KoXmO – the story of a name
Some names are invented as “branding”. Others just appear by accident… and then simply refuse to leave.
“KoXmO” belongs to the second kind.
I’ve been using it since my teenage years – so long ago that if I said the exact year, it would sound like “the internet before the internet”.
I started out as “mad_moster”. Then came mIRC, the first local networks, and that moment when you realise your name is no longer unique – it’s just one of many.
I wasn’t looking for a statement. I was looking for a nick that was “mine”.
There’s one small detail that still amuses me to this day: KoXmO started as a “typo” – but a “deliberate” one.
I saw the “mistake” and thought: “that sounds right.” And more importantly – I didn’t want anyone to easily guess where the association came from. Let it stay as a small internal reference, not obvious to everyone.
At first it was just a gaming identity with a hidden meaning – hidden mostly because “I wanted it to stay hidden”.
And so it remained for a while: a name that carries character, without trying to carry meaning.
Version 1: the nick
In those years you don’t think about “personal brand”. You think about how your name looks on the list.
KoXmO was strange in exactly the right way.
– it didn’t sound like a surname
– it didn’t sound like a word
– and it didn’t sound like the nick of another 200 people
It had rhythm. It had shape. And most importantly – it had space. It could grow into whatever it needed to become.
Version 2: Knight of eXcess, Master of Overthinking
Then came the period when KoXmO started to resemble me.
Before university, still in technical college, in the final year, I’d stay up late programming – those evenings when “just let me finish this” turns into “why is it already morning”.
And we played Heroes III with friends. Not just “to pass the time”, but as something that taught us to think. Over time, it started to feel like there were longer-term goals taking shape – and that we were learning from each other.
At university, KoXmO had another meaning too (the friends from back then know it). I’ll leave that detail as it is – not as a pose, but because some things work better when you don’t tell them all the way to the end.
This wasn’t just a game. Not for me.
While others played move by move, I played “systems”. I conserved resources, calculated movement, thought two or three battles ahead. Sometimes I lost precisely because I thought too much. Sometimes I won for exactly the same reason.
Somewhere in there, KoXmO found its first real reading that felt honest to me:
> “KoXmO – Knight of eXcess, Master of Overthinking”
It was self-irony, but also self-knowledge.
“Knight”, because in strategy games there’s always a moment when you enter a battle without being fully certain.
“eXcess”, because back then everything was in excess – time, ideas, ambitions, late nights, conversations, plans. The word might not be the “perfect” one, but the feeling was exactly that.
“Overthinking”, because I found it hard to accept that sometimes the right move isn’t the smartest one, but the most navigational one. I still carry that trait today – sometimes it’s a strength, sometimes it’s a stumbling block.
(The relationship between “100%” and “most effective” is something I’ll write about separately – there’s a whole story there.)
And yet – or perhaps because of all this – that period was a form of education. Unofficial, but real.
Version 3: Knowledge of eXceptions, meaning in Outcomes
There comes a moment when overthinking stops being a game.
When you start writing code that “someone actually uses”, things change.
Then it no longer matters whether the solution is “elegant”. What matters is whether it’s “sustainable”.
And whether it survives not when everything is fine, but when:
– someone does something unexpected
– someone submits the wrong data
– someone hits “back”, “refresh”, “again”, “one more time”
– and life behaves like life
At that point you start to understand that the real lessons aren’t in the rules – they’re in the exceptions.
That’s when KoXmO started to mean something quieter and more serious:
> “KoXmO – Knowledge of eXceptions, meaning in Outcomes”
“Knowledge”, because you’re no longer just collecting information. You’re collecting experience.
And there’s an irony that’s hard to explain until you’ve lived it: sometimes precisely “more knowledge” leads you back to “more overthinking”. The difference is that now you know “why” you think so much – and what you’re actually looking for in that thinking.
“Exceptions”, because that’s where you can see whether you think systemically.
“Outcomes”, because intentions are cheap. Results are not.
And perhaps most importantly: you start measuring meaning not by how good something looks, but by “what it leaves behind”.
Version 4: Knowledge of eXceptions, managing Outcomes
After a while, the next shift arrives.
Code remains important, but it’s no longer the only arena.
Projects appear. Teams. Partnerships. Co-ventures. Decisions that aren’t “does it work” but “is it right for the people who will have to live with this”.
And something else appears: “legal” and “financial” frameworks. Sometimes the most logical technical solution simply isn’t possible – or it isn’t legally sound, or it carries a risk that isn’t visible at first glance.
Here, exceptions aren’t only technical.
Exceptions are:
– when a person breaks under pressure
– when a partnership starts to wobble
– when the context shifts
– when time eats the plan
And at that point, knowing what could happen is no longer enough.
There’s an enormous difference between “seeing” a problem and “seeing it through to the end” – to a solution that works in reality, on paper, within a budget, and within relationships.
And one more difference: resolving something today is one thing, but knowing what the “next uncovered issue” is – the one that will surface tomorrow – that’s a different kind of experience altogether.
That’s exactly why KoXmO here becomes “managing”, not “predicting”.
> “KoXmO – Knowledge of eXceptions, managing Outcomes”
It doesn’t sound romantic. And that’s the good part.
Because maturity rarely sounds romantic.
Maturity sounds like:
– “yes, this is a risk – but it’s an acceptable one”
– “no, this doesn’t need to be perfect”
– “yes, we’ll pay a price – but we know which one”
Version 5: And now?
Lately I catch myself thinking: “does Version 4 still fit me?”
Not because it isn’t true.
But because people change. And sometimes old definitions are like clothes – still yours, but they no longer sit quite the same way.
KoXmO has been a nick. Then a joke. Then a framework.
And maybe now it’s something else.
I’m not in a rush to name it.
Some names are better left slightly mysterious – not for others, but to have room to grow.
And if I have to say the most honest thing I can say at this point, it’s this:
KoXmO still means the same thing – just at different levels.
And it probably will continue to.
– KoXmO