My encounter with lichens changed my sense of what is "correct." Checker Isamu Murakami

Hello, my name is Sugimoto and I am a writer living in Kyoto.
I've recently become more and more interested in the people at Monosus that I've met through the Monosus website. This time, I interviewed Checker's Maro, also known as Izao Murakami, who I met while working on the article " Plants You See Around Town - Summer Edition ", for " Freedom and Responsibility: Everyone's Systems and Work Styles Laboratory ".

In this series, we will be looking at the fourth year since Monosus introduced a full flextime system, and one year since going fully remote. Monosus members are now able to decide when and where they work. We will be asking them about their own independent work styles, the changes in their attitudes towards the "company" and the organization.

What kind of work does Murakami-san do now? And what kind of work does he want to do in the future? "So, could you please look at it for a bit?" he asked, handing over a flowerpot and taking a photo, and that was the start of it...!

An ironclad checker said to be "more accurate than a machine"

Sugimoto: I heard that "Maro Check is more accurate than machines." I could sense the trust placed in you from your comments when you received the MVP award at the end of last year . But isn't there an aspect to this job where the more people trust you, the more pressure you feel?

Murakami: Our department does not deal directly with customers, so we do not receive complaints directly, and in a sense we are protected. However, if there is a mistake in what we deliver, it will of course become a problem. So we can't let our guard down every day.

Sugimoto : According to an article introducing Murakami that Katori wrote previously, "I've always loved playing pranks and finding mistakes. I've always wanted to find something." So I guess you could say that you do this job with the determination to find something.

Murakami: To begin with, the job of checking itself isn't difficult at all. However, a few years ago, I tried too hard and it made me sick. It's embarrassing to say, but I took a few days off without permission. When I came back, I was still in the company, and it was like all the tension just snapped. It might be misleading to say, "I don't have to work so hard on my own," but how should I put it...?

My boss at the time, Mr. Sakuyama (a director), told me, "You often take on too much, so don't take on too much," and I think I've come to understand that from personal experience. After that, even when things got tough, I was able to raise the flag and say, "I've reached my limit." After experiencing that once or twice, I think that although I still hit a wall of "this is difficult" with each project, I feel like I'm feeling less pain from it.

Sugimoto: Do you find it distressing when you want to do everything responsibly but are faced with a situation where you just can't do it either time-wise or physically?

Murakami: That's right. It was when I realized that my current skills and level were not enough. Right now, I'm working hard to fill in those gaps.

No particular change in work even with full flex and full remote

Sugimoto: When full flextime was introduced in 2017, was there any change from the way you worked before?

Murakami: Basically, we work by communicating with the in-house directors or coders involved in the projects. When multiple projects are running at the same time, they can all overlap at once. So, even when we went to full flex, we decided to "fix the checker's working hours to a certain extent," and the working hours didn't change much. However, since we no longer had fixed hours, we were able to be more flexible with our hours, which I think made our lives easier in some ways .

Sugimoto: How has it been since last year since working fully remotely?

Murakami: I live about a 20-minute walk from the office, but to avoid crowding, I prioritized people who needed to come to the office and stayed home.

Sugimoto: Is there any difference in ease of working between the office and home? At home, no one is watching you, so you end up just lazing around.

Murakami: That's right. Lazing around...lazing around? Well, I don't think I lazed around that much when I was working. I had decided to start work at 10 and work until 7pm, so there wasn't much difference.

Sugimoto: So, on the other hand, do you ever end up working too much?

Murakami: So the boundary between work and private life disappears, right? I don't think I felt that way. When the COVID-19 pandemic first began and there was less work, I would sometimes let my boss know I was leaving early and finish work.

The problem was that I couldn't prepare all the smartphones I used to check at home. I only looked at the browser on my computer and asked someone else to check on my smartphone, but I think I put a burden on them. Also, I'm not aware of it, but maybe there was a lack of communication.

I thought, "Monosus will accept me."

Sugimoto: If you can work from home, I think the company will become like a shared office. Have you ever thought, "Why am I part of an organization called Monosus? Maybe I could be a freelancer?"

Murakami: There are a few reasons why I'm reluctant. One is that I don't like change very much. Also, if you become a freelancer, you have to do your own accounting and tax returns. I think I'm terrible at that kind of clerical skills. I'm pretty careless about a lot of things.

Sugimoto: It's a little surprising that you have a job that requires accuracy but are not good at clerical work.

Murakami: I want to be precise about the things I care about, but I don't really care about anything else . I also try to match those "points I want to be precise about" to my work.

Sugimoto: I feel like it's not easy to get that point right...! I hear you've been with Monosus for 12 years. Do you think the company is a good fit for you?

Murakami: Hmm. When things don't suit me, I tend to give up quickly, or quit. But once I get a sense of belonging, I want to stay there forever.

Sugimoto: Why did you end up feeling a sense of belonging to Monosas?

Murakami: I'm very grateful to Hayashi-san, but we weren't originally very close. We were only one year apart in our university club, and the hierarchical relationships were strict.

Before joining Monosus, I wasn't employed as a full-time employee, so I think I had a feeling of inferiority that I wasn't independent as a member of society. In the midst of all that, I was invited by Mr. Hayashi to come to this company, and I think I felt a sense of security that "Monosus will accept me."

Sugimoto: You just mentioned it, but I think it's a really wonderful thing to be able to work for a company where you feel like you'll be accepted here and that you want to stay here.

Murakami: Yes. In that sense, I feel that I am truly blessed.

We want to expand beyond "checking" to "testing"

Sugimoto: Is there anything you want to aim for in your career going forward?

Murakami: One thing is that what we have been doing so far has been "checking" rather than "testing." It is difficult to clearly distinguish the difference, but I would like to expand into the field of not only "checking" to see how accurate it is by comparing it with the wording and design, but also "testing" how it works when it is entered into the system .

The project recommended by Mr. Maruyama when I received the MVP was exactly like that, and I am still continuing to work on it. Right now, I am not at the level to do it alone, but in the future, I would like to be able to design test patterns, etc.

Sugimoto: We have to grow again. Are you enjoying your work?

Murakami: I think it must be fun. I'm not really the kind of person who finds much fulfillment in my work.

Sugimoto: Yes (laughs).

Murakami: Yeah, I think it's fun.

Sugimoto: When someone says "I don't feel motivated in my work," I think "Huh?", but when Murakami says it, I don't think "This person doesn't seem to feel motivated in his work!" I wonder why...

Murakami: Maybe what you mean by "rewarding" is, well... For example, if you have a family, you might think "for your children." I wonder if the reason you don't feel rewarded is because you don't have that "I want to work hard for someone/something." Of course, at work, you may be working for your colleagues, the company, your customers, or the web industry, but I think you are looking for "someone/something" on a personal level. Maybe it's more about a "purpose in life" than a "rewarding" one.

I think that maybe the reason I feel it's "fun" is because I feel like I can improve my level. But that's just me, so I think it's something that's likely to change in the future.

Sugimoto: Right now you think the leveling up part is fun, but do you have a hunch that you might find something else fun?

Murakami: I'm the type of person who believes there is a right answer for everything in the world. I worry about whether what I'm doing matches up with the world's right answers . But maybe I'm hoping that if I can find "someone/something" that makes me want to work hard, that will become my standard of judgment, and I won't be swayed by vague "the world's right answers."

There are people who think that even if there is no "someone/something" around, it is enough to just take care of yourself. First of all, it is important to do the work in front of you well, and of course I have no intention of neglecting it, but I'm not sure if that is really enough.

The "correct answer" may be created by the people involved.

Sugimoto: When you say, "There are correct answers to everything in the world," what do you mean by "the world"?

Murakami: Narrowly speaking, it could be within a company or the web industry.

Sugimoto: Who is creating the right answers in this "world"? For example, if the "right answers" for Monosus are created by the people at Monosus, then Murakami-san would be involved as well.

Murakami: Yes. It's a cycle. The right answer is something that is created by the people involved. I don't think we could think like that before .

Sugimoto: Do you have a premonition that your sense of impact on the world and the associated sense of fulfillment might change? Was there a particular trigger?

In the grounds of a temple in Chofu City. A member of the sessile lichen family, Phyllodes gracilis (photographed by Murakami)

Murakami: When I visited the nature school "Toek" in Tokushima Prefecture to celebrate the 13th anniversary of Monosus' founding , I spoke to someone who was researching lichens. I think that this was the trigger for me to rediscover my interest in living things, and that was the catalyst for my change.

Until then, I had tended to do everything on my own, but I became interested in the outside world. I was able to make connections online, where I used to be a loner, and my range of what I see and feel has expanded, both online and offline.

Sugimoto: Roughly speaking, lichens have changed the way we see the world.

Murakami: When we look at the story of living things, it seems that environmental conservation can become a bit of a political topic. In such cases, I gradually learned that the "right answer" is created by the people on the ground or the area, or that there is a need to find a compromise. I began to feel that "Oh, that's the same with the work we do." I once took an aptitude test at work and the answer was "perfectionist."

Sugimoto: The result is so obvious (laughs). Maybe the next time I take the same test, my results will be different?

Murakami: Well, I don't know about that, but I hope that there will be some changes in that area.

Sugimoto: The world we see and feel is changing, which means that some really big changes must be happening. But what's interesting is that the catalyst for this is lichens.

Murakami: That's right. I think I was hooked because of the shock of coming into contact with something I didn't know much about. I don't know how long I can maintain my passion for living things, but I would like to base something related to living things on the "someone/something" I mentioned earlier.

Sugimoto: I'm curious to see what the future holds for Murakami and "living things"... Thank you very much.

Every time I asked him something, Murakami would say "That's right," pausing for a beat and trying to put his thoughts into words as precisely as possible. I felt like his demeanor drew people in, or that he had a mysterious gravitational pull. Three years have passed since his encounter with lichens , and there are still signs that Murakami's world is changing...I look forward to the day when I can speak to him at length again.