Field note
Side projects as evidence
The thing you do after the job is often the cleanest data you have.
A side project has a cruel advantage. You chose it after you were tired. That is why Ibarra treats experiments outside the formal role as identity evidence. The evening class, the newsletter, the repaired chair for a neighbor, the bird list: these are votes cast with hours.
They are also easy to romanticize. A project with no audience and no constraint can stay a mood. Give it one witness and one edge: a person who expects the thing, or a date it has to be done. Then notice whether you still want the next one.
On the map, side projects often appear as a bridge between a work station and a making station. That bridge is worth more than another adjective on a résumé. Name the bridge in a sentence with a verb.