Doing the Work Became Only Part of the Job
Communication, status, time, context, and coordination migrated onto individual workers. We began calling the accumulation productivity—even as it consumed the time people needed to produce.
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Ideas for a better way to work.
Essays about coordination, leadership, time, human capability, and the consequential choices behind Cards.
The System Should Work for People
Why software should reduce the burden surrounding work without taking away human judgment, agency, or dignity.
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Why People Hate Tracking Their Time
Timesheets are treated as a discipline problem. More often, they are a system-design problem that asks people to continually interrupt the work in order to report that they were working.
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Accountability Should Flow Both Ways
Before leaders hold someone accountable for an outcome, they should be able to see—and answer for—the context, constraints, resources, and decisions surrounding the work.
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The Difference Between Clarity and Control
Removing ambiguity does not require removing agency. In fact, the clearest systems create more room for people to exercise judgment—not less.
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What AI Should Never Decide About a Person
AI can surface facts, summarize a record, and ask better questions. It should not become an unaccountable participant making judgments about someone’s motives, competence, or character.
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Cards is working with leaders and teams who want to coordinate real work without surveillance, manufactured pressure, or administrative drag.