Craft is Care

The homepage of my personal site says, “I care about crafting thoughtfully.” This is my attempt to better define what that means.

Here’s my definition:

Craft is the constant process of refining technique and taste to carefully create meaningful work for someone else. (Sometimes that someone is your future self.)

I’m planning a series of post that dive deeper into each part of this self-made definition.

Craft is Carefully creating

Craft and care are deeply connected. If you don’t care how something will be used or by whom, then the things you make will reflect that indifference.

It’s the difference between the mom-and-pop shop and Amazon, the IKEA and antique, Shien, and a local tailor. You can’t always define craftsmanship across every discipline and practice, but when it’s there, you feel the care that was put into the final product.

I work as a software developer for a travel company that cares deeply about hospitality. However, as with many companies, time is always at a premium, and there is pressure to move quickly. Facebook’s response to this was their famous motto: “Move fast and break things.”

I much prefer the idea of “Move Slow and Fix Things”.

In software, there is often a tradeoff between clean, simple code and a user-friendly experience. There is often a lot of complexity, and the question is often where that complexity is going to live. Craftsmanship is taking on the complexity for the benefit of others. Often, taking on the complexity means more work up front for long-term savings in either time or mental energy.

I see this tension repeating in all crafts, not just in software. On one hand, you have the thoughtless or poorly made: buying crappy tools that you have to constantly rebuy, fast fashion clothes, a quick-flip home remodel. On the other hand is the careful craft: the toolbox that is perfectly laid out to your needs, the hand-knit sweater that fits perfectly, or the the built-in bookshelves fitted so precisely they seem original to the house.

Craft means taking care. Take care with your work so that your work will take care of those who use it. Your future self, your friend, your client, your family, the world.

Take care.