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1st June 2025Looking elsewhere.
There’s a word in the Welsh language that you might have come across, part of that wonderful class of words that defy direct one-to-one translation into English: Hiraeth .<br>Broadly speaking, hiraeth is a deep sense of longing for some other time, people or place where you felt at home. It has been described as the lingering presence of absence; not really nostalgia, but a sort of gnawing, idealised homesickness to be somewhere else and be part of something else that no longer exists or, perhaps, has yet to come.<br>Hype-driven development. permalink<br>I—as I suspect was the case for many of us—entered the industry wide-eyed and optimistic. Finding my feet in tech in the early 2010s was exciting and everybody talked with naïve passion and a pioneering spirit about building positive change for the future. There seemed to be a real drive to hone our craft, to work tirelessly for the benefit of our users, for our work to be taken seriously as more than just programmers and designers. We were makers. Web Artisans. Shit, it seems almost laughably pretentious now. Somewhere along the way though, with a few success stories under the industry's belt, the profits just got too big and something fundamental shifted. Turns out that there's no time for craft when there's another round of funding to secure.<br>Now, at the mid point of the 2020s, it's as if the big-tech manifesto of "move fast and break things" has reconditioned an entire generation of makers to prioritise speed and efficiency over quality and care. With our standards lowered, the shift inwards has also become more pronounced. Where industry peers were once chatting about what they were making and for whom, we now seem fixated solely on what we're building with. We have sleepwalked into becoming an industry that makes tools for toolmakers; an unending tech-bro-robourus of solutions in search of problems, masking purpose with hype for the next big thing. And that hype-cycle is only getting faster. In just a few short years we've seen the crest and crash of countless industry darlings from JavaScript frameworks, to Blockchain and NFTs, right up to the current flavour-of-the-week: AI. But, as with every well-intentioned new product or clever solution, that-which-wasn't-considered becomes a vector for harm and AI finally sees the tech industry going after its own workers. Not content to have disrupted hospitality, taxis and delivery-drivers-as-a-service, companies are now axing their contractor budgets or laying off record numbers of staff as they chase the spoils of generative AI.<br>I want to make it clear that I am not against AI, much in the same way as I am not against hammers—they are both tools—but I am equally not going to advocate that you use your hammer to demolish the work of another artist for personal financial gain. It's how these tools are being used makes the difference and, currently, the industry is drunkenly swinging its ill-gotten sledgehammer at the foundations of our societies. In the face of this reckless pursuit of hype-over-craft, I can't help but find myself longing to be part of something that makes good on the industry's early promise of responsible change. Thankfully, I know I am not alone in this. This time last month I attended All Day Hey in Leeds and talk tended towards how we might change the course of the industry. As I've been gathering my thoughts in the days since, discussion online has also turned to many of same issues. At times it can feel like these conversations are eulogising our careers but I don't see any lack of desire to put the work in, rather a deep cultural burnout at the circumstances and motivations currently driving change in the industry. Despite it all, we still care.<br>It all begs the question, what might the future look like for those of us who still commit ourselves to craft? Fortunately for us, tech is not the first industry forced to defend itself against dubious practices and it likely won't be the last. Perhaps those industries that survived could be an example. What could we learn if we were to look elsewhere?<br>Raising the standard. permalink<br>When it comes to painstakingly technical, user-centred work there are few industries more famous than the tailor-made fashion houses of Paris. Training for years with traditional methods, pushing the boundaries of their craft, making individual garments with great precision and with only the finest materials; for many, they represent the archetypal "Artisan". But, for every artisan who cares about the craft, there's always someone else willing to compromise it for a quick buck. Throughout its storied...