Matt has recently been blogging and speaking about “working in the open” in public service roles. Giles has written a lot about working in the open too, most recently collecting examples of teams who are doing open for different purposes, e.g. for remembering and thinking out loud.
I’ve worked in the open on software and data projects and there are similar and different issues to tackle. The driver for “openness” might also have different goals. E.g. creating something together.
So I always enjoy reading about working in the open in different contexts. There’s usually something to learn. Even if sometimes that might just be a glimpse at the organisational issues that make it necessary, different or hard.
In the spirit of sharing another example of working in the open, from a very different context, I wanted to point to David Bull. He’s a woodblock print maker based on Japan. You can read a bit about him on his Wikipedia page.
I’m not 100% sure who first pointed out David to me. I think it might have been Jack. But I’ve been watching his YouTube videos and Twitch streams for around five years now. I think the craft, art and process around Japanese woodblock printmaking is fascinating.
For this blog post though what I wanted to highlight is the variety of ways in which David is working in the open through his videos, live streams and collaborations:
- He’s been open about the challenges of growing his business, including recruiting and developing his team of carvers and printers, right down to annual updates on their finances
- He’s openly sharing the process of creating prints for his customers, so they can see behind the scenes at how they’re being made. (I now own a print that I’ve watched being carved and printed)
- He’s documenting the craft of carving and printmaking, to allow his community to learn from him and other experts in the field. Including a recent project with the British Museum. There’s a lot of tacit knowledge being shared in his videos
- He’s sharing his knowledge of the history of printmaking, with regular show-and-tells of old prints
- Just recently, he’s started investing in rebuilding a supply chain of good quality paper (“washi“). This paper is increasingly difficult to source but necessary for his work. So he’s being doing an experiment that involves reopening previously closed paper making workshops and supporting other craftspeople. All of this is being recorded and shared openly
I think it’s a great example of working in the open. Just not one that involves creating public services, data or software.
I’m also slightly in awe of the guy. Not just for his skills as a carver and print maker, but as a video maker and software developer. He’s casually mentioned that he’s developed all the websites and software used by his shop.
Automating the right things
There’s one other nugget I wanted to share here. It’s not about working in the open, but about automation.
There’s a lot of laborious process involved in making washi paper. One of the most time consuming involves picking out the impurities (“chiri“) from the fibres used to make the paper. This involves working through all of the fibres, by hand, in vats of cold water for hours at a time.
David has been talking about trying to automate this in some of his streams. It’s very time consuming.
There’s a section in a recent video where he mentioned this idea to the paper maker he’s working with. It’s a short section of just a couple of minutes, which I’d encourage you to watch it.
David explains how the paper maker was not interested in automating at all. For her that step is an important part of her craft and the value she was bringing as an artisan. It’s part of her pride in her work.
David then goes on to say he feels the same way about his carving. Why automate something that brings him joy?
While we’re not all artisans, but I think we all bring some craft to our lives.
I thought the exchange was interesting, not just as an example of artisans talking about their work. I think it also highlights how people even in adjacent roles in the same process, can have very different perspectives on where the “inefficiencies” lie.
Probably a lesson somewhere there for digital working too.
Lost Boy 