values Archives — Stampede: the strategic design & technology company

“All Happy Families Are Alike…”

Zana Fauzi — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 17:15:17 +0000

There is a reason Leo Tolstoy came up with that aphoristic brilliance of a first line in his novel, Anna Karenina.

Here’s one thing about me – the day before joining a new company I would always establish the idea that my team members are like my family. That way, in times of those affectionate points of brushing past each other purring contently or during those fraught moments of tearing each other’s hair apart, I will be obliged to love and protect them, come high or low.

I carried the same notion with me the day I joined Stampede as a Project Manager. And just like all families, every member has their own quirkiness which makes every one of us unique. Here’s how I see them:

Dov

Let’s start with Dov. He is The Man, that’s how the boys call him. He’s the male parental unit of the family, generally taciturn, only speaks when he needs to. And when he does, his words are worth quoted and framed. The boys look up highly to him, at some point they fear him but often it is for a good cause. He never needs to speak much to convey his message, just a little sideswipe glance and the boys would scramble out of their seats, jostling against each other to finish their homework so that they could gain extra gaming hours.

Shaiful ‘Holmes’ Borhan

And then there’s the big brother, Shaiful. As opposed to Dov (but just as awesome), he is very laid-back, speaks in a pleasant drawl and regards everyone as his ‘homies’. Despite that, he’s whom everyone runs to when Daddy gives that fearful sideswipe glance. A few reassuring words, and we would be on the right track back again.

Guo Lin

There would always be a nerd in the family – here is our very own Guo Lin. Despite always racking his brain with what-to-do-next’s and here’s-what-I-think lists which never failed to blow our mind, he is often highly critical of himself. At the risk of sounding like a hypocritical mission statement for a tire & rubber company, he strives to be the best among the best among the best. We all love him for his competence and awesomeness, but often never admit because when every time we say “Congratulations, GL!” after a victorious feat, he would go, “Er, OK?”

The Twins

In real life, they are not one – but we have the twins, Syazwan and Mujib. Just like every pair of twin, although they might be identical there will be always be opposing traits that the family always welcome with open arms (although sometimes we leave them debating with each other in the distant corner of the video call). Syazwan is an Android enthusiast, while Mujib is devoted to Team iOs – so we often see them bashing each other about their perennial partialities to their favorite operating systems.

Shaza

Of course we shall not forget about our female parental unit, Shaza. Just like every mother, she is just as protective and wants the best for everybody. Analogically speaking, it’s like as she was trying to let us cross the street after a number of hours of road safety lessons at school, in an instant her mind would go, “It’s OK, Shaza, let go, let them explore on their own.” and after a few seconds she would go again, “Don’t go too far, come back! Let me show you how!” Of course, just like every mother, she has the ability to multitask like a bawse, and escapes unhurt every single time.

Zana

Then there’s me – the crazy, domineering sister.

There will always be one in the family – when the father’s scary sideswipe glance, the mother’s comforting words and the big brother’s reassuring pat won’t work – here’s where the bossy sister comes in. She reminds you every 5 minutes when you forget to clean up after your sleepover. She sticks Post-It notes all over your corkboard (of which she installed for you in your room) reminding you to do your own laundry. And when you forget to do so, she does it for you. Just when you are about to be grateful, she sends you a text message reminding you to walk the dog, when you are about to do so.

Nevertheless, this is what family is about. Some may drive everyone off the wall more than the others, some may be the instant family favorite, some may be just sitting on the fence watching the conversation over family dinner evolves from kindergarten to puberty – in the end, as I was saying, when you are a family, you are obliged to love and protect for each other come high or low.

Stampede team is made of this, amongst many other beautiful traits, and I am so grateful to join this family. (I hope the feeling is mutual).

(Pic: The Winslows of Family Matters, remember them?)

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Be Sparing

Shaza Hakim — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 21:38:23 +0000

Where others have gadgets and tutorials to help them get better with design, I have books. The Elements of Style has a permanent place among the few books I have on my desk. In more occasions than I can remember, I have found in it my very own personal guide in design.

Do not explain too much.

It is seldom advisable to tell all. Be sparing, for instance, in the use of adverbs after “he said”, “she replied” and the like: “he said consolingly”; “she replied grumblingly.” Let the conversation itself disclose the speaker’s manner or condition. Dialogue heavily weighted is cluttery and annoying. Inexperienced writers not only overwork their adverbs but load their attributes with explanatory verbs: “he consoled,” “she congratulated”. They do this, apparently in the belief that the word said is always in need of support, or because they have been told to do so by experts in the art of bad writing.
– p.109, The Elements of Style by Strunk and White

The same goes for design. Don’t tell all. Keep something back. Let the design speaks for itself without the need to anticipate interpretations. And don’t do things because you have been told to do so by the experts in the art of bad design.

Good design does not need a supporting story.

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Severn Suzuki’s Earth Summit 1992 Speech

Shaza Hakim — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:31:30 +0000

I’ve just concluded an exhausting yet fulfilling and prophetic read of “Hot, Flat and Crowded” by Thomas L. Friedman.

Going through the book, I scribbled my own notes of interesting and important excerpts that I can share with others. Nothing is more important than what I found on Page 395. It reads a transcript of the speech given by Severn Suzuki, then a 12-year-old, who stood in front of the delegations of 1992 Rio de Janeiro’s Earth Summit.

Severn Suzuki is now an environmental activist, speaker, television host and author.

If You Don’t Know How To Fix It, Stop Breaking It!

“Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organisation.We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day — vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!

You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians – but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil — borders and governments will never change that.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter — we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?

I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

not to fight with others,
to work things out,
to respect others,
to clean up our mess,
not to hurt other creatures,
to share – not be greedy.

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for — we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everyting’s going to be alright” , “we’re doing the best we can” and “it’s not the end of the world”.

But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you.”

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Well-rounded All In All

Shaza Hakim — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:36:05 +0000

The single best real-life industry-smart lesson I’ve had during my university years was served by Mr Amzairi Amar, lecturer of then Small Business & Entrepreneurship class. He thought me the fundamentals of having a sound business plan before venturing into a business but most importantly, how to stand on your own when you need to.

Like most of us, I was really looking forward to a career-life post-graduation. The three-piece-suit, feeling all-important doing work and making difference, climbing up the corporate ladder. The reality hit me 4 months after. I realized that there are such thing as “office politics” and prejudiced colleagues driven by job insecurity. I found that it always rain early in the morning when you have to leave for work and that the big money is not that really big after all.

It was about then that Dov and I decided to take the plunge and Stampede happened. Sure things go crazy, people come and go, milestones get at you, frantic phone calls at 2am – but it’s all part of us growing up to be better at what we do and I’d be insane to say I don’t love every minute of it.

Looking back at my life then, I’m grateful to be here now doing what I love and working with people that matters. Starting up a small business is scary and frustrating at times but I find that small steps keep you grounded and your values intact. You’re left humbled and wiser with every mistake you make along the way. Most of the times, getting past the initial resistance is the biggest challenge of all. I’m just glad we have the knowledge and early guidance of how to start right.

Perhaps one day what we do at Stampede will be an inspiration to others, but for now I’d like to applaud the wisdom of Mr Amzairi Amar, an inspiring teacher and true to UTP tradition – a well-rounded individual all in all.

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