Shokunin: the craftsman's mindset

Shokunin (職人) means 'craftsman,' but in practice it describes an entire ethic: a lifelong, almost obsessive commitment to a single craft, refined in small increments over decades rather than reinvented every few years.

A sushi chef who spends a decade only preparing rice before touching fish isn't being inefficient — they're building the foundation everything after it depends on.

It's a slower model than most software careers reward, and we don't claim to fully live up to it after one year. But it's the direction we're pointed: fewer products, held to a higher bar, refined rather than replaced.