Trying things out.

I’m interested in how people get things done. How things are made–a piece of artistic work, a product, a service, an outcome.

This interest probably comes from always looking for different ways to do something, even after I've done it and thought it was working well. I guess you could call it a tendency toward constant iteration or a side effect of a busy mind.

I like to be out of my head and in someone else's. Seeing things from other people’s perspective and how they see the world is fun and surprising, a good sense-check on my own world view.

Getting to see how others make their mark is a rush, and watching actions click together to create something that can be shared and appreciated by others is so cool to me. I mean, how anything gets done, and the mechanics of how it gets done, are a marvel!

This may be obvious, but let’s take a beat to think about how things are constantly getting done all around us, at atomic, micro, and macro pace and scale. Sometimes in a reasonably neat and linear way, but more often (from my experience) in a messy, chaotic, zig-zag like way. What keeps it all going is momentum: the act of keeping on when things feel uncertain and figuring it out as you go.

I once had a boss whom I admired for her decision-making velocity. She would have an idea, decide how to do it, and move to the first step of doing, pronto. The idea in traction would inform the next bit of the process, and it would unfurl and refine from there. The doing informed itself on how and what to do next. This boss is very successful in business and, aside from being generous and savvy, I put her success down to her prescient sense of when to act. She understood that things don’t happen without a bit of trial and error, and good outcomes often stem from a bit of friction that pushes you to find a new way through.

For those who like movies, there’s a book by screenwriter William Goldman called Adventures in the Screen Trade. In it is a piece of advice I’ve found helpful: “No one knows anything.” I find this very freeing. To me, it means outcomes aren’t preordained; they come from trying things out and seeing what works. Your own insights and initiative guide the process, and the best prompts are your own.

Sometimes you need a hand wrangling the output from prompts, or help modelling scenarios and structuring the steps in between, so everything feels manageable and aligned with where you want things to go. Operations support can help with that. It’s about scaffolding ideas and decision-making with practical steps to move forward, especially when you’re in new territory or venturing beyond the familiar.

–Cath