Building a Spark Plug Culture with Burning Man’s Utopian Principles
The first and only time I went to Burning Man, in 2015, was an attempt to heal after the death of my brother about a year earlier. He had gone every year for many years before that, and he looked forward to it the way kids look forward to Christmas — the anticipation for the next year began the day after it ended.
Until I went myself, I didn’t fully understand the magic of its spirit: feeling connected to and welcomed by everyone instantly, the abundance of support and absence of judgment, the jaw-dropping collaboration, creativity, and celebration of it, and the awe of a witnessing an idea — perpetuated by a community that exists in hearts year round — materialize into a self-sufficient city of ~66,000 people for a week. There was an instant, stark contrast from the “real world” that I’d just somehow teleported from that reinforced itself in countless interactions. At Burning Man you get to show up, be yourself, and feel confident that you are exactly where you need to be. No wonder Burners want to infuse this way of life into the other 358 days of the year.
I understand the eye-rolling that non-Burners have when people return from the event and can’t stop talking about it. But even if you wonder what’s in the Kool Aid, the relevance of Burning Man’s principles is not dependent on whether you attend the event, but whether you value the kind of community it fosters. This is a community that celebrates radical individuality and self-expression, responsibility, cooperation, and ultimately personal and collective growth. The adoption of these principles creates and strengthens a culture that attendees strive to cultivate in their daily interactions, in their relationships, and if they’re lucky, in their jobs.
The User Experience (UX) group at American Specialty Health (ASH) is one of the teams in our amazing, diverse, talented community of passionate people at ASH. When I say they (like so many others on all our teams at ASH) are spark plugs, I mean they energize those around them with their ideas, perseverance, and positivity.
Here are Burning Man’s 10 Principles, written by Burning Man co-founder Larry Harvey in 2004, and my perspective of how the UX team and others at ASH harness, adapt, and practice them—and unwittingly, which is even cooler. By practicing and sharing these principles, we give others permission to do the same, and create a lasting team culture that exists beyond our virtual walls.
And because we’re in UX, here’s a playlist to listen to while you read along: ASH UX — Burn Your Burn.
Principle #1: Radical inclusion
“Anyone may be a part of Burning Man. We welcome and respect the stranger. No prerequisites exist for participation in our community.”
When you first arrive at Burning Man, they greet you with, “Welcome home. What took you so long?” They hug you, and then you roll around in the dirt. It immediately disarms any ego you arrived with. Driving to our campsite, every single stranger we passed waved and smiled. After the first, I figured they must have mistaken me for a friend. But every wave after that from stranger after stranger was like an additional layer of security and welcoming. It wasn’t a mistake, we were now friends! What is this place?!
On the UX team at ASH, we practice radical inclusion at every stage. Our interview process includes a team meet-and-greet where we learn about the candidate and they learn about us. We honestly and openly answer questions about the team and work. When you join our team you’re welcomed with open (now virtual) arms, and the respect and trust we share starting then is the foundation for the candor that propels our personal and professional growth. Always we, never I.
In daily work, we value open communication: with each other, with the other disciplines within our department, and across departments. We ask “why” not confrontationally, but with the genuine desire to understand perspectives we may not yet have, to propose a solution together that fulfills the goal. Radical inclusion keeps doors and minds open, and results in a better end product.
TL;DR: Always we, never I.
Principle #2: Gifting
“Burning Man is devoted to acts of gift giving. The value of a gift is unconditional. Gifting does not contemplate a return or an exchange for something of equal value.”
This is not a system of bartering like some think it is. No one expects that you will give them a gift. But the gifts that are given are cherished and they somehow seem timed with the universe. During a difficult hour one day, I was gifted a 3D-printed necklace and a sticker of the C-shaped city, reminding me to embrace where I was. In the middle of a dust storm, someone invited us into their camp for water and wipes. A member of our camp wrote my brother’s name in calligraphy on a guitar like the one he used to play there. I didn’t even know this person was a friend in the San Diego design community until months later when we returned. No one is expecting anything in return for the gifts they share, they’re all just eager to share goodness.
On our team, we gift knowledge and skill sharing. We don’t compete against each other, we lift each other up. When we recognize someone is having a tough day, we show kindness. When someone does a great job, we nominate them for awards. When we attend a killer conference, we share what we’ve learned. We expect nothing in return, and that’s an important piece — by expecting nothing in return, you know the effort behind the gift is sincere. With a culture of sharing knowledge and ideas, we encourage spontaneous, mutual mentorship, reinforcing unity and trust.
TL;DR: Sharing is caring.
Principle #3: Decommodification
“In order to preserve the spirit of gifting, our community seeks to create social environments that are unmediated by commercial sponsorships, transactions, or advertising. We stand ready to protect our culture from such exploitation. We resist the substitution of consumption for participatory experience.”
The point of Burning Man is not to boast status and impose rank with brands, but instead have the freedom to express yourself without the toxic extra layer of social or commercial pressure. Burners are discouraged from bringing items with logos on them; even cars have their logos covered. The most rewarding relationships are built on authentic connection, not theatrical optics. People are people, not things. They deserve the opportunity to be treated as such.
On our team, we lead with character: the way we treat each other and our customers as whole, complex people. To kick off our monthly UX all-hands meetings, held in Miro, we share how we’re feeling by dragging our photo to the section(s) of the wheel that best represent our mood. The invitation to share our whole selves—not just our work selves—relieves some stress and also reminds us that everyone’s going through something that we’re not aware of. This keeps us humble and grounded, keeps our minds open, and preserves our humanity. We treat people like people, and that’s why we love user experience design.
TL;DR: We treat people like people.
Principle #4: Radical self-reliance
“Burning Man encourages the individual to discover, exercise and rely on their inner resources.”
A lot of personal planning goes into Burning Man. That you need to pack all the water you expect to use for the week is just one example of the foresight necessary when preparing for the trip. What if you lose the goggles you need to keep your eyes dust-free? Will your tent blow away if there’s a 45-mph dust storm? If your bike gets a flat, will you have what you need to patch it up? You are responsible for doing the research, preparing accordingly, and packing for not only what you may need, but what others may need as well.
On our team, we offer to our teammates the extra resources we have. But we also know that we are in charge of our own journey. The best part of being a person with free will is the ability to chart that path! It is up to us to find the answers. We take initiative, rely on ourselves, and seek the resources available to us to do what we need or want to do. When we aren’t sure what to do, we ask ourselves what we should do. We prepare for “what ifs” but we don’t think ourselves into paralysis. The universe is inside us; we just have to set a vision, visualize the path toward that vision, and use our best judgment to identify the next best step.
TL;DR: The answers are inside you.
Principle #5: Radical self-expression
“Radical self-expression arises from the unique gifts of the individual. No one other than the individual or a collaborating group can determine its content. It is offered as a gift to others. In this spirit, the giver should respect the rights and liberties of the recipient.”
Many people I’ve told about Burning Man that have never heard of it ask, “What is it? A concert?” The answer is yes and no. No, it is most certainly not a concert in the sense that Coachella is a concert. Yes, it is a concert if you go to a music camp whose DJ’s built an entire climbable structure centered around a booth that plays house music every night from 10pm-2am. But it’s not just a concert, it’s also a yoga retreat, a meditation center, a therapy session, a bar, an outlook from which to watch the sunrise, a jungle gym modeled after Thunderdome, a bubble party, a stargazing station, and most prominently, art. Giant, expressive art. It is a temporary city that exists for a week. It’s many things to many people. Basically, whatever it is you’re looking for among thousands and thousands of camps, you’ll find it. You can connect to your truth and share it with others.
On our team, there are countless possibilities for creativity. It is what you make it. Have an idea between mockups? Share it. Make time to explore it. You are free and safe to bring your whole self to work. Whether an extrovert or an introvert, each team member has something unique to bring to the group to help it grow and thrive, and we lean into our unique perspective borne from our culture, experiences, interests, and passions. We foster an environment that allows each member to express their individual contributions in a way that’s honest, authentic, and productive for each individual and for the team. We are encouraged to take risks and explore the seemingly impossible imaginative realities that our creative minds conceive.
TL;DR: Chase what sets your soul on fire. You are the only you.
Principle #6: Communal effort
“Our community values creative cooperation and collaboration. We strive to produce, promote and protect social networks, public spaces, works of art, and methods of communication that support such interaction.”
When we went to Burning Man, we were part of multiple communities. My husband, sister-in-law and I camped together (community 1), right next to camps of mutual friends (community 2), within our music camp, Music Savages (community 3), within the music section (community 4), within all the thousands of communities that make up Burning Man (communities 5–10,000+). In each community is a set of rules and principles, and diversity of thought and experience. To create a great experience for anyone who visited our camp, we volunteered for jobs. As newbies we were really embraced by others who went regularly, but we could help with things like positivity, engagement, and cleanup.
In ASHTech, we have nested and varied communities, too — specialties within the design team like product design, content design, design systems and strategy; individual disciplines like UX, front end and back end engineering, and QA; cross-discipline Scrum teams; product-specific teams; interest communities on Slack like a running channel, a women-empowering-women channel, a parents’ channel and so many more; and ultimately the community that makes up the entire company, built of hundreds of these Lego communities. We value creative cooperation and collaboration.
We, on UX, strive to produce, promote and protect our team culture and methods of communication that support cooperation and collaboration. The more interaction with these various communities — both inside and outside ASH — the broader our perspective becomes, and the more we learn about each other, developing trust and the foundation for growth in the process. When I stop to think about the amazing people we work with at ASH who make up all its various communities, working together toward the same ultimate goal of empowering healthier lives, it feels like we can do anything. Then take that same community-centric mindset and think about how one small act on your part can impact the larger community in which you live. We can build great things together.
TL;DR: Powerful alone. Better together.
Principle #7: Civic responsibility
“We value civil society. Community members who organize events should assume responsibility for public welfare and endeavor to communicate civic responsibilities to participants. They must also assume responsibility for conducting events in accordance with local, state and federal laws.”
You may associate Burning Man with lawlessness in a Mad Max way, and you wouldn’t be wrong with respect to the aesthetic. Also, there is zero regulation on bike lane directions. But everyone I encountered was totally civil, taking this principle and local laws to heart. We know that disrespect would reflect poorly on everyone and on the event as a whole.
On our team, it is our job to both respect the rules and push the limits, to reach specific outcomes with our customers’ and the company’s best interest in mind. This means having the humility to acknowledge that we don’t know all the answers and that things are the way they are for a reason. But it also means using the principle of self-reliance to understand why things are the way they are. We are not in a vacuum. Industries and methods are disrupted all the time. We know that to stand still is to be left behind.
We are comfortable in the “magic wand” brainstorm and experimentation phase because that is they key ingredient of any creative industry. And we are respectfully curious about solutions that may achieve an outcome we’re all shooting for in a more efficient, delightful, or effective way.
TL;DR: Respect the rules and push the limits.
Principle #8: Leave no trace
“Our community respects the environment. We are committed to leaving no physical trace of our activities wherever we gather. We clean up after ourselves and endeavor, whenever possible, to leave such places in a better state than when we found them.”
Perhaps the second-most astonishing thing about Burning Man — right after the overnight development of one of Nevada’s biggest cities — is that you can’t tell it happened at all a week later. Because each camp is designated a precise location, the volunteers that make sure the Playa is clean after the event know who left matter out of place, aka “MOOP,” and they are fined. In severe cases, future attendance privileges are revoked.
On our team, we respect our creative environments, valuing clean files and clear communication within them so that other team members and other disciplines can understand and use them efficiently. It’s a difficult but necessary principle to maintain.
This principle also extends to meetings: leave no trace of ambiguity. Is it clear what the action items are at the end of the meeting? Are those action items assigned? Floating action items or traces of ambiguity are the MOOP of meetings. Someone will have to pick it up later.
TL;DR: No MOOP. Leave it cleaner and clearer than you found it.
Principle #9: Participation
“Our community is committed to a radically participatory ethic. We believe that transformative change, whether in the individual or in society, can occur only through the medium of deeply personal participation. We achieve being through doing. Everyone is invited to work. Everyone is invited to play. We make the world real through actions that open the heart.”
Burning Man attendees are encouraged to participate however they want to participate. Step outside of your comfort zone. Try something new. Spark a conversation with someone you’ve just met. Try painting a still life even if you’ve never picked up a paintbrush. You’re not doing anyone a favor by sitting on the sidelines.
On our team, we have various talents and we want to hear your voice. We want your thoughts, your ideas, your presence. New ideas are welcome. Years ago, when our CTO first joined the company, he interviewed individuals on the ASHTech team and listened to our thoughts about the products, how they could be better, and what was standing in our way. As in, he took time to interview every single member of the team! I remember feeling heard and respected, and like my opinion mattered. It inspired me and others to keep on exploring, and keep on looking for and sharing new opportunities. I felt permission to take the initiative to dig deeper. We immerse ourselves in the experience, we shine a light on dark corners, and we create change. We volunteer to help within the reasonable lines of our jobs. We ask, “with more time, what could we do?” and then take a step in that direction.
Our team values radical participation. We believe that transformative change, either in the individual or the team, can occur only through the medium of participation. Everyone is invited to work, everyone is invited to play. We make our ideas a reality through actions that open doors. This is your standing invitation to participate; you do not need permission.
TL;DR: Get your hands dirty.
Principle #10: Immediacy
“Immediate experience is, in many ways, the most important touchstone of value in our culture. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and a recognition of our inner selves, the reality of those around us, participation in society, and contact with a natural world exceeding human powers. No idea can substitute for this experience.”
One day at our camp at Burning Man I had my phone out to take pictures, and even though it was on airplane mode, my attention was on it, so I could remember everything. A nearby camper said I should put it away and experience everything through my own eyes. At first I felt defensive, but later I realized she was right. “You burn your burn,” she said.
On our team, while we have a picture of the road ahead, we are grounded in the present. We have a bias for action. There is no phase 2. We seek to overcome barriers that stand between us and our opportunities by recognizing where we are, and keeping a finger on the pulse: what is happening right now? What is the data showing us? Is our next step a step in the right direction? If not, what needs to change?
Sometimes I catch myself getting tangled in hypotheticals while brainstorming options. What will users think if we add this sentence? Will they get it? Will this make it clearer? What if we tried this instead? While this is a good exercise, it can also get way out of hand. When I find myself in a tangled web of hypotheticals, I remind myself to figure out what I need to know to make an educated guess, and then try it. This also supports our goal of performing as an iterative development team, rather than building huge chunks of code without strong evidence that the solution is on the right path. Quoting my daughter’s favorite, Sesame Street: “I wonder. What if? Let’s try!”
Immediacy is a great thing to keep in mind not only for designing the actual product, but also for designing the way we work together. A decade ago, when UX and front end development were in different departments at ASH, we lacked alignment because business requirements came directly to us, we’d create a mockup, and then toss it over to front end to build. Unsurprisingly this was not collaborative or efficient, and it created tension. We could have thrown our hands up and sunk into this dysfunctional relationship, but instead we realized that acknowledging that this wasn’t working was the first step toward improvement. Today, front end and UX work hand-in-hand in Scrum teams, creating solutions together, building a design system based on mutually agreed-upon standards. Where are we today? Is this working? If not, what is one thing we can do today to get us where we want to be?
Living in the moment with guiding goals and principles circumvents the pitfalls of overthinking and catastrophizing, and removes the pressure and stress that every single decision has to be perfect. By removing the pressure to get it perfect the first time (it will never be perfect), development accelerates. We learn more quickly. We can pivot more easily.
You are exactly where you need to be in order to move forward. The right approach is the one we take in the moment with the information we have.
TL;DR: You are exactly where you need to be.
Building the World We Want
Burning Man has been referred to by many as a utopia, whose etymology literally means “no place,” because utopias are understood to be unrealistic and impossible. It has also been called a “utopian performative,” which “creates an opportunity for imagining new models of how the world could be.” (Source.)
The fact that until this post, no one on the UX team or in ASHTech is even aware of these principles—and yet they still exemplify them on a regular basis—proves that elements of a utopia can and do present themselves. We can lean into them. If we’re not all employed because we regularly imagine and build new models of how the world could be with all the talented people that surround us, then we are in the wrong field.
Team members are attracted to ASH for a number of reasons: the work we do to impact people’s lives, the leadership that wholeheartedly supports and encourages these principles, and the people. Ask anyone in ASHTech the best part of working here and they’ll tell you it’s the people. Opportunities arise and take us down different paths, perhaps on a neon-lit bike going the (not) wrong way toward a flaming art car! But once you’re on the team (or even if you’re not—radical inclusion!) you’re a friend for life.
Katherine Wehde Zimmerman is Associate Director of UX Strategy and Product Design at American Specialty Health with an unquenchable thirst for good design and genuine connections.
