The Journal
Productivity, planning, and building a remote team culture that lasts.
The Check-Out Meeting: The One Thing to Do With Your Remote Team Every Week
A simple weekly habit that helped my remote team communicate better, trust each other more, and, genuinely, look forward to a meeting.
Read the article
The case
Money Isn't the Motivator
At most jobs, what is your reward for finishing early? More work. We built that, and we can unbuild it.
Run the cycle
The End-of-Cycle Celebration
Trigger, action, reward. Companies build the first two and skip the third entirely.
Plan the year
The Cycle Calendar
Six cycles a year, one per two-month block. Where they land, and why.
Run the cycle
Run Your Team at Seventy Percent
A train at full speed cannot recover from anything. Neither can a team.
Plan the cycle
Where Six-Week Cycles Came From
I did not invent this. I heard it in a room at Basecamp's Chicago office and took it home the same week.
Plan the cycle
What to Actually Do in the Two Weeks Off
Not a holiday. Not a cooldown for bugs. The part everyone gives away first.
Plan the cycle
Six-Week Cycles for a Business of One
Most of the method gets easier alone. One part gets much harder.
Plan the cycle
How to Name a Cycle
Five minutes, no cost, and the reason my team can say "before Medellín" and everyone knows what it means.
Run the cycle
What to Do When a Cycle Goes Wrong
My first three cycles all failed. The third was the funniest, and it is why I can tell you this honestly.
Run the cycle
How to Tell Clients You Work in Cycles
The first objection everyone raises, usually before they have finished hearing what a cycle is.
Plan the cycle
How to Build Your First Cycle Sheet
The sheet is where a six-week plan actually lives. Set it up without overthinking it.
Run the cycle
The Monday Check-In Meeting
Five questions, thirty minutes, one week ahead. The meeting that stops Thursday being a surprise.
Plan the cycle
Six-Week Cycles vs Sprints vs Quarters
Four rhythms that look similar on a calendar and are built for completely different jobs.
Plan the cycle
Plan Six Hours, Not Eight
An eight hour day holds about six hours of plannable work. One engineer's forty hour week was really fifteen.
Plan the cycle
The Brain Dump
Four hours, a wall, and everything you have been carrying around. The seven steps.
Plan the cycle
The "And Then?" Game
One question, asked over and over, turns a hopeful estimate into a real one.
Plan the cycle
Why I Do Not Let AI Plan My Cycles
A model will write you a six-week plan in four seconds. That is exactly the problem.
Productivity
Joe Martin's Method for Improved Productivity at Home
Plan your time before you spend it. The video, the free sheet, and what people said when they tried it.
Meetings
This One Tactic Will Help You Have Fewer Zoom Meetings
One question, asked before you send the invite, deletes half the meetings from your calendar.
Leadership
Time Is the Most Undervalued Bonus
The most valuable thing a business can give people isn't a paycheck. It's their time back.
Planning
A Clever Planning Sheet to Make Your Life Easier
See how many hours of real work you have signed up for, before the week starts. Plus a free copy of the sheet.
Future of Work
Your Job Shouldn't Cost Your Life. It Should Help You Live It.
Work doesn't have to feel like a sacrifice. It can be the thing that helps people live.
Future of Work
The Hidden Cost of 9-to-5
How work is holding us back from living, and why businesses have the power to change it.
A weekly note from me, all year.
One note a week on planning, scoping, and protecting your time, written about the cycle I am actually in. It comes with the book, the cycle sheet templates, the meeting agendas, and the calendar.
$49 for a year of everything.
See what you get