Thread by @LeaKissner

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler FWIW, working with folks to build products and systems which are respectful of the lovely diversity of humans which exist is what I do. I've been lucky enough to work with a bunch of deeply ethical, thoughtful, and smart folks with a range of backgrounds and skillsets.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler I can talk about a bunch of things that I've done, places where you can see my work and that of folks like me, I can talk about PEPR, a conference for talking about this sort of work, but what I can't really talk about is the many things that never launched because of quiet chats

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler Fundamentally, people want to build great systems and products. I try to help them understand that to get to greatness, you need to have respect built in -- folks I've worked with often come out feeling like they've built a better product and know how to design better.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler There's a lot in there: human-centric threat modeling, treating it as a full-stack problem from humans and the societies they build all the way down to the hardware, math, systems engineering, UX research/design/writing, program management, a deep and abiding curiosity, etc.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler I haven't been perfect. I'm not omnicient about either the present or the future, sometimes teams make decisions that I think aren't the best. But I hope I've made a lot of products better, both at the companies I've worked with and through some quiet conversations with others.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler I haven't been perfect. I'm not omnicient about either the present or the future, sometimes teams make decisions that I think aren't the best. But I hope I've made a lot of products better, both at the companies I've worked with and through some quiet conversations with others.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler ... also by helping make sure that products and features that shouldn't see the light of day didn't. At one point I was told that a some people were scared of me and 🤷 --Apparently I got a reputation for asking questions which made people say "we need to cancel this project"

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler I don't think I was captured, but I also have a healthy respect for my lack of omnicience and I think to do work in this space you have to be prepared to make messy, hard choices, because there are only rarely clean ones.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler Different people have different needs; we build technology to make those choices better, but we continue to have more to learn and to build.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler One thing that helps is that, more than anything, I care about truth and respect for the people who are affected by products I help care for.

I have always been willing to quit for ethical reasons. And here's the thing: for companies that care, that is a *feature*.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler One thing which can happen (and doesn't help anyone) is that some people get scared of telling their execs that something is not OK and how to make it better. I was too socially clueless to get scared, so that meant that people could trust me to always tell them the truth.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler Because what's the worst that would happen? A company which would fire me for telling them to do better is a company I don't want to work for.

(Side note: this is a privileged position. I have never lived paycheck to paycheck.)

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler So anyway, I do think this is possible. It's not always easy; there are some serious technique-related caveats I don't have room for here. But it's possible and it's even desired by companies.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler In the long run, I believe that respectful products win. (If nothing else because the other kind tend not to survive.) Companies want to hire me and folks from my team because they want to build better products and systems. I suppose that's what you'd call a theory of change.

@anildash @natematias @ruchowdh @cfiesler (For context, since I believe we haven't met: among other things, I was the Global Lead of Privacy Tech at Google, came in to help Zoom with their security/privacy/abuse problems. So not entirely my first rodeo. 😉)