GHDR August Progress Log: Making a Career Map

During the August Month of ChangeSee GHDR Report 0808: The Month of Change for the details. I've been working on a new Master Vantage Point map. This is a big drawing I do on 11x17 paper which is similar to sketchnotingSee Mike Rhode's excellent introduction to Sketch Notes but has the intent of creating a narrative around world buildingFor more detail about past Master Vantage Points, see the 2009 and 2017 posts on my old blog..

I'm taking several passes to develop the final map more deliberately to indulge my itch to truly design something, which I haven't done for a long time due to the nature of my last long-term gig.

Step 1. Remember the Current Strategy!

In the August 8 Groundhog Day Resolutions Report, I solidified strategy derived from the closure of life chapters. The following are the energies that I can harness, in handy printable reference card format!

Energy alone isn't sufficient, so I want to define where I am and where I'm going next.

Step 2. Braindump on Paper!

I took a whole bunch of colored pens to Starbucks and started by drawing a floating balloon in middle of the page, then filled out the space around it.

⊕captionClick to see it bigger!

This took a few hours to doodle, starting by listing values and stuff that was important to me ("Values", "Magical Adventure Cat", "Sri-ness"). Then I moved on to the feeling of closing chapters of the past, noting old chapters that would be reopened, and then new chapters that I looked forward to. With that set, I then filled out the rest of the diagram.

Step 3A. Transcribe the Past, Present, and Future

The diagram looks pretty cool, but I needed to capture the thoughts in more detail so I could connect the ideas together in whatever way ended up making sense. I first transcribed the events of the past that I foresaw shapping the future, which I've detailed below.

The Past

Chapter that were closed years ago, and are now candidates for revival:

1. 2004-2010 - Freelance design business (interactive design, graphic design)
2. 2004-2019 - Active blogging (many times a week) as part of blogosphere
3. 2009-2019 - Physical e-commerce sales through Amazon FBA, digital product development on Gumroad.

Back in 2017, my idea of productivity was still based on process and finding ideal opportunities for collaboration. I recognized that I needed external collaborators to be productive, so I looked for "fit" in terms of shared interest and level of commitment while trying to maintain momentum on my own. Energy management was a concern, and I believed that energy could be found if I found my "tribe" of like-minded people.

1. TECH General programming acumen, web site development, interactive design, information graphic design
2. PROCESS Ways to do things, writing for continuity
3. DESIGN As a high-level offering focused on concepts over styling and ornamentation
4. DOCUMENTATION Conceptual model-based approach, functional grouping of information, explanation of principles over recipes.
5. WRITING As my main thinking process across all domains: graphics, design, programming, etc.
6. CREATIVE INDEPENDENCE The means to spend the bulk of my time investigating projectsgartenqwdqdqwddqwdqdqw that interest me that also generate sustaining income.
7. EXPLORE/LEARN/BUILD/SHARE The way that I naturally develop projects so they produce beneficial artifacts that can be held in the hand or experienced first-hand.
8. MASTERY Getting really good at what I do and deliver, defining practices and principles that deliver outstanding excellence. This includes a commitment to developing one's sense of mastery.
9. COLLABORATION Finding like-minded people to work with closely, as I had in the past.
10. THE TRIBE The imagined ideal group of collaborators: people who are positive-minded, self-empowered, curious, conscientious, competent, generous, and kind people who enjoy sharing knowledge and work experiences.
11. IDENTITY Figuring out how to package myself so other people could understand who I was, what I did, and why I did it.
12. COMMUNITY Figuring out the best way I could "fit" my interests with existing groups and organizations, or frame what I did in terms that met their needs as well as mine.

The Present

In 2025, the following major chapters have closed after 8+ years

1. 2014-2025 - End of Javascript development contracts
2. 2004-2025 - End of Wordpress as publishing platform
3. 2017-2025 - End of scheduled monthly gender therapy sessions

A significant change in 2025 was deciding to ground productivity in values instead of metrics, in recognition that I was far more emotionally driven than I thought. As I explored this idea over the early months of 2025, I've also shifted my self image as "unrelatable and weird" to having "an unusual cognitive architecture" with very different drives than the average person.

Here the the elements of my so-called "cognitive architecture", containing many old lessons from past Groundhog Day Resolutions and a deconstructed understanding of my neurodivergent traits. I'm deliberately avoiding labels because I find they imply false connections with other groups. This is a way of redefining "unrelatable and weird" into a basis of understanding that is just for me.

1. VALUES-FIRST In 2025, I declared that authenticity, transparency, and curiosity were aspects of the kind of truth I wished to embody. In terms of structure, authenticity is "truth to myself", transparency is "truth in representing myself", and curiosity is "discovering truths". This replaces PRODUCTIVITY-FIRST approaches that most people follow. The theory is that when I was out of alignment with my values in working situations, my energy suffered greatly. The following entries form the complicated matrix of what I have to successful embody...and it's a lot!
2. GENDER TRANSITION I began social gender transition in 2017, figuring out how it impacted what I thought was important and what was different. In 2025, I now have gender identity as non-binary trans-feminine but it is only the third-most important aspect of my identity.
3. NEURODIVERGENT EXPLORATION Clinically diagnosed with ADHD and ASD in 2023. Accepted neurodivergent traits as outside of clinical definition in 2025. I am a cross-domain synthesizing system thinker with dominant emotional processing. Special interest is individual-first literate design expressed as a humane--not human-centered--approach to design. My preferred approach to life is that of a architect-builder that employs system thinking to effectively service emotional needs for others beyond mere technical solutions. My data analysis style is find non-obvious concordance across multiple knowledge domains and models to synthesize a unique solution.
4. NARRATIVE APPROACH I find it easier to follow stories than boring rules, because stories have character motivation and growth in the face of interesting challenges. The world building that goes with narrative expression is foundational to both design and communication, unsurprisingly. It's important to me to express myself using narrative techniques despite my systems thinking logical core (which again, is always in support to the emotional core's desire)
5. HIGH INTENSITY / HIGH BANDWIDTH CONVERSATION Given my nature of a cross-domain synthesizer, I have a tremendous capacity for recieving and sharing information with others in a very deliberate manner. Recognizing that this is not how most people communicate, I evolved a set of rules for transforming this communciation style into a more universal form. In 2025 I dubbed this "90% Sentiment-First Communication" (90S) as shorthand to remember how it works, and as an alternative to masking for other people's comfort.
6. ALL THE ANIMALS ARE FRIENDS / "THE MEADOW" The desire of my emotional core is simply that everyone can express their true self and get along, ideally working together to create the reality that is in their imagination in a safe, sustaining environment. This is like the plot of a cozy children's cartoon, but it is fundamentally what my heart desires. Applying my systematic logical core to overcome the ugly realities of the world to achieve this sanctuary is the transformation of CREATIVE INDEPENDENCE in 2025.
7. ARCHITECTS & BUILDERS / "THE COLONY" The COLLABORATION aspect of 2017 is made more concrete by proposing a colony structure that provides for the needs of ALL THE ANIMALS ARE FRIENDS. The hardened realist of my systemizing approach to organizational development is interested in how to govern such a place by declaring self-proving principles and defining cultural norms that back them up. While many people would want to be part of a colony, not everyone knows how to act or how to architect or build such a place.
8. SRI-NESS While there is a LOT going on in my head, it's not necessary to communicate it all. My sense of self or "Sri-ness" is comprised of everything above and I can articulate it very well, but this is not what people want. People want to feel seen, connected, and appreciated. It's not that I'm unrelatable and weird. I was just overwhelming everyone. Sri is an Architect-Builder. Sri wants All the Animals to be Friends. Sri wants people to find their sanctuary and be themselves. As a result, Sri is willing to share knowledge and help out when she can, because that's the baseline requirement for community. For friendship, following the values of authenticity, transparency, and curiosity as one's personal expression of truth is the aspirational goal for everyone in the community.
9. MAGICAL ADVENTURE CAT To repackage the complexity of Sri-ness, I'm using a narrative approach based on being a "magical adventure cat". This is a tidy packaging of all the complexity into a more approachable form. "Magic" is shorthand for the complexity of my thought processes that make sense only to me. "Adventure" is shorthand for my experimental "explore-learn-build-share" approach to making things, and of course "Cat" is culturally accepted as "weird and unfathomable but still delightful". While I wouldn't introduce myself as a magical adventure cat, both my logical and emotional sides nicely encapsulated into a simpler sense of self.

The Future

Drawing from both Past and Present, I'd like to emphasize these new chapters in 2025:

1. Return to blogging on the fediverse as a main activity to drive collaboration on the Open Social Web. There are a ton of anti-humane forces that are enshittifying our lives. I want to connect my colony of values/interested with compatible entities so we can do something about it, and the Fediverse is the best bet I see for this.
2. Develop Products for 90S ConsumptionSee Sentiment-driven Communication is just me letting go of the idea that "everything I am doing has to be deeply understood". Let people pick stuff they just like, also because they like buying stuff from the secret Magical Adventure Cat who pulls these weird things out of somewhere.
3. Be Present in Local Community is me patroling the community as a "friendly cat" to express the positive qualities of Sri-ness with the people around me. Free of the need to "explain", I can focus on being "present and interested" with everyone I meet. The 90S insights from overseas trip to Taiwan and being cheerful to people around me goes a long way toward establishing positive precedent!

Step 3B. The Sri Factor

The previous step helped clarify the terrain have travelled, and now gave me a glimpse of the future. For that, I felt the need to describe what I'd learned during the long journey.

Who is Sri?

I am a systems thinker with cross-domain fluency in artistic, technical, and humanistic domains. I can switching between emotional and logical processing in a disciplined manner rapidly. This ability to leap between domains, logic, and emotion makes it difficult for other people to easily follow.

In 2025, there are five current "core drivers" that

1. "Sri-ness" is the internal emotional core desire and driver of action, present in the world for others to interact with.
2. "Magical Adventure Cat" puts a friendly shape on my internal complexity, authentically approachable and whimsical.
3. The Meadow encapsulates the desire for all the animals to be friends, scaffolded by authentic, transparent, and curious expression.
4. The Colony encapsulates the architect-builder aspects of governing a member organization and its cultural values.
5. My core values of authenticity, transparency, and curiosity are non-negotiable. I must always act in accordance to them as it's simply the way I'm wired.

These core drivers are operationalized as follows:

1. Lead with emotion as decision-making metric
2. Vet emotional decisions with logic
3. Sri-ness is the expression of own sense of Authenticity, Transparency, and Curiosity in service of Trust

What is The Meadow?

The Meadow is where "all the animals are friends", with a strong culture of expression of own values and trust, where one can find the support for turning their dreams into reality. This is a cozy space that everyone learns to maintain with each other.

What is The Colony?

The Colony is the governing structure and related facilities for creating a sustaining culture of collaboration that benefits everyone. Comprised of several tribes-people with roles such as architect, builder, supporter, creators, allies, and consumers. The key roles for governance are architect and builder, with supporters providing necessary feedback. Creators are drawn to the space for their own need. Allies are not participants but speak well of the space. Consumers are those who do not buy into the vision, but recognize a good quality market when they see it.

What are Sri's Community Opportunities?

1. Leadership through Communication by Example
2. Inclusion through Social Contract and Cultural Engineering
3. Practice of Authenticity, Transparency, and Curiosity on the institutional level
4. Defining practice of Inclusion free of toxicity
5. Meadow and Colony Mission/Vision Statements
6. Make Governing Processes and Conventions
7. Define Economic and Growth Metrics
8. Articulation of Cultural Values and Mission Relevance
9. Articulation of Anti-Values to help detect governance corruption
10. Creation of a Seed Packet for other people to read and adapt their own version of The Colony.

What are Sri's Work Opportunities?

• In matters of work, I am an "architect that can build", emphasizing the humane applications of technology in a literate and informed manner.
• My cross-disciplinary interests in design, engineering, organizational development, communications, and personal development help me create working prototypes.
• My approach to work targets the meaningful benefits that people intuitively appreciate as empowering, as opposed to simply seeing them as "human system parts" to be optimized for the sake of a process.
• My driving desire to share through writing creates opportunities for outreach and connection with people who also value these things.
• Using decentralized ecological approaches to

Step 4. Text Reorganization

The insights from Step 3 were distilled into a new document so I could consider what I would draw.

⊕captionSee the full-resolution document here

Step 5. Reorganizing around Important Stuff

Over the next week, I started to assemble this paste-up version of the previous document. Here's what it looks like so far.

⊕captionclick to see it bigger!

It's loosely divided into three columns.

• LEFT are the OLD VALUES and OLD QUESTIONS that I asked myself before. Largely, asking myself how I can fit in.
• MIDDLE are NEW INSIGHTS that have coalesced into self-described INNATE TRAITS I &&will no longer suppress just because other people are confused by them.
• RIGHT are the new ways to relate, extending the old values with the new insights.

And now I'm stuck...

And that's about as far as I've gotten as of September 5. I think this is a decent reference for the things on my mind, but I need to operationalize these insights into the production of something. I think the next step might be to list concrete things to make that will drive September, so I'll likely write about that in the September Report.

Step 6. Progress in September

It's now September 20, and I've made a few updates. Here's the current version the Sri Values Map, which I previously called Sri's Planning Map in Step 5.

⊕captionclick to see it bigger!

The text is the same, but I've redrawn some parts of it to be a bit clearer. The important result is that by looking at this for a month, I had a clearer sense of what the Project Silos were.

I came up with this list of immediate areas that I wanted to focus on, without getting too detailed about implementation.

⊕captionsee original doc on whimsical

These are color coded as follows:

• software projects are BLUE
• internal processes are GREEN
• personal expression is FUSCIA
• teachable theories are PURPLE
• community building is ORANGE

This group of 12 different projects are fairly broad, but represent things that I have made (or will make) that produce tangible output. They're all things for which I have long experience and need to package. In other words, this is the body of work that I've been building over decades because they mattered to me.

But how does the list work?

Every day, I'm drawn into a particular direction based on what energy I have to start something. I work much better if I have other people around me who are also invested in the outcome of my efforts. I think what this list will do is help me see which project a particular task is going into, so I can continually have a sense of steady project.

More TBD...