Art = Work

The Tao of Support

a post on Process

Support is the most important feature of any app. When we released Unify nearly two years ago, I was only equipped with customer service skills dulled by the years since my lackluster retail jobs in college, and an all-consuming drive to make sure people got the most satisfaction from our product. In the duration since, I have learned how to support human beings and how to face an onslaught. While I could probably write a all-too-lengthy article on the subject, I found a passage from the Tao Te Ching this weekend that perfectly summarizes my top-level thoughts on Support:

Act without doing;
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn’t cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.

— Lao-tzu
      Tao Te Ching, ch. 63
      circa 6th Century, B.C.E.