How I Work

My approach to work, tools, and collaboration

My Approach

I optimize for leverage and iteration speed. That means:

  • Written-first communication: Async by default, meetings when necessary
  • Small, frequent decisions: Ship, learn, adjust—don't wait for perfect information
  • AI as teammate: Claude helps me think, write, code, and review
  • Focus time: Deep work in long blocks, shallow work in batches
  • Radical transparency: Share context widely, make decisions visible

I believe the best work happens when people have autonomy, context, and clear goals. My job as a leader is to provide those conditions.

Tools I Use

Daily Drivers

  • Claude (Anthropic): Code, writing, brainstorming, decision-making partner
  • Windsurf: AI-native IDE for agentic development
  • Augment: AI code assistant
  • Warp: AI-powered terminal
  • Goose: Autonomous coding agent
  • Linear: Project management using TkDD (Ticket Driven Development)
  • Slack: Real-time communication (sparingly)

AI Development

  • Anthropic Claude: Primary LLM for development and product features
  • claude-mpm: Multi-agent project manager for agentic development
  • LangChain: Orchestration for multi-step AI workflows
  • Kuzu: Graph database for structured knowledge
  • MCP Vector Search: Semantic search for RAG systems

Workflow

Code & Ship

  1. Define outcome: What does success look like?
  2. Break it down: Smallest shippable increments
  3. Ship fast: Get to production quickly
  4. Measure: Did it work? What did we learn?
  5. Iterate: Adjust based on real data

Decision-Making

I use written decision docs for important choices:

  • Context: What's the situation?
  • Options: What are the alternatives?
  • Recommendation: What should we do?
  • Reasoning: Why this option?
  • Risks: What could go wrong?

Write the doc, share for feedback, decide, move forward.

Communication Preferences

Async First

  • Write it down: If it's important, it should be written
  • Default to public: Share in channels, not DMs (unless truly private)
  • No urgent DMs: If it's urgent, it's probably not a DM—it's an incident

Response Times

  • Slack: Hours, not minutes (I batch check)
  • Email: 24-48 hours
  • Urgent issues: Phone/text for true emergencies
  • Meeting requests: Prefer calendar invites with agenda

Meetings

I believe in intentional meetings:

  • Start on time, end on time
  • Record when possible for those who can't attend—and as agentic workflows mature, these recordings become fuel for async knowledge sharing and contributions to the corporate knowledge base

Management Philosophy

People Stuff

  • 1:1s weekly: Your time, your agenda
  • Feedback fast: Don't wait for reviews—give feedback in the moment
  • Career growth: I'll help you get better at what you want to be better at
  • Skip levels: I talk to everyone, not just my directs

Team Stuff

  • Own your domain: You're the expert, make the call
  • Document decisions: Write it down so others can understand
  • Ship to learn: Perfect is the enemy of shipped
  • Help each other: Code review, pairing, mentoring—make time for it

Org Design

Where possible I use the Reverse Conway Maneuver to transition architectures. Conway's Law says organizations design systems that mirror their communication structure. I flip this: when reorganizing, I start with the target architecture and design the team structure to produce it. Want better systems? Design the org to build them.

Work-Life Balance

I believe in sustainable pace:

  • Work hard when you're working, rest when you're resting
  • If I message you outside your work hours and don't say it's urgent, assume it's not—respond when you're back
  • Time off is sacred—take it, enjoy it
  • Family and health come first