嵐は我々を止められぬ！！No storm can stop us (especially with God on our side!)
Capturing this memorable life event related to my work for posterity.
This day, we celebrated a HUGE milestone for our team and their product, Honda RoadSync—the release of the Turn-by-Turn feature. A feature that was part of the original product vision, a feature that the Product team and all those involved in the product has worked hard to make a reality. Both by Drivemode team and Honda RoadSync team. This feature was ready for release since three years ago, yet was kept by the upper management from being released. A huge disappointment for most, a sad reality to accept in fighting for something new in a big corporate organization.
While others who face such opposition might just give up and leave the company, end on a bitter note with harsh judgment about “there’s no hope for this company”, the RoadSync team leadership stood strong, held on to hope and faith, and never gave up fighting. Knowing that someday the vision will come true and their efforts will be rewarded. Finally, on August 21 2023, the team finally finally got this much-anticipated feature released. After three years!!
September 8, is the day we planned to celebrate this momentous day. The day we almost had the risk of not being able to do this because of the storm. As fate would have it, Typhoon #12 decided to hit Japan’s kanto region (which is right where we are) the night of September 8 to September 9 😂 We just knew about this the day before the event. Of course by that time, all the preparations have been set—food, drinks, program and everything; so as the organizer and host of this event I personally know it’s going to be really difficult to postpone especially on such a short notice. Thankfully our Product Owner and leader in the team was also confident that the storm will not be so strong and that we could push through with it. And I also held on to this by faith, that the storm will weaken to allow most of us to come and celebrate.
The night before, I prayed really hard… for God to calm the storm, and lead people safely to come to the party. Not knowing who will be able to make it or not, for a second I got worried that, what if there’s only like 10 people or less?! And that the key people are not there?! But God immediately assured me, that, whoever will be able to come will surely come. And these people who brave the weather to come are the ones we’re sure who really want to be there and celebrate this day, hearts united. So with that I surrendered my worries and focused on the preparations as planned.
Then the day of the event came… from 2 people, to 4… 8… and by the time we started there were 20 of us, followed by 5 more people. We were 25 people strong that day. Less people than expected because of the unforeseen circumstances, but as God assured me, the people who are there are those who really want to be there and celebrate this day. And we don’t focus on the people who are not there, but instead those who are there. What’s amazing is that, the key people in the team and this milestone were there in the event! And I also became all the more thankful for the people who chose to come and attend despite the weather.
Despite the little scare we had the day and even hours before the event, we had a wonderful celebration with all those who were there, and even celebrated everyone involved in the milestone including those who were not there with us. It was such a special occasion for both Honda and Drivemode, as we celebrated not just the successful release of the Turn-by-Turn feature but also the Digital Transformation efforts in Honda with Drivemode. Made all the more memorable thanks to the typhoon scare haha! Trials and suffering make achievements sweeter indeed, brought by the bonds forged because of this shared journey.
As Helen Keller also said,
Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.
One of the songs played multiple times during the event was『何度でも』 by DREAMS COME TRUE, which is such a fitting theme song to describe the journey of this team
前を向いてしがみついて
I’ll stay positive and hold on
胸掻きむしってあきらめないで叫べ！
I’ll bang my chest — and not give up — and shout!10000回だめで望みなくなっても
Even if I fail 10,000 times, and there’s no hope in sight
10001回目は来る
The 10,001st time’ll come
Indeed, no rejection and storm will stop this team from dreaming the impossible, from reaching their dreams. So proud of this team!
