Halli Profile picture
Mar 7 17 tweets 4 min read
Hi again @elonmusk 👋

I hope you are well.

I’m fine too. I’m thankful for your interest in my health.

But since you mentioned it, I wanted to give you more info.

I have muscular dystrophy. It has many effects on my body.

Let me tell you what they are:
My legs were the first to go. When I was 25 years old I started using a wheelchair.

It’s been 20 years since that happened.

In that time the rest of my body has been failing me too. I need help to get in and out of bed and use the toilet
For a long time I thought my arms would remain strong. A doctor told me they would.

But they ended up losing strength. Which, I don’t mind telling you, was hard to accept.

But you okay the cards you are dealt and I’ve managed to create a wonderful life.
My family is the best. I have two kids. I see them every day. I recommend that.

My wife is fantastic. Strong, kind, smart, amazing artist. Couldn't be happier with her.
About nine years ago I started a company called @uenodotco

I worked a lot, it didn't do my body any favors but it's what I felt I needed to do.

The hard work paid off and the company became very successful.
We worked for more or less every big tech company.

We grew fast and made money. I think that's what you are referring to when you say independently wealthy?

That I independently made my money, as opposed to say, inherited an emerald mine.
But after seven years I was tired. Covid was running for longer than the two weeks you said it would.

And my body was also continuing to get weaker.

After looking at many options I decided to sell my company to Twitter.
Financially it wasn't the best decision. My company was making a lot of money and Twitter's offer was lower than any smart valuation would say.

But like you I made a bet on Twitter having a lot more potential than it has had.
I joined at a time when the company was growing fast. You kind of did the opposite.

There was a lot going on. The company had a fair amount of issues, but then again, most bigger companies do.

Or even small companies, like Twitter today.
Anyway, I digress, are you still reading? Or is the bathroom break over?

What was I saying? Ah yes, and then you bought the company and told employees you weren't firing 75% of them. Which you then did.
I wasn't in the first batch. Or the second or third or fourth. I'm not sure which layoff round I was in there were so many of them.

Each one came after you promised the last one was the final one.
During my time at the new Twitter, or 2.0 as you called it, I talked to my manager every week and asked what I should focus on.

And then I proceeded to do those things. Every one of them.
I also contacted HR regularly and asked if my job description was correct or needed updating. I wanted to make sure I was doing what I was supposed to.

They always said they were looking into it but I never got a reply.
And now finally to my fingers, which I know you have great concern for. Thank you for that btw.

I'll tell you what I told them. I'm not able to do manual work (which in this case means typing or using a mouse) for extended periods of time without my hands starting to cramp.
I can however write for an hour or two at a time.

This wasn't a problem in Twitter 1.0 since I was a senior director and my job was mostly to help teams move forward, give them strategic and tactical guidance.
But as I told HR (I'm assuming that's the confidential health information you are sharing) I can't work as a hands on designer for the reasons outlined above.

I'm typing this on my phone btw. It's easier for because I only need to use one finger.
I hope that helps! Let me know if you are going to pay what you owe me?

I think you can afford it?

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More from @iamharaldur

Mar 7
Ok, following long threaded back and forth replies on Twitter is a bit complicated, so let me give you the highlights.

After no straight answers on my employment status for 9 days I asked @elonmusk to tell me if I had been laid off.

He sort of replied...
He asked me what I had been working on. When I told him he laughed.

Which, to be fair, I get. I am quite funny.

Then all of the sudden, Twitter's head of HR, (who had previously twice been unable to tell me if I had a job or not) emailed and said I was no longer employed.
Which is totally ok and it happens all the time. Companies let people go, that's within their rights.

They usually tell people about it but that's seemingly the optional part at Twitter now.
Read 4 tweets
Mar 7
@elonmusk Among others:
- led the effort to save about $500k on one SaaS contract. Supported closing down many others
- led prioritization of design projects across the company to make sure we were able to deliver with a small team
@elonmusk - led design crits to help level up design across the company
- was hiring manager for all design roles
- worked on efforts to steer the company away from focusing on power users and on to younger users (because our user base is aging)
@elonmusk I could go on.

Am I allowed to talk about how the company has operated since you took over?
Read 5 tweets
Mar 2, 2020
We've put together a Corona/Covid-19 response for Ueno.

Putting it here in case it helps anyone working on a plan but note that we are not experts. Please evaluate and take actions based on the best information you have access to.

1/
Our first priority is the health and safety of our employees, contractors, clients as well as their families.

In the last few weeks, the situation with Coronavirus (COVID-19) has developed fast and it will continue to develop over the foreseeable future.

2/
Please remember that many of these precautions are for people that may be more vulnerable than you. We have a duty to help them by taking steps to limit the spread of the virus.

Our approach will continue to be updated as new information and best practices change.

3/
Read 13 tweets
Dec 24, 2019
Seven years ago I led a team to create the first Google Santa Tracker.

I was not supposed to be in that role. But it changed my life.

1/
It started as a pretty standard call.

I had been working with Upperquad and their founder, my friend Phil, on a number of projects, many of them for Google.

This time around, the Google Maps team wanted a way for kids to follow
Santa on Christmas Eve.

/2
I was one of a number of designers on the call. We all got the same brief.

It was a Thursday and we were going to meet again on the following Monday to share some ideas.

I remember thinking that this was a special chance. I decided I had to take it.

/3
Read 15 tweets
Sep 24, 2019
Flying for people that use wheelchairs is not easy or comfortable.

Most flights have at least 1-2 issues related to poor crew training and broken processes.

On a recent flight the crew made a series of mistakes, the worst of which was literally dropping me on the floor.

1/
When things like this happen (this is not the first time) I start by contacting the airline with two polite requests.

A) A full refund of my ticket as well as anyone that was traveling with me (most often my family). I always ask them to donate the refund to Unicef.

2/
B) I ask them to share with me their current processes and how they are going to change them to make sure this doesn't happen again.

---

Inevitably the first response from the airline is a weak apology, often they point at the airport as being at fault, etc

3/
Read 9 tweets
Aug 21, 2019
Ok, some thoughts about feedback.

First, let’s start with the basics:
1. There’s a thing you think could be better
2. You tell someone about it.

Both of those are great in theory. No argument there, we should all do those things.

But the details is where we fuck up

/Thread
The why, how, where, when and who you deliver the feedback to is where most of us tend to fail.
Let’s start with why:
This is by far the most important part. If nothing else, make sure your why is correct because then the other things will become easy.
Read 21 tweets

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