Blog
I worked 80-hour weeks. Now I keep the Sabbath.
I worked myself to burnout at 80 hours a week. The fix wasn't a productivity system – it was one full day of rest, and it made the work better.
Triple your team's productivity with a glossary
More meetings won't fix a team that talks past itself. The fix is a shared language – and if you build software, you already know how to make one.
The Friction Between You and the Work
Most of your week is friction around the few things that actually grow you and your team. A short piece on clearing it — plus a free copy of Calstead.
You Don't Know Their Heart
In conflict we invent stories about people's motives. Assuming the worst rarely makes us kinder, and most slights are imagined. A calmer way to respond.
You're Not the Main Character
Good leaders don't outsource the call to a spreadsheet, a P&L, or an AI trained on someone else's worldview. They do the foundation work first. Here's what
I Got to the Top of the Wall and Couldn't Jump
I climbed thirty-five feet up, looked down, and couldn't make myself jump. What that taught me about the mental work leaders skip before a hard transition.
How I Killed a Startup Idea in an Afternoon for $44
It was a morning in late May, and I was at the desk in my basement office in Springfield with a cold cup of coffee I'd forgotten about, reading about a standard
AI Layoffs Are a Leadership Failure
When companies like Meta and Atlassian cut thousands of people to fund AI bets, it's not innovation — it's a failure of the obligations leaders owe their teams.
Some Expertise Has a Shelf Life
Some skills don't scale. The question is whether you'll adapt—or whether you're building capabilities that actually compound.
The Two Ways to Tell Your Team You're Not Perfect
Remote teams need deliberate vulnerability to build trust. Most leaders know one mode. The second is what makes the difference.
The routine you were actually made for
When the to-do list stress feels bigger than it should, it's usually not about the tasks. On routine, identity, and what we're actually made for.
The week that tells you whether you have a product job
Take a week. Block the calendar. Decline every meeting. One of two things happens—and either outcome tells you exactly what kind of job you have.
Step Zero
Before the linear work of product management begins, there's a step zero – the work of becoming the type of leader your team needs.