As it’s the gold standard of things to do in media, whether you have any readers or not… we come to the close of another cluster of 12 months – hence, a time of pensive reflection.
I can’t lie, this one has been an extension of the terrain of 2020, with additional, really crappy, plot twists.
To say this last year has been about health is an understatement – but not for the obvious reasons. I enter the New Year with the same hope I had for the last – that people are safe, healthy and this all comes to pass soon.
I spent a good portion of time living with and helping the grand matriarch of the family, only to have her suffer another episode, ending up in a care facility. She’s still the best grandma a boy could’ve ever asked for and manages to inspire.
Without disclosing any other sensitive information – let’s just say the family has taken some hits. No losses thankfully – but plenty of diagnosis, stress, worry, scheduled appointments and some fairly deep medical solutions.
Of course, this all puts some extra strain on an effort to survive these days.
So the last time that I hacked together some words on this page, I was putting down thoughts on making the big decision on where and how to move forward with this little career of the impossible.
So my path takes me to, with, and for a smaller office – free of the tangle & politics of the alphabet firms and major corporations. I’m a couple of months in – I’m finding my way thru nuance and culture, with a building type that also has its specific cultural niches – and plenty of fodder for thoughts and articles.
As anyone in the design game realizes – once you get thrown into a couple of projects while you’re still trying to figure out office culture, language, character, motivations, and roles of those around you – well it leaves precious little time for much outside of that pursuit.
It’s pretty difficult to design your way into a better way of doing things while you’re getting your butt handed to you by the existing way.
I’ve also got a few things that work against my relationship with “free time”.
First, my ‘copium’ is to make stuff. A year with nothing to do and I couldn’t find a gig? I retooled an entire template and started blasting my way thru a library of tools to keep my hands moving. Making digital items has no material costs – so all it takes is your time.
Secondly, I have this nagging persistent character trait where I DESPISE being personally ignorant about things.The closer the topic resides to my passions, the greater the emotional response.
It pushes me to self-educate and research constantly. That hasn’t really changed for a few decades. In this case, if I don’t know about the 300+ things that I’m supposed to have a handle on in order to maintain a high level of achievement at this new firm – I’m going to do some digging at unexplored parts of the industry. Lately its been code, the rules for unit design, manufactured cased goods, and stepping up my model management & Dynamo game to ease the pressures of a small firm with limited overhead and no budget for toys.
Thirdly, I’m quietly compettive. I mean quietly because I’m not outward about it. Let’s face it – I’m pretty introverted as it is, so its against my better nature to do the ‘in your face’ dance when I get a personal win, but you can be certain that if you decide to dunk on me over something and take pleasure in doing it – it doesn’t go unnoticed.
I really don’t condone that type of character trait. It’s really one of my only pet peeves, and it really kicks the competitive thing into a higher gear.
If I can sneak a little life advice into the middle of my ramblings – don’t do that to people. It wasn’t cool on the playground when I was in grade school, and it surely doesn’t play in a professional environment.
If there’s a system or a drawing, or something that that ranges from ‘ok’ to ‘well thought out, but buggy’ – it’ll become a silent aspiration to take it apart, retool it, and make it sing so it raises everyone’s game. If a bit of sacrifice and creativity makes it possible for everyone to win – I’m all for it. If it raises my stock a little bit in the process… all the better.
SO, somewhere in all of that is drive and passion as well as a dash of personal aspiration. It’s hardly a solution to ‘what’s wrong with this profession’, but it’s just a window into how things have been going lately.
I still want to do something great, regardless of the rules of the game, and I still can’t say for certain that thing exists by hacking together drawings for a permit – but hey, this is my calling so it’s going to be somewhere design adjacent.
If I had to chose one word to reflect on everything that’s occured in this last year? It would probably be:
U N C E R T A I N T Y
With how many times that I’ve personally been ‘pulled through the knothole’ in the last 24 months, all that I’m certain of moving forward is that – I don’t know what’s going to happen next.
Yes, I’ll get upevery morning, sit down at the keys and try to make as much magic as I can day in and day out – but where it leads, in the short term, has become a bit of a mystery.
With everything going on in the industry, the Great Resignation, the shifting away from the Architecture profession that I’ve grown up with (namely busting your ass for 80+ hours a week to nail a deadline, largely working for free), and the ever changing landscape of the real estate game – heaven knows what happens from here.
We do, most defintely live in interesting times.
In the near future – I am looking forward to figuring out this new building type, developing some new tools and better methods to deliver the places that both young and hold will call home. I’m looking forward to building out a system to reduce errors, increase communications and streamlining the process.
I’ve got my Notion open, I’m writing it all down, and when I hit the point of solidity in an idea I’ll publish what I find.
Problem is, with any set of tools and working toward a cultural shift – you need proof of concept. Which in turn takes content. If it doesn’t exist in reliable form – you have to make that. If I’m going to bust out a code-compliant set of typical bathroom & kitchen families – I need to make a few things (like all the components used in the base spec).
The point is, Most things in life require invention during a running start.
As 2021 draws to a close – it feels like we’re on the precipice of something, and with everything that I’ve got for anyone who’s reading this – I’m hoping its something big in the positive direction.
In the meantime, I’m still working toward the principles of Grandpa’s Garage, although project traffic and contacts have been limited to spam emails offering sales solutions for broader outreach, I’m really hoping that engagement happens organically.
Drop a line, say hello, stop by for a coffee… I’m always here and the door is open.
I’m just over here, making stuff. Maybe I can help.
Happy New Years,
JM
Copyright © 2023