&yet

We talk a lot about people at &yet: putting people first in business; replacing words like “users” or “customers” with “people” whenever possible; the fact that (as one of our best-loved t-shirts reminds us) software is about people. I recently upgraded my desktop wallpaper to this beautiful “Pixels are about people” graphic, as a kind of talisman I can refer to throughout my day.

It’s a conscious choice we make, putting people front and center in our language — because it’s far too easy to lose sight of the wildly complex, multifaceted, fascinating people we’re making things for. And we believe with our whole hearts that business and whole-humanness are not just compatible, but that it’s possible to build thriving businesses precisely by putting people first, and making space for humanity and humane-ness.

(This is also why we’ve been so focused on weirdos lately — because when you take the time to connect with your weirdos, you put that human connection first, and build trust from a place of genuine shared interest.)

Recently we had the opportunity to work with the folks at Heroku and Salesforce on a project that we’ve fallen in love with. Wicked Coolkit is a collection of retro style, open-source web tools that are built on Heroku & Salesforce, and that allow web developers to showcase their multi-facetedness.

Curated inspiration, short reads, books, podcasts, and tools.

Dancing in the Street: Elaine Welteroth Got Married on Her Brooklyn Stoop, Then Threw a Virtual Block Party, by Alexandra Macon for Vogue

We kicked off our Zoom ceremony with a little “love letter” exercise and virtual family photo. In our invitation, we asked our guests the following: “Write us a love letter: In lieu of a formal guest book and registry, we invite our guests to sow seeds of support via a handwritten letter—marriage advice is welcome!—that can be mailed to us following the ceremony—address is in your invite email. \*Very Important\* On the back of the envelope in large letters, please write one word to take with us on our marriage journey. Note: During the zoom ceremony, guests will be directed to hold up your word for a virtual family photo.”

At one of our conferences, people walked into the venue on the first morning, and did what 99% of conference attendees do upon arriving at the venue: they looked around for a cup of coffee.

They didn’t find any. There wasn’t a single chrome-and-black-plastic, thermal-insulated canister to be found.

Three truths — two that are probably self-evident, and one learned through experience:

1. Few things in life expand a person’s mind more immediately, concretely, and lastingly than traveling somewhere unfamiliar, and immersing oneself in the experience.
2. If you want creativity, innovation, and fresh perspectives, your best bet is to bring together a diverse group of people.
3. If you want that diverse group of people to actually experience creativity, innovation, and fresh perspectives, you need to create scaffolding for meaningful “cross-border” experiences, and that requires care and effort.

You can have the most incredible programming, and the perfect group of people, but if the chairs are uncomfortable or sight lines are compromised, you’ll lose people.

This is both literally true and a metaphor.

Many of our favorite gatherings have had to move online, from conferences and live performances, to team meetings and birthday celebrations. We’re suddenly being forced to adapt IRL events to work in new contexts – and in the process, we’re waking up to just how much is baked into those IRL gatherings that we may have taken for granted:

• Surprise, serendipity, or a shared laugh with someone sitting nearby
• The shared rhythm of a day’s activities
• Physical space – architecture, landscape, and how it feels to be in a particular location
• The particular quality of connecting with like-minded people, and maybe making new friends, while sharing space with each other
• Feeling a sense of belonging in a community
• Having the opportunity to meet someone we respect
• Enjoying a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and making memories

An exercise in flexibility and making plans when so many circumstances are beyond your control.

An exercise to help you feel grounded, despite what might be happening around you.

Dear friends,

During the best of times, it’s hard to carve out time and mental space for big picture creative thinking. Right now, with fresh news of this global pandemic breaking every minute, it’s been even harder. (Why is it so hard to put down the phone when there are scary things happening?)

Gather the Courage is meant to help you, as leaders, creators, and entrepreneurs of all stripes, make the space for the kind of thinking that will not only get us through this, but will make our world even better on the other side.

We think and talk a lot about building and strengthening relationships with customers. The conversations tend to focus on first impressions, on-boarding, maintenance, and growth. It’s less common to hear about the process of ending a relationship. It can be uncomfortable to think about.

What should you do when a client or customer is ready to say goodbye? Or maybe it’s you who is ready to move on. As hard as it can be to acknowledge this interaction as another part of the relationship, what happens here is so important.

How can you make this experience of saying farewell as special and generous as you try to make all your other customer experiences?