We did it... in a little over two weeks, with six amazing staff members, we interviewed 40 patients at Sibley, asking for their experience with sound/noise. It has been an emotionally-charged time, in and outside the project, and my thoughts turned inward. In the uncertainty of the first few days, my people-interview-muscle still stiff and awkward, I honestly did not know if we were going anywhere with this at all. When I felt vulnerable I used my memory of my IDEO experience as an anchor - how I went in not knowing what would come out, with faith in the process that something would come out at the end - and it did, by letting go to let it come, in a way I could not conceive previously. This is what my trauma therapist would call "resourcing" - when we cannot eliminate fear, we increase the sense of safety. It was probably the fourth day, when we managed eight interviews in a day, that I finally started to sense a faint, yet somewhat certain, glimpse of a new insight. From there a series of insights snowballed. As Michelangelo said, it felt a bit like "I saw the angel in the marble and carved I set him free." Not sure what kind of solutions will grow out of those insights, but yes, we have now sowed the seeds. This emotional interview process will be the muscle and foundation for everything we do moving forward. The positive energies of our staff - Julia, Alex, Lisa, Carmen, Kaia, Derek - and the amazing support of Sibley Hub - all carried it through. We witnessed the concept - hypothesis and assumptions - coming alive into reality, gaining clarity day by day. Just like the first day when I witnessed the music I created for the first time being played in loud-ass volume at Club Five (oh, back in the day)... for two weeks we listened to what it is that wants to be born. Congratulations, team Sen Sound.