I have many memories of Matt, but two stand out: one is a life lesson, and the other one, to me, sums up Matt at work.
In the old office I used to sit just a couple of desks away and I could hear the Support calls. Matt was on the phone with a customer who was complaining about how long a ticket was taking, and he said, very calmly: "The problem is that we haven't found a solution yet."
To me, this sort of sums up Matt at work. This was an absolutely undebatable truth, and I remember the call finished shortly after, because who can argue with that?
On his leaving do before going to Boulder, we were stood outside the Old Queens Head, and I was telling Matt how I admired and envied his ability to stay calm in the face of any kind of customer. As part of Support of course he had upset customers, shouty customers - but I never saw him losing his temper, or even looking anything less than relaxed and find with it. Matt asked me: "If I went by your desk and gave you a box full of shit and said it was a gift, would you keep it? Other people's moods, or the fact they are upset with you or what they think of you is like that box, you don't have to take it. You don't have to keep it."
I remember feeling my mind completely blown at this point. And this was just one example of his way of looking at life, different from most of us who just follow the rat race like good little mice. I think Matt was several steps ahead of most of us in his way of thinking.
To this day, every time I hear a sentence started with "The problem is", my brain auto-completes with "We haven't found a solution yet."
I just wish I had more time to learn more lessons from him.
I have many memories of Matt, but two stand out: one is a life lesson, and the other one, to me, sums up Matt at work.
In the old office I used to sit just a couple of desks away and I could hear the Support calls. Matt was on the phone with a customer who was complaining about how long a ticket was taking, and he said, very calmly: "The problem is that we haven't found a solution yet."
To me, this sort of sums up Matt at work. This was an absolutely undebatable truth, and I remember the call finished shortly after, because who can argue with that?
On his leaving do before going to Boulder, we were stood outside the Old Queens Head, and I was telling Matt how I admired and envied his ability to stay calm in the face of any kind of customer. As part of Support of course he had upset customers, shouty customers - but I never saw him losing his temper, or even looking anything less than relaxed and find with it. Matt asked me: "If I went by your desk and gave you a box full of shit and said it was a gift, would you keep it? Other people's moods, or the fact they are upset with you or what they think of you is like that box, you don't have to take it. You don't have to keep it."
I remember feeling my mind completely blown at this point. And this was just one example of his way of looking at life, different from most of us who just follow the rat race like good little mice. I think Matt was several steps ahead of most of us in his way of thinking.
To this day, every time I hear a sentence started with "The problem is", my brain auto-completes with "We haven't found a solution yet."
I just wish I had more time to learn more lessons from him.
