Syllabically rhythmic summary of my time in Amsterdam

A collection of micro-stories written in a 5-7-5, haiku-like, meter

I originally wrote this for my Typographic Timeline, as compressed of an overview of my career onto two A4—letter-ish sized—pages. It's a complex artifact that received praise in design by the type designer but has proven too much for general job applications.

One of my proudest parts of the timeline is its poetry. I chose the haiku-like style because it forced an extremely succinct structure where my spoken words & stories were nothing but.

This is the poem in a focused form, without headers as context. I find it still holds up without the additional context.

I'm also still inspired from yesterday's event. Someone shared they had shared their poetry as a new thing they never expected. I thought that sounded fun. So:

Here's a fun Saturday post.

Hope you enjoy.

2013–2022

Haiku of teams & roles while working at Booking.com

Houseboats line the canal's edge, docked beside streets, next to houses overlooking water. The sun sets further down the canal, adding a golden hue to all it touches. Blurry greens & whites of flowers from a bridge’s railing creates the foreground.

anything without,

clear responsibility,

was ours: to fix & own

team lead wanted change;

someone trusted potential.

ended up sticking.

software always breaks.

reduce risk. deploy...whoops! revert.

blame-free. fix; reflect.

moved to another team:

anything after guest “pays”

better D.I.Y.

designers should write.

source; edit; approve; publish.

learning on the job

brought in some others,

mapped and designed its future;

trust ➡️ handover ➡️ growth

bottom of funnel,

making checkout easier,

step by test by step

collection of teams,

without a shared, common ground,

happiest failure.

the teams, whittled down;

making global more local,

translations are hard.

change of perspective:

web, mobile, and xml dev;

products for partners.

opportunity

overextending; burnt out.

first gone: xml

i had worked with web,

so i chose to work with apps;

ever curious

grow community;

fun time of innovation;

stack development

learned dutch labor law;

employees making a difference;

liable onus.

Towards: integrity

accountability; com-

-passion; and justice.

not a promotion.

proud of impact, though short-lived;

nothing was “normal”

twenty-twenty-one

married and prepared to move

across an ocean