my digital twin situation / #7
on doppelgängers, systems that fail, and the frameworks we forget to question
There's another me out there.
Well, not me-me — but someone who shares my first name, and who’s accidentally using my email for their DoorDash account.
Or at least, I assume it’s a simple human error, because these emails are being sent to [firstname+initial]@[provider.com], and it isn’t the first time someone (maybe her?) has made this mix-up on other platforms.
Almost weekly, I receive a dispatch from somewhere in Orlando, FL, like an unintentional subscription to a life I’m not living. Each email gives me small data points that help me to piece the tiniest parts of their life:
Panera Bread seems to be a recurring favorite
There are other lunch and dinner orders, and one rather concerning Walgreens order at 1:30am
The steady stream of dog treats suggests that there is a dog being thoroughly spoiled
It's oddly fascinating to speculate.
What choices led this other Jalyn to Florida? Did they grow up there? Or did they choose the sunshine state for its weather or something else?
What keeps them up at those hours, ordering emergency groceries when most of that part of the world is asleep?
Do they ever wonder why they’re not getting email notifications, while their app continues to work?
And is their dog the best boy or girl? (I bet.)
When systems work… until they don’t
Technically, nothing is broken here.
The email and account creation flows are working exactly as intended. I can’t login using my email — the system does need a validation from the phone number instead, and that’s what actually matters.
The designer in me wonders if this was an intentional decision:
Maybe the team mapped out the perfect user journey: download app, create account, enter details, verify number, order food, enjoy
Maybe the team spent sprints debating whether email validation is really necessary
And maybe the product manager won the argument. Less clicks equals more completions! I can almost hear it now
After all, as long as the phone number is verified and tied to the human, the system assumes everything else must be fine.
A perfectly reasonable assumption… until it isn’t.
And now, I have a digital twin who has no idea I exist, and I’m getting promo codes for cravings I don’t have.
A system doesn’t have to be broken to be failing you.
It functions on a set of (very human) default assumptions, leaning heavily on each other, and designed and built to keep running and making sense — until it isn’t.
For me, that moment wasn’t a single crisis. There was no dramatic system crash, or a blue screen of death for my career — though there are some contenders for the straw that broke the camel’s back!
The corporate system isn’t broken — wait, okay, well, I don’t want to get into late-stage capitalism and politics and all that here; you know what I mean.
Anyway, let’s just say the corporate system is working exactly as intended.
Projects, performance reviews, promotions; a gamified experience upwards and sometimes sideways, sliding along like a well-oiled machine.
These default assumptions shape our paths quietly, creating frameworks so familiar that we forget they’re there.
Like my digital twin, receiving orders perfectly, assuming the system is working but with a whole component missing.
Like me, climbing the corporate ladder without questioning if it was leaning against the right wall.
I wonder what other default settings I've never thought to question.
(And if you’re somehow reading this, other Jalyn, please update your email! I enjoyed making up these little tales in my head, but you and your dog deserve to use the promo codes.)
Other things
Got a continuous glucose monitor (cgm, as the cool kids call it) for the next week, so I’m really excited to experiment!
The subtitle for that edition is going to be (or: how I’m eating desserts and calling it Science™️)
But for real: I want to test variables in fasting, timing, sleep, caffeine, and relaxation, and if apple cider vinegar really is a magic drug in lowering the glucose curve as some creators will have us believe 😂
My last day of work is tomorrow; I’ve just dropped off my laptop and sent out the last batch of farewell notes, and it’s been a real maelstrom of emotions — all conflicting, all simultaneous; all real.
Until next time,
J