Elizabeth Ayer – Medium

Elizabeth Ayer

Pinned

Meetings are the work

Wherein I take aim at the common tech trope that people need to limit meetings to get work done.

Feb 22, 2023

Painting called “Declaration of Independence” of an 18th century scene. Five white men stand in a fancy hall to present a seated man with a paper. Two rows of mostly seated men look on.

Feb 22, 2023

Pinned

Don’t ask forgiveness, radiate intent

As simple encouragement to act, “ask forgiveness, not permission” is fair enough. But here are 4 reasons to signal your intentions:

Jun 27, 2019

Don’t ask forgiveness, radiate intent

Jun 27, 2019

Pinned

Annual Performance Reviews Ruin Everything

There is hardly an area of work, psychological safety, growth, collaboration or equity that annual performance reviews don’t undermine…

Apr 19, 2022

Annual Performance Reviews Ruin Everything

Apr 19, 2022

Enshittification as Overproduction in Software, Part 2: Overproduction in the product lifecycle

When exactly software is most vulnerable to overproduction and what can keep it in check.

Feb 13

A mass of white mushrooms on moss on a fallen log.

Feb 13

Enshittification as Overproduction in Software, Part 1: Seeing Overproduction

As someone who has previously enshittified a product, I have a few things to say about this moment of mass enshittification…

Feb 8

A disconcerting number of gnomes on a dirt field.

Feb 8

Antifragile — a belated book review

For the most part, Taleb’s answer for how to promote antifragility is for us all to stop trying so hard, a message I found hard to swallow

Jan 3

Painting with a scene of a pristine cathedral on the left and tumbling ruins on the right.

Jan 3

Perfectly good reasons to avoid formal training

Some people mistake others’ dislike of formal training for unwillingness to learn, but these are not the same thing.

Nov 8, 2023

Emergency exit sign with arrow pointing right

Nov 8, 2023

Review: Introduction to Digital Facilitation by Howspace

I finished this course last week, and it had some approaches I hadn’t seen before, particularly for asynchronous group facilitation.

Dec 1, 2022

Dec 1, 2022

“Nobody could have known”: inclusive behaviors to counter a culture of short-termism

When you say, “Nobody could have known,” I hear, “We shut out the people who tried to warn us.”

Oct 28, 2022

Outdoor bronze statue with a child feigning surprise and another child trying to tell them something.

Oct 28, 2022

Organizational boundary problems: too many cooks or not enough kitchens?

Open cultures can be satisfying to work in, but they often evolve in ways that increase feelings of exclusion and ineffectiveness.

Sep 1, 2022

Three chefs working together in a modern restaurant kitchen, with another two chefs working at a different station in the background.

Sep 1, 2022

Elizabeth Ayer

Elizabeth Ayer

Making software systems more humane, sustainable, and intentional. Infatuated by the possibilities of bringing product thinking to #govtech.

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