I like understanding how things work.
I enjoy observing how people work and the tools they use every day.
Every organization gradually develops its own balance of software, spreadsheets, documents, procedures, and habits.
Most of the time, everything works.
But the different parts don’t always work well together.
That’s where my curiosity begins.
I like understanding why a process takes ten steps when two might be enough, why the same information is entered more than once, or why excellent tools fail to communicate with each other.
I’d rather remove than add.
My first instinct is rarely to build something new.
I prefer to observe what already exists.
Understand what works.
Reuse it.
Connect it.
I find it fascinating that a good solution is often the one that introduces the fewest new elements.
Perhaps this way of thinking comes from my background in environmental science.
Even in digital systems, reuse is almost always more interesting than replacement.
I love orchestras.
Because I love music.
And because an orchestra is remarkably close to how I imagine a good system.
Every instrument has its own strengths, limitations, and role.
On its own, it can be extraordinary.
But something different happens when it starts listening to the others.
That’s how I like things to work together.
Google Sheets.
CSV.
Python.
WordPress.
Mapbox.
Gravity Forms.
APIs.
QR codes.
I’m not interested in finding the best tool.
I’m interested in understanding how different tools can work together.
Sometimes a small connection is all it takes for independent tools to behave like a single system.
I believe efficiency is a form of respect.
Respect for people’s time.
For their attention.
For their work.
I’m not interested in automation for its own sake.
I’m interested in removing unnecessary work.
If someone can spend more time making decisions and less time copying data, I feel I’ve improved something.
I like understanding.
Many of the projects I care about most didn’t begin with a request.
They began with a question.
Isn’t there a better way?
It’s a question that keeps coming back.
While I’m working.
While I’m walking.
While I’m swimming.
Sometimes I come home with an idea I can’t let go of until I’ve tried it.
To me, it still feels like play.
It always has.
If that play happens to be useful to someone else, even better.
I like leaving things a little better than I found them.
A process.
A website.
A document.
A workflow.
I’m not looking for the perfect solution.
I’m looking for the simplest one that will still make sense tomorrow.
When the people using a system stop noticing its complexity, I know the work has been done well.