At Deft Flux, we value Relationships, Humor, and Beauty. 

When we say we value relationships, it means we sacrifice technology on the altar of relationships (not the other way round); it means we value people over mammon; it means we believe efficiency often comes at a price that we are unwilling to pay. 

Note that this is categorically different from saying “we value good system architecture” or “we strive for well-written code.” Those goals are nebulous and change over time. We might compromise on them to meet some higher goal. Staying true to the things we love, however, affects how we do business, and we pursue them without compromise, even when costs us. 

Just now, I started to set up my own Microsoft Bookings page, and noticed that the informational bubble says, “Schedule with ease and create your personal booking page to share your availability without any back and forth with others.”  This phrasing stopped me short.  I know they are getting at the frustration that can happen when you go back and forth forever, trying to get a meeting time, but that sentence also says, “…without any unnecessary [interaction] with [people].” The heading should say “Impersonal booking page.”

Most of us have been receiving a few “schedule time with me” links, and while helpful, even necessary, they are impersonal.  Furthermore, when you simply start by sending two or three options for meeting times, you eliminate 98% of the back and forth, without giving up the personal touch.

We bend technology to our will.