kelly.blog

life, work, etc.

  • 20

    Happy 20 years to Automattic! To celebrate, here are 20 reasons why I love working here:

    1. Mission.
    2. People. I love the people I work with everyday. The design team is especially awesome 🙂
    3. Work. The work itself is challenging, impactful, and fun.
    4. Life. This job allows me to live a wonderful life and I don’t take that for granted, even after nearly 12 years here.
    5. Future. I’m excited about what is ahead and the positive effects we can continue to have on the internet and people’s livlihood.
    6. Improvement. Automattic values continuous improvement and learning from successes and failures. This is also how I live my life.
    7. Autonomy. I have the autonomy to work how, where, and when it best suits me in order to be most effective.
    8. Output. Although we’re a much larger company now, we still are very much execution-focused. We value impact, not hours logged, meetings attended, or other performative metrics.
    9. Design. Beautiful and thoughtful design is valued and prioritized across everything we build.
    10. Growth. I’ve grown personally and professionally here in ways I never expected.
    11. Mentorship. Amazing opportunities to both learn from others and help guide newer team members.
    12. Freedom. The freedom to experiment, take risks, and pursue ideas that matter.
    13. Flexibility. Work-life balance isn’t just a buzzword here—it’s actually practiced.
    14. Travel. Meetups and conferences that bring our distributed team together in amazing places.
    15. Perspective. World wide diversity of colleagues brings incredible insights and viewpoints.
    16. Change. The company evolves and adapts, keeping things fresh and exciting.
    17. Impact. Our work affects millions of people and websites across the globe.
    18. WordPress. Being part of something that powers over 40% of the web is pretty amazing.
    19. Open Source. Contributing to and believing in the power of open source software.
    20. Intentionality. Every decision feels thoughtful and prioritizes the right thing over the thing right now.
    21. Matt. I’ve only worked at founder-led companies and Matt’s vision continues to inspire me. I hope to work here for decades to come.

  • 2025 Automattic Design reel

    Check out the highlights from the Automattic Design team this past year. 🖤

  • On Quality

    https://linear.app/blog/why-is-quality-so-rare

  • Spring in NY

  • Slate

    Stumbled onto slate.auto and really love the simple idea of this truck/car. One model, no screens, a bunch of configurations. $20k.

    These are my favorites so far:

    Reminds me a bit of WordPress with how it starts with a blank slate, nothing you don’t need, and you can customize it to suit your needs. Curious to see how it does.

  • Sisters

    Snaps from this past weekend when two of my sisters came out to visit.

  • Aurora – The Seed

    Repeating this song lately. 💆‍♀️

  • NYC: Three Borough Ride

    Last week, I was in NY for work. I rented a super fancy bike from Rapha in for a few days and rode early mornings before going to the office.

    On Friday, my co-worker and friend Filipe and I did a longer ride together, through Manhattan, Harlem, and Brooklyn. We mostly rode on bike lanes and paths, but sometimes rode with the cars. Riding in the city is so exhilarating.

    The last time Filipe and I rode together was Lake Como in Italy on another work trip. Both were epic, but there’s something special about riding in New York. We rode along the West Side, through Central Park and Times Square, over three bridges including the Brooklyn Bridge, and a nice chill route through Brooklyn. It was a beautiful day and I’d love to do a longer ride next time. And perhaps stop and take some photos with the camera.

  • Perfect Days

    A script from a recent flash talk I gave:

    I’ve seen close to 300 movies last year, much of those on Blue Rays and DVDs.  We are lucky to have one of the last remaining video rental stores relatively nearby our house in Seattle. We rent a few movies a week and there’s one that has stuck with me that I’d like to talk about for a few minutes. 

    Its called Perfect Days. Its very much a vibes movie and I’ll leave out any major plot points so I’m not spoiling anything.

    It follows a man in the daily routine of his life. You see him wake up, get ready, and head to work.

    Its about the small moments in life. The wind in your face as you ride your bike. Sharing a ride and a view with a loved one. 

    Noticing beauty above you. Taking photos with a camera.

    Finding music. Listening to tapes. Connecting with people through a love of a song. 

    Discovering and reading books. 

    Its a beautiful movie about the small things in life. Routines. About finding meaning, enjoyment, and peace through the everyday. Its about the complexities and beauty of human relationships and finding your way.

    Its had a profound effect on me. I had already been simplifying my life, slowing down, remembering to look up, and reducing screens in favor of physical objects.

    Thanks for listening. Let me know if/when you’ve watched it, would love to chat more about it.