Architecting

I realized this week that I seem to have a lot more interest in architecting than in execution.

I also remembered that we become different persons based on what happens to us or the choices we have, even based on how good or bad we feel. Change may occur gradually after a long time or repeatedly on a much smaller scale. I just know it happens, to all of us, and that it is more or less perceptible (to us, to others). We are not exactly who and how we were at some point, and it makes it challenging to plan or to predict reactions (ours, other’s), but after all, isn’t it a more interesting this way?

Although I feel exactly the same, I am no longer the same person I was the last time I asked myself what I liked doing. So when I didn’t understand why I wasn’t approaching anymore things the way I used to, why some things had become unattractive to me, I got more and more worried and blamed it on not having enough time, not prioritizing the right way, or being unqualified.

Then a few things happened.

First, I had a great time when I focused on building a list and qualifying why its elements mattered individually and made sense as a whole, but it was not that pleasant a few days after to sit (thankfully for a short time) with a group that was fleshing out and categorizing the list. Worse, the only part I enjoyed was observing the deftness of the meeting convener at turning input that was sometimes diverging into something concrete. I wondered what was wrong with me to even feel the way I did (frustrated at times of some people’s carelessness, bored at other times by the pointlessness of some of the input, awed by the patience of the Chair, and puzzled that others seemed to be having such a great time.)

Second, I set aside some time to make a dent in a part of my TODO that I have kept bumping down for over a month, only to witness myself not being able to make anything of everything about it that was in my brain. If only there was a button I could press to process everything. I was unable to make myself go through the exercise and it was a source of much disappointment and of course worry. Where did my abilities go? Why the block? Welp.

Today it seems I prefer to conceive and design future implementations than to put things together and execute. From the event celebrating 30th anniversary of W3C last year to the various projects and conversations I am involved in this year, it’s clear that I choose to set the tone and direction, impress key principles, assign certain people, make specific connections, monitor promising angles, and track that the course is as plotted.

I have a keen notion of where I want to lead my small team and how to best use our collective skills and inclinations. Therefore I became more assertive over the years, the more it looked like we were doing OK, then doing alright. There is positive reinforcement in approaching things cautiously and in a way to be able to adapt nimbly. Tomorrow is exactly the 10th anniversary of my appointment as head of the W3C marketing and communications team. What changed though is that in some cases I discover I have a really hard time executing, to the extent that I am unable to remember how to.

25th work anniversary

25 January 1999 was my first day at W3C. I was 23 years old when I started. I’ve now spent more than half my life at that. I regret nothing because I find the work I do really interesting, important, meaningful; and I don’t tire of it because I feel like there’s renewal every now and then. I’ve held many positions, worn many hats, learned a lot of things and I work with incredibly smart and dedicated people. This has been and is very rewarding.

Young white woman with long brown hair sitting at an office desk with a large cathode ray tube monitor, computer, papers, and a window with blinds in the background.
Coralie at her desk. Photo of February 1999. Resolution of 640x480px, because: early digital cameras!

I selected a highlight for each year (in many cases it was hard to choose just one, so I didn’t) for a retrospective:

  • 1999: Meeting in Toronto; my first transatlantic flight
  • 2000: Organized the first W3C TPAC in Europe: TPAC 2001, Mandelieu
  • 2001: Started to code my personal website (koalie.net)
  • 2002: Training in management
  • 2003: Elected staff representative (per French Labour law)
  • 2004: Was asked to consider joining the W3C Comm Team
  • 2005: Joined the Comm Team (half-time); became staff contact of the W3C Advisory Board (a role I held for 12 years)
  • 2006: Moved to Boston to work 9 months at MIT as a “Visiting Scholar”
  • 2007: Handed off the management of the W3C Europe team’s travels, budgets and policies
  • 2008: Joined the Comm Team full-time; organized my last big meeting: TPAC 2008 + Team Day, in Mandelieu
  • 2009: Learn to edit the W3C website
  • 2010: Put W3C on social media, and Tim Berners-Lee on Twitter
  • 2011: Interviewed for a job elsewhere but failed after round 3
  • 2012: Co-wrote the first draft of the W3C code of ethics and professional conduct
  • 2013: Training in product management; First presentation in front of W3C Members (on how incubated work moves to the standardization track)
  • 2014: Spearheaded “Webizen”, a first attempt to open W3C Membership to individuals; Re-elected Staff Representative
  • 2015: Became Head of the W3C Comm Team
  • 2016: Survived year one of the Encrypted Media Extensions public relations nightmare
  • 2017: Stopped being the AB Team contact; Survived year two of EME PR nightmare
  • 2018: Management of the W3C “diversity fund” to financially help people who are from under-represented communities attend TPAC; Re-elected Staff Representative
  • 2019: Go-to-Market strategy for W3C’s legal entity; Narrative strategy for fundraising in the future
  • 2020: W3C Website redesign project (RFP, selection, contributions, leading)
  • 2021: The “Ralph’s office zoom background” prank; W3C Website redesign (continued)
  • 2022: Re-elected Staff Representative; Website public content re-write; second attempt to open W3C Membership to individuals; proposed W3C internal re-organization; burn-out
  • 2023: W3C Website launch; got COVID for the first time; Humane Technology Design certification; e(X)filtration of the W3C Twitter account and moved it full-time to Mastodon (an instance we operate ourselves)

It is as likely as anything else that I will finish my career at the Web Consortium. I wouldn’t mind!

“So, what are you up to, these days?”

This is the end of the W3C TPAC week (technical plenary and advisory committee meetings, our yearly mass), in Lisbon. It was stressful –a bit, but also very rewarding.

As I was prepping Wednesday for a public address, a participant came up to me to greet me and chat. He recounted how I had helped him with the W3C Incubator Group he was running years ago (they are the former version of W3C Community Groups, which we deployed in 2012.) He went on saying how I had shared with him some aspirations to do different things at work and that he should tell my boss I was helpful as it might help me.

I don’t recall telling him that, nor thinking that at all, but I trust his memory more than mine. He continued, “So, what are you up to these days?” I showed him my badge as though it was going to give more strength and validity to my point and said “Well, I’m now the head of W3C Marketing and Communications.”

The puzzled look on his face was really priceless. Surprised and amused. “Thank you,” I added.

My new job: first impressions

Your mission, should you decide to accept it

The W3C CEO phoned me late January with a job offer I could not refuse. My first reaction was to run away, of course. What, acting Head of Marketing and Communications at W3C? Why me? Who else if not me; I was going to be the only full-time person remaining in this team.

That isn’t the fullest representation. I have been in this team for 10 years and 16 in the Consortium; I have both historical corporate knowledge and a better insight of the job than would a new recruit. Also, I was readily available.

I had twenty hours to think about it, sleep time included, and come up with a yes or no. My mind was already made; I could still run away if it didn’t work. Or not, and simply go back to what I was doing before. So, I was going to do that! (Image below via Andrei Sambra, for April Fools day)

cat meme: deal smells fishy, where do I sign?

Bittersweet February

I thought how big the shoes to fill were; an impossible accomplishment. I focused on what I would bring, and how to leverage past practices that I had witnessed without ever paying great attention. I felt dwarfed by the gigantic responsibilities and tasks ahead. After all, this was a position I never thought about for myself.

I thought with much guilt about immediate commitments such as a family vacation which was going to start almost right after a week of travel and meetings in Tokyo. Basically, that gig was going to start without me. How very atypical to begin a new job by a week to wrap-up as much as possible and prepare for travel and meetings, by a week in near-isolation as meetings and meeting-related work takes place, and by two weeks incommunicado touring Japan. So early February, my predecessor stepped down, and covered for me impeccably till I came back. Fast forward to March 2015.

March was brutal

March was brutal. I returned fully rested from an excellent fortnight of quality time with my loved ones, having appropriately kept my mind off work, while bracing myself for the next big thing.

  1. Loads more e-mail. I unsubscribed from some lists but subscribed to a bigger bunch.
  2. Meetings as a heartbeat. 10 to 15 hours of teleconferences and one-to-one meetings each week.
  3. Time sink. If all goes as planned, this is time well invested. Early start of work days, as usual, but days then dragged into the nights. I chose to give myself a hard stop: midnight every day, through May at most.

What I learned

I realised in the first week that I couldn’t do all I wanted. I had massively underestimated the amount of time I would have (cf. list above), and overestimated my ability to organise myself and the amount I could deliver.

When I told my CEO, this was the quote he laconically reminded me of:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in one year and underestimate what they can do in ten years.” ― Bill Gates

What I realised next, was that the more I wanted to achieve the fastest I was. I have always prided myself for being a keen optimiser of processes, but in this case it was different. I worked faster partly due to setting unreasonably high goals in order to get as many done as possible, but primarily thanks to a sharper understanding of things that had suddenly become my responsibilities. The closest analogy is a switch being flipped and light shining in a formerly dark room. I take informed decisions quicker, the big picture I see is bigger, this is all quite encouraging.

The amount of required reading is staggering as I move from operations into strategy. I expect this will subside as this is partly necessary as I’m wrapping my head around new things, new expectations, new concepts, etc.

In two months I hired three people part-time, shifted into different and new gears, identified our next priorities and planned for as many as possible, handed over most of my former job duties, and, I have not freaked out too much.