Highly observant. Designs communication and builds relationships.
Web Designer Reiko Takita

Hello, my name is Sugimoto and I am a writer living in Kyoto.
It has already been a year since I started helping out with the Monosasu website.

It's been four years since Monosus introduced the full flextime system, and one year since it went fully remote. Now that they can decide when and where they work, how are Monosus' members creating an autonomous work style? And as people spend more time working individually, how is their attitude toward the "company" or organization changing?

" Freedom and Responsibility: Everyone's Systems and Work Styles Laboratory " is a series of interviews in which employees talk candidly about their current work styles. This time, we have web designer Reiko Takita. We started off with a silly request, handing her flowers and taking her profile picture!

(By the way, these flowers were on sale to support flower farmers at a restaurant I went to for lunch after reading an article about Yukari Furuhata on the Yoyogi Walking Map .)

Reasons why I still want to go to work even though full remote work is now OK

Sugimoto: In April 2017, around the time the full flextime system was introduced, an article was written on the Monosasu website that featured Takita herself as the persona of "an image of a working woman who uses apps."

Takita: Eh, can I take a look? Ahhh! I don't remember this time. Maybe I was a bit too busy (laughs).

Sugimoto: When you wrote, "I wake up at 8am, commute for an hour, get to work at 11am, and work overtime about three times a week," I thought that was because you had flextime. Are you still working in a similar cycle?

Takita: I have more freedom now. I'm the type of person who likes to be lazy in the morning, so I check my email and do something I noticed the night before while taking a shower that would solve the problem. I'm starting to get into a cycle where I eat lunch, go to work, and then get serious. If I'm part of an organization, I want to benefit from the information and knowledge I get from the people around me , so I try to come to work on the same days as my boss.

Sugimoto: Even if it becomes fully remote, you still want to work at the office.

Takita: I belong to Monosus because I think it's beneficial to talk to the people here. If I don't come to work, I think the significance of being part of this organization will be diminished.

I want to respect each person's concentration, so when I see my boss go to get a drink, I'll say, "This is probably a time when he's not concentrating, so I'll ask him when he returns to his desk," and I'll talk to him at a time that's convenient for him. If I'm nearby, I can see how he's doing, and sometimes I can get hints from a little chat . I think the company is moving towards remote work, but even if I'm able to live alone and have an environment where I can concentrate, I think I'll still come to the office.

The key to getting out of the "Forest of Lostness" is a bicycle parking area and a shower!?

Sugimoto: It seemed to me that Mr. Takita's working style is to "relax in the morning and catch up on anything that he left undone the day before, and then concentrate in the afternoon," so that he skillfully balances his work day.

Takita: That's true. I might be conscious of the timing to "unplug." During lunch, when I feel I'm losing concentration, I go out and have a cup of coffee and relax, so I try to take my mind off work for a moment. I call it the "forest of confusion." If I keep thinking about the same thing for too long, I lose track of what I'm thinking, so when I step back and look at it again, I often find that "it's working properly, and I'm following the rules!"

Sugimoto: You've said that when you're taking a shower at night, you realize, "This will solve the problem," but do you still think about work when you get home?

Takita: I'm not always worrying about what to do, but there are times when the idea suddenly strikes me, like when I'm parking my bike on my way home or while I'm taking a shower.

I like to understand the other person and feel like things are going well.

Sugimoto: How has communication with clients changed since going fully remote?

Takita: The basics are now online. I try to get to know the other person by observing how they speak during web conferences and from what location they are connected. In text-based communication, for example, I try adding an exclamation mark to the end of a sentence to see if I can get a reply that is a little more excited. I do small experiments to communicate in a way that makes the other person happy.

What kind of approach would make the person in charge feel "smooth"? When should I submit a document with detailed explanations so that they think "it's so easy to work with!" I think I like getting to know the other person while having a back-and-forth conversation and feeling like "Yes, yes, things are going well."

Sugimoto: I see. Just like when you said "when to talk to your boss," you like thinking about optimal communication solutions. What kind of changes have you seen in your communication with people in the company?

Takita: I think that since we can no longer meet with most people, we've started to enjoy the all-member meetings after the general meeting . Before, there were probably some people who thought, "We don't need all-member meetings," and some people who felt pressured to speak. But I think that somewhere, everyone has started to feel a desire to talk a little, and everyone has started to talk.

For example, when we were talking about a completely different topic, someone started saying, "I haven't received any compliments from anyone lately." "Whenever I meet you, you always compliment me, saying, 'Your outfit looks good today!' or 'You look energetic today.'" "Whenever I want to be complimented, I remember your face," and we all started talking about how grateful we are for you.

I think that having all-hands meetings gives everyone a moment to think about their colleagues, and that's something I've come to realise once again how grateful I am now that we're working remotely .

When the direction of UX/UI design first came into view

Sugimoto: Speaking of which, I was really touched by Onogi-san's message when Takita-san received the MVP award in September 2017, which was posted on the Monosasu website. Onogi-san has a cool and logical demeanor, but he has a warm heart.

Takita: That made me cry. I was shocked to learn that there was someone who could look at and analyze things so carefully. I'm not the type of person who finds it hard to recognize my own strengths, so the experience of receiving hints like that was a great help to me later on. When problems arose for me or other juniors, Onogi-san was always kind enough to find a solution, and he is the boss I trust the most.

Sugimoto: In 2018, my sixth year at Monosus, you wrote in an article titled " My Career Change as a Designer from a Different Industry " that you began thinking about how to improve your skills, including what kind of designer you wanted to be and what kind of work you wanted to do.

Takita: I think that's what I wanted to write (laughs). There are designers who are good at creating visually excellent things, and there are also designers who are good at thinking about how easy it is to use the web and how easy it is to understand. It was around that time that I started to think, "I'd rather aim to be the latter." The term UX/UI (User Experience/User Interface) had just started to be used, and I began to see that that was what I was aiming for.

Sugimoto: Why did you think that?

Takita: I was watching a senior colleague who was employed at the company at the time and was skilled at creating visually excellent designs, and I thought to myself, "Rather than going in a certain direction myself, I might be able to create something better if I designed the design part and handed it over to him saying, 'Please make this look nice.'"

Also, during a project to improve UX/UI, I had the opportunity to work briefly with Morita Takeshi, a famous UX director from Tsurukame Co., Ltd. I think this project was a big change for me in that I now want to pursue UX/UI design that considers the ease of use of the tools we use, not just for the web .

Sugimoto: When I heard about your communication with clients and within the company, I thought you were really interested in people. Wouldn't you like to do more UX/UI design work?

Takita: I want to do that! I want to gain experience in UX/UI design from scratch, and then I want to be like, "Now I'm going to make money from this." So, in all-hands meetings, I tell the sales staff, "I want to work on UX/UI from the upstream."

I want to see Monosus change a little more.

Sugimoto: You do a lot of design work, but perhaps what you design is the very communication between people.

Takita: Ah...that's a nice thing to say.

Sugimoto: When we talk about design, we tend to think of it as the job of making something look pretty, but I got the impression that you are trying to develop design from a more essential level.

Takita: Even when creating a website, design is only one part of the overall process, and I think it won't run smoothly without someone who is good at connecting people. Rather than dividing the process and leaving it all to the coder, I think it's better for everyone to have a director-like element that connects the gaps. We can still keep in touch with people who are working at home, but I feel that Monosus' work would run more smoothly if we just made a little more conscious effort to communicate.

Sugimoto: After 10 years with the company, you've gained some skills, and now you're working fully flexibly and remotely, so your working style is no different from that of a freelancer. What is the significance of still wanting to work at Monosus?

Takita: One big reason is that I have a boss I respect. Also, Monosus has always changed, but now is the time when I feel like it is about to change a little again. In an era where a company can no longer survive by just doing web work, I would like to see more of Monosus, where there are people with various visions, and I would also like to be there myself .

Sugimoto: I thought it was a web production company, but then Monosasu Sha Shokuken was founded, and I started to wonder, "What do they do?"

Takita: It's not normal for a farm manager to suddenly appear, or for the neighbor to suddenly become a bakery, right? If people interested in food, such as Manabe-san, continue to expand the business, I think there is still a chance that I can get involved in the kind of work I want to do on the web side.

"Looking at the other person and creating a comfortable communication" is very creative, but I don't think that anyone can do it. Listening to his talk, I really wanted to try out the websites and apps that Takita designed for UX/UI. I wish I could do it soon! While thinking this, I went to the entrance of Monosus and bumped into "respected boss Onogi-san".

"Onogi-san! Takita-san praised you a lot!" "Look, I took a really nice photo, so please take a look," I said, as I started to joke around, and Onogi-san suddenly laughed coolly. "I've seen a photo of Takita when he was in his tanned state," he suddenly boasted (?)... I realized he must have been jealous of me for taking such a beautiful photo of Takita-san. I finished writing all those selfish things and then casually opened Facebook, to find a friend request from Onogi-san! To be honest, I was a bit taken aback, but I think the two of them really do have a great boss-subordinate relationship.

Another one of the best shots that was said to be "for matchmaking photos!" Flowers look great on this one!