Life has been happening really fast, it’s almost dizzying. Crazily enough, I just wrapped up my first two months in Myanmar. Before I embark on a three-week holiday adventure, I wanted to share a couple stories of experiences that have pushed me out of my comfort zone, left me a little confused, and given me great opportunities to grow.
My first story is about work. I don’t think I’ve recounted the progress of our project in a long time, so let me quickly summarize. The crux of it is that understanding users, considering their needs, and defining the path towards a solution that reflects the user and the bigger vision of the company is really hard. Once it comes to building technology, even if the technology is really complicated, the desired outcome becomes more straightforward. But before this, before the product specifications are determined and before the direction of the product is finalized, this is where I started the project. Every day since then has been a complicated series of steps forwards, backwards, and twirling in circles.
As we have done research into the space of optimal irrigation and precision agriculture, we have wandered down all kinds of paths, explored a lot of options, and often come back to the reality that our farmers need something simple. We ran tests with a variety of soil-moisture-measuring technologies across different soil types and compared them to each other. We narrowed down our options, keeping in mind cost-value benefits to our user and to the company. We have long conversations about where this product positions Proximity in the future. We question what level of accuracy is useful to our farmers and are careful not to push technology that would be exciting to build, but not as impactful as something more basic. We map out what modifications we could make to existing technologies to improve upon simple tools or simplify and reduce costs on more advanced ones. Sometimes we have discussions that last all day and it really feels like we’re not moving anywhere. Sometimes we have bursts of clarity and it feels like we’ve figured things out. Sometimes the clarity lasts for a week, or sometimes we come up with a question that pokes a hole in the clarity just a few minutes later.
I took a class called Human Centered Design my last semester of college, and I can recall so many moments with my team, staring at a wall of post-its, desperately trying to make sense of everything in front of us and time flying by without any tangible progress to boast. This project at Proximity sometimes feels very similar. (Except that in 5 months, we plan on launching a product into the market.) As I left on holiday, we had found clarity around two paths, each one with a different target user. Once we determine, with the help of Proximity management, who the priority user is, maybe we’ll be on more solid ground. Regardless, even when this process has felt mind-numbing, it has been a huge learning opportunity. As an engineer, I feel trained to jump into projects once the general framework already exists. But now I feel empowered to help design and build that framework, both for the project and the vision that follows. This design stage is creative, motivating, and exactly what I was looking for experience in.
My second story is about friendship. I know, I know, my last post was entirely dedicated to friendship. I wrote about how, outside of with Natasha, there is part of me that is highly cognizant of the temporary nature of most friendships. This awareness doesn’t stop me from wanting friends in my life, but it can have the effect of restricting how deeply I commit to these relationships. So this story is about ignoring an impending deadline, committing to a friendship wholeheartedly, and exploring new opportunities as a result. Even though I love trying new things and adventuring, sometimes it’s easy to wind up in a routine of going to the same places, eating the same foods, doing the same activities, and generally existing very independently. So I am grateful for a chance encounter turned friendship, Hunter, and all the experiences I tried and time we shared.
With someone to show me new places and motivate me to try new things, I finally explored food from more Myanmar ethnic groups. Burmese cuisine belongs to the majority ethnic group, but the country has so much more to offer. I discovered that I loved seafood from Rakhine and the much less oily Kachin food was a hugely welcome experience. The Shan food we tried was a bit more familiar to me as I have traveled to Shan State several times now, but nonetheless a break from my normal menu. And despite my usual hesitation to eat Indian food outside of India or my parent’s kitchen, I tried Hunter’s favorite spot and my picky self can vouch for the authenticity of the South Indian specialties.
I ran my first “hash”, which is similar to a maze, and met a bunch of fellow runners as we thoroughly amused an entire village and ran around frantically looking lost for many kilometers. The giggling and shouting children who periodically jumped in behind us provided extra motivation. Hunter and I explored a photo gallery and wandered through parts of the city that I had never seen. We went on a long, morning run around one of the big lakes in Yangon, a run I had been wanting to do for ages. I joined him and his friends on a weekend trip to Hpa-an, an incredible little city filled with stunning caves, limestone rock formations, lush greenery, and a relaxed atmosphere. The rolling fog over the palm forests and cool breeze made the mornings feel like a blissful vacation.
On an idyllic countryside road, we rode motorbikes out to cluster of caves, pagodas, and amazing rock structures, where some of Hunter’s friends have cultivated a rock-climbing paradise. I had never gone climbing, beyond maybe a birthday party or two, but I was game. Apparently I didn’t do too badly for my first time! Turns out, I’m not scared of heights, so I went at it fearlessly. When I was on the ground, I watched in awe as Hunter and other experienced climbers exhibited tremendous skill and strength. Still, I was pretty proud of a couple routes I completed and the views at the top were remarkable, when I remembered to pause and check them out. My deadly sore arms were a reminder of this expedition for the next several days. Who would have thought that I would have had my first outdoor climbing experience in Myanmar!
Despite all the adventures we had, our time in Myanmar only overlapped for a few weeks. Yet somehow, the ticking clock didn’t seem to inhibit me from building a real and meaningful friendship. Goodbyes are always disorienting, but this time I felt thoroughly thankful. I’m not saying I suddenly need to try and become deeply close with every person I meet. But by appreciating a connection and being slightly less cautious than normal, I stopped myself from shying away from something simply because the future was unclear. Throughout my journey, I’ve done a pretty good job of focusing on the moment and loving the uncertainty of my future, but that has been more on the professional side. On the personal side, it’s harder to not know when I’ll see the people I care about next. Whether it’s parsing through confusing conversations at work or dealing with the ups and downs of relationships as a transient, I’m happy for every step I’ve taken. I don’t always know which direction is up or which direction I’m supposed to be heading, but sometimes it’s been nice to ride things out and see where they leave you. And I think that’s when the most interesting discoveries or coolest experiences are bound to happen.
The top photo is from Hpa-an.
The 3 rows below are from my most recent trip out into the field, at Pakokku. We conducted user testing with some partial prototypes as well as got their feedback on some existing technologies. The betel farmer in the third row is growing 14-year old betel, as well a yellow variety. The yellow kind is a higher quality, more expensive betel.
The next row showcases briefly some of the Christmas festivities that went on in the office! The elves around Santa were my favorite part.
The last 3 rows are the remaining photos from Hpa-an. First there are a variety of incredible views. The last photos are of Hunter and of one of the most advanced girls, Katie.
