A pattern

TK Zipper

Organizations reflect the strengths and weaknesses of their founders and founding teams.

Our problem: We don't feel like we're working sustainably or especially well, and we want to have a conversation about that.

What are we struggling with?

Getting stuff done.
Getting stuff done well.

Why are we struggling?

Too much work
Work which is fragmented
An absence of time (and therefore a culture) dedicated to improvement and quality

What's the most important thing we could be working on?

Our mission is to reunite learning and living, enriching the capacity of real work and real life to support difficult intellectual and creative journeys.

Do something world class…
…basically impossible right now
…so that we learn about what it takes
…and end up with the access & credibility
…building a new kind of R&D organization
…which develops stories, tools, materials, people, and policies
…shifting the balance of resources devoted to improvement over invention.

Learning and prototyping requires access to time with people and money to work with them. This is why we are starting a school.

Given this, what's the most important thing we could be doing right now? What activity would create the most value for us?

Primary ingredients for Powderhouse

🧒 Youth
👥 Staff
💪 Work to do
💸 Money
🏡 Space
📆 Time
🔎 Expert support
📃 Credit
🧡 Culture and management

Assuming we get approved, which of these won't inevitably be good enough for us to flourish?

The right people

The right work

The right management and culture

What might we do?

Getting stuff done.
Getting stuff done well.

Work more on less

Better align work to developing ourselves
Embrace AR, SD as designers and managers
Separate design and infrastructure for Powderhouse from development of our work and selves

Establish a culture of quality & follow-through

Establish standards of quality and rituals of critique
Establish systems and rituals of management
Separate design and infrastructure for Powderhouse from development of our work and selves
→ more clearly articulate shorter term goals

What does this mean for Powderhouse?

What does this mean for the 🍟?