19 Feb 20
Now
I finally put up my final project from CIID, Stille. You can see it here.
At the Singapore Economic Development Board (“EDB“), I’m working on a (tentatively 3 months) design-research project to flesh out and understand the employee experience in EDB, in order to understand what are the causes of employee fatigue. I’ve completed the shadowing of one officer, which led to some interesting insights; I’ve more colleagues who signed up as research subjects, but this might get disrupted due to the novel Coronavirus situation in Singapore.
I’m also in the process of scoping out how a Community of Practice of inhouse designers and product managers could be, within EDB.
Side Projects
My latest “craze” is re-learning coding: I’m right now deciding what project I should do next, and to scope out the project. Tentatively, I’m thinking of working through the “Head First HTML5 Programming” book, to learn some Javascript (and geolocation and basic server stuff, which I don’t know about).
A possible side project is to create a website that generates event posters for Buddhist organizations, for free.
I used the Chinese New Year period to flesh out the idea of the “Metta” app (see picture above): the idea is to create an app to provide feedback on how one LOOKs with one’s moods, as a way to help people let go of their anger. In the same way that a smile makes most people look good, anger makes most people look horrible, but they don’t realize that.
The inspiration came from this Buddhist text:
Just as a man or a woman, young, youthful, and fond of ornaments, would be horrified, humiliated, and disgusted if the carcass of a snake or a dog or a human being were hung around his or her neck, so too… he should examine the danger in those thoughts thus: ‘These thoughts are unwholesome, they are reprehensible, they result in suffering.’
When a bhikkhu examines the danger in those thoughts, then any evil unwholesome thoughts connected with desire, with hate, and with delusion are abandoned in him and subside. With the abandoning of them, his mind becomes steadied internally, quieted, brought to singleness, and samadhi.
– MN 20, “The Removal of Distracting Thoughts”, tr. Bhikkhu Bodhi
Instead of using pictures of carcasses, I’ve decided to use the effect of anger on one’s looks instead. I’ve tested this before in 2019, when I did my Kindfulness@Work course at CIID: this seems to help (a little).
I’m also working with IDP ‘17 alum Yee Mun on a project about book sharing. We just started this year. There’s a slight chance we might chance our topic to look at the service design of elderly befriending instead: we’ll see.
Mulling Over
Other Stuff
Reading
What is Code?
A Swift Tour
Head First HTML5 Programming
Let my people go surfing
Meditating 30+ mins a day, still.
Working out
Using GMB.io. I am in the middle of Week 5 of the Integral Strength Programme.
This is a gymnastics-based movement programme, which I find to be very nicely structured for beginners like me. It is much friendlier vs. Gymnastic Bodies, as the latter seems (to me at least) to be very focused on “proper” gymnastic form, whereas GMB is much more focused on listening to your own body.
Updated as of 19 Feb 2020