Unlearning: Reflections on my first few weeks at Folly

By Rucha Joshi

I love the notion of unlearning. It is so counter-intuitive to so many of us. We have been taught to think, make and function in very set ways, but in order to grow and adapt I believe we need to unlearn unhelpful and false things. My first few weeks at Folly Systems have entailed a lot of learning and even more unlearning.

Working at an early stage start-up has been a different personal experience. It not only meant deep diving into a new field, but figuring out new modalities of working which had little in common with corporate or agency work culture.

In the first week Deepa and Nishith spent a lot of time onboarding and taking me through the hypothesis, the ideas and processes so far. My mind had been buzzing with new technologies and terminologies. I went through recorded user interviews and began to plan further interviews to discover more about our users and their journeys, and that has meant tons of transcripts, sticky notes, multiple tools and methods. Each day has been different so far and we are continuously iterating our work processes and discovering new ways of going about our work. I’ve had significant autonomy in the process, and significant support as well. It has also meant a lot of responsibility towards what I bring to the table. Working in a team of three is another novel aspect currently. Sound boarding ideas is easy without the hassle of calendar blockers. That has meant a quick jump to executing and coming back with even more learnings.

For instance, by last week we had been able to speak to at least 40 people, and gain enough grounding to start putting down thoughts into sketches. Over the course of a day, we’d go back to the transcripts, pick up interesting observations, form insights, give ourselves a small brief and create first level wire frames. We are quickly reiterating or even discarding ideas. This collaborative and fast paced work has also made sure that I don’t fall in love with my first solution and hang on to it, which is usually a struggle.

It has been fast, scrappy, explorative and absolutely fun. Through this all, what has emerged is an inspiring and empowering work environment. Here’s to more adventures at Folly.