From the Build Portfolio Manifesto

For humanity, for this planet, for posterity.

Build Today is a sibling of Build Portfolio. The institution is a bastion of ethical technology. Build Today stewards the institution's standards in operational systems.

The work is operational technology for serious sectors. Energy. Environmental. Materials. Logistics. The cost of a bad system in these sectors is measured in outages, in lost capacity, in physical harm. The principles below are the four we hold most centrally to the work.

We hold for posterity, not for cycles.

What we hold is meant to last for decades. Our horizons, our judgment of what is finished, and our willingness to release reflect that scale.

In practice: We design operational systems for 10-year horizons. We do not ship features for quarterly milestones.

Restraint is a craft.

The most considered work is often the work held back. Subtraction is a discipline. We choose what we will not allow into existence as carefully as we choose what we will.

In practice: We turn down work where the requested system would not serve the operator's long horizon. We say no more often than we say yes.

We allow into existence only what should exist.

Capability is not justification. Many products could be made. Few should exist. We hold ourselves to the second standard.

In practice: Every Build Today product passes a test before it reaches operators. Does this system need to exist? Does it serve those it claims to serve? If not, it does not ship.

Honesty about state.

Active. In development. In formation. In study. We name where each piece of work is and let the reader see the state plainly.

In practice: Every product card on our portfolio names the status of the work. LIVE. BUILDING. IN STUDY. We do not present what we have not shipped as if it is shipped.

The full manifesto

These four are the principles Build Today holds most centrally. The full institutional document holds twelve. Read it at the parent.

Read the full manifesto →