Carter sat down at his desk near the window, the third row in a sea of rows of long wooden tables, 24” monitors, Aeron chairs, and roll-y white IKEA MICKE drawers. He squinted out at the bright, beautiful day, with the sun reflecting off the windows of the massive glass TFC rental tower next door directly into his retinas. Not many were in the office today, it being Thursday, Friday’s Eve, and since there was no free lunch to motivate his co-workers to at least badge in and promptly leave with full Tupperwares.

Carter spent the day before getting onboarded into Ferrum’s internal systems, watching lengthy security videos starring optimally professional yet attractive, airbrushed AI actors warn against phishing, smishing, vishing, spear phishing, whaling, angler phishing, phish pharming, watering hole phishing and beyond. Carter had never felt so simultaneously vulnerable to cyber attack, yet intrigued by how many ways there must be to catch a fish. “These scammers like to cast a wide net,” Horatio the AI man concluded with a wink. Carter felt vaguely unsafe, and made a mental note to update his passwords, and continued to 3x speed his way through the videos, relying solely on his intuition to score a 98% on his assessment. He was chomping at the bit to just get going already, knowing that a mountain of work awaited him. As a way to get a solid fresh start, and resurrect his best, most productive self who sometimes wore pants that zippered and buttoned, he pledged that he would go into the office as much as he could for this project and be a proper member of working society.

—

After his sacred multi-step pre-work pour-over ritual, with the violent roar of the coffee grinder piercing the relative silence of the office, and his ceremonial water pour, pondering life as he stared at the grounds blooming, Carter finally settled into his chair, Gryffindor mug warming his hands. Now, he could work. Julian had sent over the previous design contractor’s work on the desktop application, which Julian shared he’d worked extensively on, with undeniable hints of pride. Uh oh, Carter thought. Maybe they’ll be alright, he hoped, but his previous experiences of clients “taking a stab at the design” haunted him with a mental grimace emoji.

Carter exhaled. He clicked the Figma link from Julian’s email, and with the first screens that loaded, he had a design heart attack. What. the. eff. is. this. His right eye twitched while his left eye opened wide, like Mr. DeMartino from Daria. He felt the combination of extreme agita and deep despair that would often wash over him when experiencing poor design, and his stomach dropped instantly as his mental calculus coughed out a gut reaction: this is going to be near-impossible to fix. Carter did a mini upper body downward dog, gripping the desk with his palms, closing his eyes, and took a deep breath to reset.

Maybe there’s some method to this madness. He went into logic mode, and began to scan the screens. Home screen, which navigated to screens for Labs, Sleep, Vitals, Activity; Profile. Aesthetically it was giving… Workday widgets, with Windows 95 styling and typography, and definitely not in the cool, ironic Gen Z branded way. His mind raced, taking in the true scope of not just translating this into a mobile application, but genuinely starting from ground zero with the information architecture, and most likely every single user flow. No, have to backtrack even more. From what Carter was seeing, and the closer he looked, this actually seemed to be some kind of Frankenstein of the Oura ring and Apple Health applications, and there was no coherent experience, at all. While all he had in front of him were a few screens, they told a story of a thousand words. There is no core value proposition here, is there? He didn’t see how having blood labs could integrate with the overall picture in any meaningful way. It was the kind of moment that really made his job challenging. It was never long hours or working hard, it was working on something that just didn’t make sense.

—

He needed a break. There was so much to negotiate mentally; his brain was calculating like the confused math lady meme. Sometimes it was best to just take a little stroll from one end of the office to the other, and have a delicious complimentary snack from the cafeteria to give himself space to process. Hopefully there weren’t only blueberry RxBars remaining; his jaw was already clenched enough.

Carter settled back in his chair, and cracked open a pamplemousse LaCroix. He then remembered that Julian had also sent over a sample Ferrum ring, which was sitting unboxed on his desk. It would be the perfect, still productive, mini-diversion from the labyrinthine cognitive challenge of a design task that awaited him; anyway he needed to better understand the product, physically. Using the edge of his mailbox key, he sliced open the packing tape to first reveal a handwritten note from Julian.

“Carter —
Please accept this Ferrum ring, offered to assist you in your work. I advise that you wear it for the duration of the project, so that you may come to understand it… properly.

You must not speak of its origin, nor of any connection to Ferrum or to the technologies that sustain it. For now, it is better that such knowledge remains secret and contained.

Keep it with you. Keep it safe.

— J.”

He removed the matte oxblood box, not dissimilar to what an engagement ring might come in. The magnetic lid resisted slightly, as if reluctant to open, before giving way. Within the brushed matte black molded insert sat a dense gold band, etched with a pattern that he couldn’t quit put his finger on — deeply carved ancient geometry, still restrained and minimal, that might have been decorative — or instructional.

Carter felt the ring before his fingers and thumb closed around it, and was struck by its heavy, deliberate weight — like the first time he held a metal Sapphire Reserve card. It carried a certain gravity to it and seemed impervious to damage. This one ring, the object of Carter’s focus for the next four weeks. He hesitated for a moment, but to abide by Julian’s request, he slid it onto his finger. What Carter had assumed was a small gemstone illuminated.

Dun-DUN-dun. 🎶

Carter’s Google calendar let him know that it was five minutes until the kickoff, the moment of truth, where he’d finally meet Julian and learn what this Ferrum ring was all about; where within a few seconds and glances at the slide deck, Carter could get a read on the man and project that would wield a disproportionate amount of power over the next four weeks. Whether he’d be able to text back on time and fry an egg for breakfast, or if he’d be hurtling through a month-long work wormhole, where his main sustenance would come from his tom kha gai IV drip, drinking straight from the plastic takeout tub, chicken pieces and all, at regular intervals. Two futures unfolded before him. Carter tucked his crisp, cream colored poplin button-down into his liquid-soft heather gray sweatpants with a faded CMU insignia down the side. Biz caj on top, laundry is not a priority on the bottom.

—
Carter entered the Zoom room early and situated his windows and tabs. Notion doc at the ready, with project folders foldered, ready to give his A+ effort. As per the age-old adage, one could take the school-loving, eager beaver, type-A nerd out of a classroom … but old habits died hard. The edges of a pristine wood-forward modern workspace background molded gently around his head.

Julian’s name appeared, and within a few seconds, Carter was struck by the man before him. Unlike Carter’s Hinge profile pic vs. real life person comparison, Julian was much more striking on video than what he saw on his LinkedIn. Pale yes, but features sharper and more angular, with a crop of wavy dark hair combed back neatly, and a certain ambitious energy about him.

”Good morning, Carter - is it? How are you doing? I am looking forward to working together.” Julian gave a closed-mouth, but genuine smile.

Well, it’s actually afternoon. Carter suppressed his urge; it’d been his resolution to chill out on the need to be right. “Hello! Yes. Carter. Also excited to be working together, Julian. The product sounds really cool.”

”Very satisfied you think so. I do not have very much time so I want to go over the assignment quickly.” Julian, unblinking, had a hint of an Eastern European accent, and spoke with formality.

”Right, I noticed how late it is for you out there, thanks for -”

”Allow me to share my screen.”

Carter was prepared to see the usual information: introductions, project background, success metrics, scope and timeline, working rhythms. Julian’s screenshare loaded to reveal actually a beautiful cover and a few equally well-designed body slides from what he could see in the thumbnails. They were stark, with the dark color palette tastefully applied; with polished fluid-like maroon graphics and austere, weighty typography.

Julian moved and spoke briskly, at a pace that quelled moments where Carter might have stopped to ask questions. ”As you know, we live by our mission - intelligence in every drop. Our mobile application will be the way we achieve our mission. So you have an important task that our company’s success depends on.”

Carter gulped. “Thank-”

”This will be a contained assignment”, Julian continued brusquely, as he moved to the Objectives slide.

Objective: Design Ferrum’s first native mobile app that is frictionless, persistent and essential.

Well, seems like they have some kind of vision at least. Carter was sure there would be more detail coming. He nodded. Julian was already moving forward to the Approach slide - with just a single looping graphic that showed unidirectional movement. “Our process is iterative; we believe in continuously learning by doing - which is how you will create the designs.”

Participation Model: Daily Sampling. This time, just those words on the screen.

"Each member contributes in small but meaningful ways. The commitment is minimal. The impact - monumental.” Carter was getting confused. Wasn’t this a wearable? He had so many questions that they coalesced into a giant cumulonimbus cloud in his own brain, slowing his thinking.

The next slide was Timeline. One glance, and Carter was immediately disheartened. A single line, with four neat segments, representing the weeks of October. “We will meet each week at this very time.”

Carter was still in thought but needed to start getting answers. “Great! Yes. That’s totally fine. So, do we have a little time for discovery, or do you have some researchers on the team?

The pause was heavy, and immediate.

”You do not trust my vision.”

Carter’s jaw twitched. “Oh, no no, I totally do, vision’s awesome, just, you know, design is always stronger with some user -”

”This device”, Julian continued, cutting him off, “could have saved many lives.”

”Totally. Totally. Okay, yeah - let’s keep going”.

Julian continued as if the moment hadn’t happened. “We will meet each week at this time. Progress will be visible. I expect developer-ready wireframes by the final week of October.”

”Whew, that’s quick, but yeah, I think -”

”And, please arrange your flights and accommodations in Bucharest for our final presentation on October 31. You will present directly to me and our investors.”

Carter’s next month flashed in his eyes. He could see it already. Coconut soup. Hours of lo-fi hip hop. His daily step count in the double digits.

”Do not let us down.” As Carter opened his mouth to respond, Julian left the meeting.

Read Part IV here

—

While crunching on an overly crisped Crispy Rice bowl from Sweetgreen, Carter had consulted WorldTimeBuddy and was both delighted and dismayed by the only real overlap in hours with Ferrum HQ being 9AM-11AM EST in New York, and 4PM-6PM in Bucharest. Either Julian had a healthy work-life balance and would adhere to this small window for meetings, or they’d be the kind of startup that had quotes like “Eat. Sleep. Hustle. Repeat.” mural-ed on their walls. But it turned out to be neither. Carter found his calendar invites with new times proposed, well within reason of his full 9-5 EST workday, though late into the night for his client, a +7 hour timezone away. Julian must have tons of meetings during the day, Carter reasoned, as he accepted a 10PM EET / 3PM EST kick-off for Tuesday. He glanced over again at the maroon-branded, sterile, sans serif pitch deck and exhaled. “Insight at the source” it purported. Let’s see how this goes, he thought.

—

“So who’s the new client?” Carter’s college best friend Theo asked, as he spooned wavy, dangling, ramen-like strands of lobster garlic noodles onto his plate that night at dinner at their go-to Indonesian spot, with 2010s EDM blasting in the background. It was part club, part Southeast Asian eatery.

“It’s this startup called Ferrum. They’re making like an Oura-ring type wearable, except paired with you doing regular finger prick blood draws. So they pair the data and apparently they can tell you a lot more about your sleep and biomarkers and what not.” Carter answered while trying to saw off the end of a rather chewy lamb skewer, while keeping it from flying into the face of the two influencers at the table over.

“Oh wow, that’s cool! The founder doesn’t happen to have giant eyes and an unnaturally deep vocal register, do they?” Theo gave a toothy grin, amused at his own reference.

“Wouldn’t know yet, haven’t heard their voice, but from the LinkedIn pic, doesn’t seem to be a reincarnate Elizabeth Holmes. Though it seems like they want to move super fast - like a one month turnaround for a prototype on a net-new iOS app. And it’s just me. I don’t know if I’ll be sleeping much.”

Theo swallowed a huge mouthful of noodles. “Dude. Not this again. I thought we were done with the whole letting-work-take-over-everything scenario.”

“I know, I know. It’s just a month and then I’m for sure going to ask Tom for a little break in between clients. And work on getting that raise. But hey, one cool thing is that I get to go to Bucharest to do the final presentation last week of October!”

“That is cool…but isn’t that the weekend of Alina’s Halloween party? I thought we were all gonna go as Founding Zaddies? Though I was gonna tell you, Lincoln doesn’t count”.

“Oh shit, you’re right. Okay, well I didn’t buy flights yet…I’ll take the red-eye that Friday and I swear to you - in full waistcoat and stovepipe hat getup, I will be there. I promise.”

Theo shook his head. “Alright man, I mean I’m not surprised you’d massacre your own sleep schedule for work and your girl. And stovepipe hat? That is firmly mid-19th century.”

Carter smiled. “Not my girl…yet. And what can I say? Abe is my spirit-president.” The tendon he’d been sawing at gave way with a snap, with the final piece of lamb flying squarely into the sternum of the influencer’s perfect white tee.

Read Part III here

“The Ferrum ring. Intelligence in every drop”. It was giving … Oura knockoff, with an incredibly inconvenient finger prick step that he imagined no user would do. “Weekly at a minimum, daily at best.” Carter internally shook his head, as he scrolled through their pitch deck. He’d been resourced as the lead designer, and the sole designer it seemed. And as a small startup, he’d be working directly with their CEO, Julian Vale. A quick LinkedIn lookup revealed a greyscale photo of a thin, balding man with a goatee and a peaky air about him. Fuck. They were based in Romania, which meant horrific hours. Those sharply honed instincts poked at Carter’s insides. This wasn’t going to be good.

Read Pt. II here