Derrick Swart
Headphoneus Supremus
2019, Chapter 7:
The Human Side
In light of Mike’s health revelations, I thought it might be time to pause and think about something you might never have considered: the human side of the business.
I mean, yeah, it can be easy to think of companies as huge, mechanized, unfeeling cybernetic things, focused only on producing the product most perfect at extracting cash from your wallet. It’s easy to see factories full of robots, ruthlessly repeating their tasks with inhuman precision and speed. It’s easy to order a product from a place online that requires no face-to-face interaction whatsoever—heck, if you want to return it, a label may even be created on-the-spot, automatically, with the unnerving immediacy of algorithms. And it’s easy to get a product, seamlessly packaged in its computationally perfect packaging, with only a few cryptic pictograms—devoid of any human language—showing you how to “get started.”
And so, perhaps, it’s easy to extend this to everything about the company. Maybe there’s no human behind it at all. Or, maybe it’s a team of white-suited laboratory-perfect professionals armed with all the data necessary to achieve absolute perfection. Or, even if there is one person, one figurehead, maybe they are not really human at all, able to work 24/7 without a break, without the distraction of a family, without ever falling ill, on and on, forever and ever.
Well, to be frank: no.
Sorry.
Here’s how it really works, everywhere:
Companies are made up of humans.
Humans aren’t perfect.
We don’t have all the data.
We don’t have all the answers.
We have opinions, and odd whimsical notions.
Sometimes those opinions and notions are wrong.
Sometimes the humans need a break.
And sometimes we break.
Stop a minute, and go back and read that one word: everywhere. Because yeah, you could be thinking that I’m only talking about Schiit, or I’m only talking about audio, or I’m only talking about technology.
But. No. EVERYWHERE.
Hell, my wife had a 12-week delay on a tank she ordered (for turtles, long story), because the guy she placed the order with died.
Yeah.
Or, on a less morbid note, we had to work around a key employee who decided to hike the Pacific Coast Trail—which takes a few months. Robots don’t want to do that.
And, we frequently have people who have to take time off for family, both for happy occasions (weddings, babies, family vacations) and things that were less fun. Algorithms have no room for that.
Nor do computationally-perfect plans have room for truly unexpected and tragic events, like the deaths of two Schiit employees—one from stroke, one from an auto accident. Nothing prepared me for those. Nothing prepared any of us for those. Hell, probably two hundred people were employed by Centric, my old agency, over all of its years, and nothing like that ever happened.
How do you fit that into you predictions?
How would you program that into your contingencies?
In short, you don’t.
Businesses are human.
And so, for Mike’s current challenges, I’m not worried. He was in today, looking good and sounding chipper, and it was business as usual. His mind is as sharp as ever, and those who anticipate a slowdown in the digital department are in for a huge shock. He just got dealt a bum hand on the brain-to-muscle connection. We can’t yet afford to outfit him in the power loader from Aliens, but it’s fun to think about. It definitely would make him easier to find at shows!
I’m also not worried, because we all know how it goes. Once you’re past a certain age, you don’t worry so much about mods to your OEM parts; it’s just what happens.
Want some examples?
When Mike, our lead technician, and I were sitting and talking today, I quipped, “Who has all their original skin?”
We all laughed, because we are all fair-skinned, and we’ve all had “anomalous” things cut off from sun damage. Hell, they took a piece of my face about the size of a silver dollar a few years ago. It’s very hard to tell where it was, but that’s how you get rid of basal cell carcinoma—you cut and look, cut and look, until it’s all out.
And yeah, you know, the first time they say, “cancer,” even in the super-watered-down-almost-not-worth-mentioning form of BCC, you can’t help but have some butt-puckering moments.
But. You’re human. You accept, and go forward.
Want more? Here’s another thing I did this week: gave up and bought another Wacom Cintiq to do boards and 3D CAD on. Because my wrists won’t tolerate much more of the old mouse action. It’s something I knew about for a long time—I destroyed both wrists way back in the Centric days, before the century even turned over, and switched to Cintiq very early on as the only relief. I figured I could get away with using a mouse for boards…and I did, for a while. Now it’s time to re-learn the CAD interfaces with a pen. Fun.
But again, you’re human. You accept, and move forward.
Now, you might be wondering what kind of nutters Mike and I are, to have all these weird health problems and just keep trucking. Why not retire and take it easy? Why not get out and see the world? Why keep working and working and working?
Here’s why: because it’s fun.
I think I speak for Mike in this as well, but I know that Schiit has been the most fun I’ve had at a company. Mike could have chosen to stay as a consultant to the entertainment biz and made more money when I pitched Schiit at him…but he chose to take a chance with us. I could have stuck with the agency biz…but I chose to shutter it and go all-in on Schiit.
Because we’re not algorithms. We’re not programmed to seek the highest monetary reward at lowest possible effort. We’re attracted to things we think are cool and fun and silly and different and exciting and strange.
Sounds weird? Repeat: we’re human.
Now bump all of this imperfect humanity up against what we’ve made, and it may begin to make sense. We like to design cool stuff…but we don’t always have the complete picture. We like to play…but our sense of humor may not match yours. We want to do something you’d like…but we have to make ourselves grin, too.
Believe it or not, every company is just like us.
At least a little bit.
At least until they lose their soul to focus groups.
And benchmarking.
And forecasting.
And then, you know what? It ain’t fun. It ain’t cool and different and strange and exciting. It’s the same old game of Can We Make Something That Separates You From Your Money Most Effectively.
And yet, even when companies have lost their soul, they can’t help being a bit human. Products will sometimes show up with whimsical features or with offbeat design. A pundit from within the company will be grudgingly accepted by their social media marketing gods. Someone in customer service will hook you up, even if you really aren’t covered under warranty.
Because, in the end, companies are human.
So what does all this blathering mean for Schiit? Is Mike gonna knock off and decide to take it easy? Am I gonna fall apart from all my various ailments? Will the entire staff biodegrade and we never ship anything ever again?
In short, no, no, and no. Mike (and Dave and Ivana) are as engaged as ever. Mike’s had a hard knock, but it’s just a bump in the road. I’m not going anywhere soon; despite my grousing I am almost preternaturally healthy (knock wood). The staff ain’t gonna go anywhere, we have them chained to their desks and they are fed intravenously (kidding, of course.) So things will pretty much go on as they have gone on, with us using our best guesses to come up with fun, cool things we think you might like, and adjusting them if you don’t.
But our guesses won’t be based on 100% accurate data.
And we will have our own odd notions.
And there will be bumps in the road.
Ah well. Don’t worry about us; we’ll be fine.
But consider this, next time you’re tempted to think of a company as an unfeeling, inhuman algorithmic machine: it’s actually full of people, just like you, with their own dreams and despairs, fantasies and foibles, triumphs and setbacks. They’ll have good days and bad days. They’ll have great ideas, and not so great ideas. They’ll get sick, and they’ll get better.
But, as long as they’re having fun, it’s likely you’ll have some fun with their products.
Our hats are off to all the companies—and all of the people—in audio, who choose to make this their calling…despite all the bumps in the road. We sincerely wish you the best.
Here’s to the many great days to come!
Jason, de spijker op de kop! (my translation form dutch to english= exactly sums up)
I also believe it is very much about attitude, we all have a lot of understanding when we know the attitude is correct of the other human being
Bumpy roads often are remembered best 
Also had to think about these lyrics (still don't understand them):
