Open research and engineering lab
Yes. We’ll figure out how to make it work.
YesWorks turns difficult questions into working systems, and publishes the foundations so others can build on them.
00What YesWorks is
Ideas are where we start. Working systems are what we ship.
01Principles
Three rules we hold every project to.
What we build, who gets to build it, and how we decide whether it worked.
Each project pursues a concrete outcome. It also contributes reusable tools, research and discoveries that the next project starts from.
People join through proposals, experiments and contributions. Credentials help establish expertise. Demonstrated ability, judgment and follow-through matter too.
“The answer is yes” is a commitment to investigate and experiment. It never means pretending every hypothesis will survive testing.
02Classification components
We classify the parts of a project, not just the project.
Each component is described along five dimensions: what it is, how far it has got, who can use it, and which other projects already depend on it.
| Field | Physics, software, hardware, human factors, materials |
|---|---|
| Application | Games, robotics, accessibility, education, aerospace |
| Maturity | Idea, experiment, validated result, working prototype |
| Access | Public, limited collaboration, restricted |
| Dependencies | What it builds on, and which projects can reuse it |
| And on every record | |
| Evidence | The links that back its current maturity claim |
| Owner | A named owner of record who answers for it |
| Review date | When its access classification is next reviewed |
03Maturity
Every component says how far the evidence has got.
We start with yes, then test our assumptions. A component moves up a stage only when the work behind it holds up.
A stated problem and a first hypothesis about how to solve it.
A test designed so that it can fail, with the result written down either way.
The finding holds when someone else checks it.
It runs, others can use it, and it is ready to be built on.
What “open” means here. When we call a component open source, its published parts really are available to use, inspect and improve. Sensitive, application-specific work gets a clear boundary and says so in its access field.
04Take part
Responsibility is earned by the work.
From first contact to leading work, for people with the knowledge, imagination, grit and motivation to take on difficult questions.
Bring a proposal
A difficult question, what a working answer would look like, and which fields it touches.
Run an experiment
Test one assumption behind it. A clean negative result counts as progress.
Contribute a component
Build something another project can reuse, documented well enough that it can.
Take on responsibility
People who show ability, judgment and follow-through lead components and then projects.
Start with an email:
hello@yesworks.comOne flagship project, several public components.
We’ll prove this way of working with results. Our first step is a single flagship project that produces components useful well beyond it. We’ll publish it here when it’s chosen.
Founding statement
YesWorks is an open research and engineering lab for ambitious ideas.
We bring together people with the knowledge, imagination, grit and motivation to turn difficult questions into working systems. Our projects share tools and discoveries across disciplines, making each breakthrough a foundation for the next.