In a previous professional life, so many moons ago, I was a shadow in the political world. I was doing some public interest design, and one thing led to another, I was doing various works from political campaign websites, speech writing, and even developing a platform for online voting within some political groups.
I’m still amazed by the energy I used to have and the absolute conviction that journeys towards greater good existed and could be built. I’m a bit more skeptical today, but I still have faith in humanity despite the daily reminders that we might well deserve the mass extinction we created and faced ourselves.
Ways and Means is the name of a United States House of Representatives committee focusing on taxation, tariffs, and other revenue-raising policies. This committee, as well as its equivalent in other countries, is a strategic yet kind of obscure, fundamental, and somehow boring cog in democratic functioning. And I’m fascinated by it!
Even if I no longer serve as a designer, I’m still pretty much thinking, working, and acting like a designer. I constantly envision the path at the same time as the destination. I’m building bespoke tools alongside what I’m creating.
Ways and Means is laying the foundation that will eventually allow strategic visions to take shape. Nothing can happen unless you create the tools and conditions for them to exist.
It’s a mix of overarching fiscal policies and, at the same time, a collection of opportunistic exploration and last-minute patches. In that sense, it doesn’t differ from what I’m doing here.
I do have a long-term vision. A decade ago, I started a journey towards Product. I’ve seen so many of my peers at odds with the complexity and variability of digital experiences, and I wanted to do better.
I firmly believe that designers should master the material with which they craft. Therefore, I move to engineering for a few years, patiently leveling up in challenge-driven start-ups.
Then, I moved to product advocacy to explore a product’s community-building, storytelling, and engagement parts. I’m working closely with the marketing and product marketing people to continue my 360° journey toward product leadership.
The next step would probably be to lead the advocacy of a product before hoping for more strategy product positions. I’ll get there eventually, but one step at a time. Let’s not rush.
I also do not forget my inclination for public interest and the need for fundamental tools and design frameworks to build desirable and sustainable futures.
Meanwhile, I’d like to use this resurrecting blog as the journal of a digital maker and a tech mad scientist. I want to experiment, scout, build micro products, and tell the stories of those explorations while designing the tools I need to do all of that.
To desirable futures,
Thomas