Closing in on three years with my current employer. At first, things were new! and different! and I had to expend great energy to adapt to the quirks of the new environment: different people, work flows, org structures, and of course, new products.

Those were interesting times. Here I was, head full of the great (and lame) things that I experienced with my old job at Wells Fargo, now tapped into the pulse of Bank of America’s user experience design group. My eyes were fresh, my hopes and expectations not yet re-formatted (crushed?) by the new ‘realities’.

The upside of this temporary naivety? Fresh eyes. That is, having not yet been indoctrinated into the new environment and culture, and having still-vibrant recollection of life in my old organization, I brought new ways of looking at things, a temporary condition that comes to an apex maybe 6-12 months into such an experience. That moment one has learned enough about the new reality, yet still have strong memories of past experiences that ideas of new, better ways to do things still flow freely.

But the window of opportunity does not last forever. Eventually, soon, the organizational structure, politics, brow beatings and red tape of the new reality become routine. Aspirations of change, improvement, or flat-out new ways of looking at people, products, or problems begin to dissipate, overtaken by numbness and apathy. The once-fresh eyes grow stale, the voice of change grows muted, and the great velvet tomb begins to encase you, as you grow comfortable with the ‘way things are done around here’.

Continue reading ‘Fresh Eyes’