Dispatches from the d.school #Mid-way
Or, “how’s the fellowship going?”
It’s everyone’s opening question these days. For a few, it’s a way of just asking “how are you, friend?” For others, it’s “what’s it like at the d.school???” And others, “how’s Giving Side coming along?”
Well, I’m doing well. I feel good about saying I found family in my fellow fellows. We’re a motley crew for sure. But there’s a mutuality between us — the way we care for, enjoy and are open and vulnerable with one another. Our willingness to alternatively both be guides and guided into each other’s sectors, projects and lives has been an incredible gift.
And, it’s true, the d.school is a magical space, with neon-colored, post-it covered walls, strong smells of sharpie marker fumes throughout, and a noise level that’s constantly loud, like you might find in a crowded NYC coffee shop, except with many many more repeated phrases, such as “how might we” or “yes, and.”
Within the building is a ton of good work, by good people, wielding empathy as their primary tool. These good people have spoken with and observed dozens, if not hundreds of more people outside of the d.school’s movable walls. These many strangers have shared their reactions and feelings for the purposes of leading their inquisitors to insights and ideation that otherwise would have remained hidden.
And, within all of this is the fellowship, now half-way done. We moved at an incredible pace — orientation, to a week-long immersive introduction to human centered design, then 5 presentations, and the critiques that followed, over 12 weeks, with a partner sprint, as well as a weekend pop-up class to teach and coach and blog posts to write along the way. We were back on campus, and very much re-living the student life, sharing space and study hours with old colleagues who were now grad student themselves.
But our charge seemed very much different. With Stanford’s quarter schedule and breadth of class offerings, those around us were on a seeming race to acquire as much knowledge as possible in their limited time at the University. Our charge, and privilege, wasn’t an unending collection of information, but rather the singular and achievable pursuit of a depth of understanding in a scoped question to serve as the sturdiest of foundations from which to engage in systems-change work. As a co-fellow put it, we were “slowing down to speed things up after the fellowship.”
For Giving Side, that thing which the entirety of my social justice and professional life has led me to, the focus of our work, of our impact and of our challenges has become all the more sharper. We’re certainly better for the fellowship. And, I look forward to sharing how and why in 2017.
