, and the way these pieces change my experience. I would recommend it to anyone who works with websites or software, regardless of your area of focus.

– Elements of UX: This book, while thoughtful and certainly full of really important and structural high level thinking, was not for me. I lack the necessary grounding and experience to get the full value. It was the same experience as reading the third of fourth book in a series independent from the others – I could tell I was not getting the full story, the full impact. So, I would certainly recommend it, but probably not good if you’re just dipping a toe into design and UX.

– Lean UX: Probably my favorite of the books I finished in this list, Lean UX isn’t really about UX per se, but more about approaching that sort of Work from a different angle. As a step forward in management and product development, I liked it an awful lot. This may be because it ties into the sort of thing think about already, have some work experience with already, so the lessons and thoughts are especially tangible and pertinent.

– Gamestorming: Despite only getting halfway, have already started using the games and thinking in this book – my team at Automattic will be putting together our annual roadmap in January, and we’ll be using some of the creativity building games to help approach the next year with open minds. Game storming is mostly a collection of brainstorm games, with a short explanation of how to use them – if you work with other humans to make things in any capacity, you would get a a lot out of this book.

While I failed to meet my book goal in October, I did meet my page number goal, so I feel inspired. I am going to only choose three books for November, including the rest of Just Enough Research. I have reached out to my colleagues Jeremey and Ian for recommendations – stay tuned!