Building in public isn’t really a new thing, but it seems like it got a lot of traction in the last 5-10 years as a marketing strategy for founders and builders, especially on Twitter (see: #buildinpublic). It involves progress updates which emphasizes transparency — you’re essentially inspiring and bringing an audience along the journey of your growth through retelling your challenges and learning experiences. In the spirit of open source internet things, it’s meant to build trust and encourage collaboration — buildcommunity, if you will.
I recall struggling with a similar concept,dothingstellpeople, when I first joined Shopify. I always thought there were more productive things than talking about your work like, I dunno, doing the work. Like many Asians (+queer+women), I’m very much the type to keep my head down, do the work, and let the work speak for itself. In some ways, this line of thinking got me far enough (especially if you have really good managers that know how to lead and grow their reports). But meeting new colleagues-turned-mentors taught me that my growth can’t be at the whim of someone else. These mentors knew what it took to have a seat at the table and do meaningful things, and a lot of it is talking to people about what you’re doing.
If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?
Something about telling people makes it feel permanent. Sharing too early feels like I’m going to lose control of the narrative. It’s being vulnerable about being seen. A binary thought: if it’s out in the open, then it’s open to critique.
People will read and make assumptions. Building in public invites people to make suggestions (and sometimes people don’t know how to be productive about their feedback) but people don’t always have the full context. There’s a fine line between engagement and essentially bike shedding your idea. Other times, we aren’t forgiving when we pivot.
As with anything, I guess it depends. It’s clear to me that my relationship with sharing work is complicated. I’ve grown up to be a perfectionist, and I’m trying to undo that, get messy, and give myself permission to fail. I’m not really here to build an audience around a hero’s journey. I think my path is a less linear than that. At the core, I’d like to just share with friends on the internet. My art career was predicated on process work, so my canvases andscratchpad🐾 notes are here for some kind of train of thought. I mostly want to share to put myself out there as a means to practice giving myself permission to fail. Yes, it’s scary putting myself out there, but I like to think I deserve some love.
My 17 year old, angsty, tumblr-obsessed self would be so proud that we’ve come back full circle.
Modified 2025-01-08