Life by Design
- Posted October 8th, 2009
- Filed under: How We Do It
Editor’s note: This is a blog post that I don’t really want to have to publish, because that will make it true. Adam is one of the most fun, creative, enthusiastic people I have ever worked with and my heart is more than a little broken by his news. However, as you will read below, he’s doing what’s best for him right now. Love and luck to you and your family, Adam. We will never air-drum, karaoke, listen to The Darkness, use the emo emoticon or see a rust eagle cruising down the road without thinking of you — MRR.
After nearly two and a half years, this week was my last at BatchBlue. This is a decision that I couldn’t have imagined making just a few weeks ago. My awesome co-workers have been incredibly understanding and supportive…and I think a big reason is that the decision really has nothing to do with BatchBlue at all.
Next week, I’ll be joining a company called PatientsLikeMe. PatientsLikeMe is a unique company that provides online communities for patients with life-altering diseases. What started as a small community of patients suffering from ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease) has evolved into a site that hosts over a dozen communities for diseases ranging from mood disorders to Parkinson’s Disease.
While my role is not specific to any particular communities, I recently found myself in need of a community that isn’t there yet. The opportunity to make this happen is what brings me to PatientsLikeMe. I’m going to be doing HTML and CSS, but I also have much greater and very specific goals I’ve set out to accomplish in my new position.
This change, of course, is going to be a shock to my system. BatchBlue is part of every aspect of my life—both work (doing what I love) and personal (having the flexibility to be with my family whenever I need to). With BatchBlue, along with the occasional weekend customer service and 2 AM bug fixes came the ability to hang out with the kids during the day and even spend 11 days in the hospital when my youngest was sick. Things like that I’ll never forget.
It’s not just the BatchBlue staff that I’ll miss collaborating with every day. One of the big reasons I joined BatchBlue was the allure of working on a product with actual users. I came from a research and development think tank, and too often we had little to no access to end users. That all changed with BatchBlue. I’ve built relationships with BatchBook users—folks like Scott and Stewart—that I know will last even though I’m moving on.
If there’s one thing I took away from last week’s WebInno event it’s that BatchBlue is onto something big. It can be easy to forget that when you’re in as deep as we all are. But it was exciting to see so many attendees have that “ah ha” moment when I showed them SuperTags—specifically, the Social Media SuperTag—and the idea behind The Small Business Web. While I’m extremely proud of the work I’ve done at BatchBlue, I’m also excited to see how another designer’s perspective can guide BatchBook into 2010.
As BatchBook continues on the leading edge of the social CRM landscape, rest assured that I’ll be cheering from the sidelines.
Oh words fail me.
I’m sad to see you move on but happy for you in that you’ve found another worthwhile pursuit. Best of luck moving forward.
Adam, it has been my honor and pleasure to work with you over the last (nearly) 2 years since I became a BatchBook user. Your presence and influence will surely be missed.
However, as someone who has always worked very hard to follow and embrace the path that life leads us on, I completely understand and support your decision. The opportunity to bring your skills and passion together to do such important and meaningful work is a gift.
I know you’ll do great work.
Scott
I’ll miss you very much, Adam. You really made the BB forums useful and fun, and helped me out several times. Best of luck to you in your new position!
Michael
I totally respect the decision Adam has taken and will obviously miss him from the BB world. His dedication to connecting with people (not providing mere ‘customer service’) is outstanding. I know he will make a huge contribution to the lives of any who have the honour of working with him.
The really nice thing is that Adam has certainly been front and centre in BB for as long as I can remember. But for me Adam reflects a set of values which goes deeper in Batchblue and although he will certainly leave a hole, others will be there to fill it.
Good luck Adam! Every success for the future.
Chel, Scott, Michael, and Stewart…
Your words mean a lot. It was wonderful working with each of you. I look forward to staying in touch!
Thanks again for everything.
Adam,
I am so sorry to see you leave – you did make BatchBook special. Your design, screencasts and especially your personal touch on the forums and in your responses made you and BatchBook very special. I hope good things happen in your new gig, which I guess is way more than a job. Keep blogging and don’t be a stranger.
srikrishna
[...] Life by Design: The difficult one where I let the BatchBook user base know I was moving on. [...]