Progress isn’t just about speed. It isn’t about one brilliant individual carrying the weight of everyone else.

Real progress is when the system itself holds the load, and anyone can step in, contribute, and succeed without needing to be a hero.

• Is progress resting on a few heroes, or on systems anyone can run?
• Are decisions based on tribe and taste, or designed to work for everyone?
• Is equality consistent, or is it political, loud and uneven?
• Are you trading standards for status? Applause for reliability?
• Do defaults make the right thing easy, or is it back to graft and manual work?
• Is power concentrated with the heroic few, or spread by design?
• Are you burning more hours, more stress, more effort… for what outcome?

Be honest: are you committing to one idea, especially a large-scale software provider, as the way? That’s not dignity at scale. That’s just another tribe.

Build Rails, Not Pedestals

When you design systems that anyone can run, you’re choosing dignity at scale. Scarcity fades. Lock-in disappears. Progress stops being about who you know, or what camp you’re in.

• Make the default fair.

• Design for choice, portability and open standards.

• Teach the why, not just the steps.

• Measure friction, not effort.

Systems become the hero when they are built to carry the weight.

No Gatekeepers

Scaling with respect means making learning stick without gatekeepers. Not everyone learns the same way, but everyone deserves access.

• Teach principles, not rituals.

• Set a default path, but allow alternatives that meet the same standard.

• Assess outcomes, not obedience.

• Mix formats: show, do, reflect.

• Design for portability; avoid platform lock-in.

• Pull feedback from the edges, where reality lives.

• Scaffold early, loosen later; autonomy grows with competence.

Scale with Respect

When power is spread by design, work gets better for the many, especially when no one’s watching.

As Stewart, one of our senior engineers, put it: “We build systems that scale without sacrificing respect for the people who use them.”

That’s the line in the sand. Scale with respect, or stop calling it progress.