Productivity Optimization Sessions

Want more productive workshops? Try stopping them sooner. Workshops often lock people in a room for two or three hours and expect them to do their best thinking on demand. Do we really have to hold people hostage to be productive? Lately, I’ve been using a technique I call "Echo Sessions." Instead of forcing deep work to happen in real time, we kickstart an activity, get clarity, but then stop just as people are getting into it. That pause is intentional. It’s based on the same principle as the Pomodoro technique—when you leave something unfinished while still feeling engaged, you'll find it easy to return to it later and give it space to percolate. Instead of dragging out a long workshop, I schedule an Echo Session later—often in the same day—where everyone brings their independent or small group work back for discussion, iteration, and action. Why does this work? ✅ Encourages Deep Work – People get time to think, research, or create in their own way, rather than being forced into artificial collaboration. ✅ Optimizes Meeting Time – Workshops should be for shared understanding, decision-making, and iteration—not for quiet focus time. ✅ Respects Different Work Styles – Some need time to walk and think. Others need to sketch. Some want to research or tap into AI. Echo Sessions give people time and space to work in the way that’s best for them. ✅ Creates Natural Momentum – Stopping at a high-energy moment makes people want to continue later, giving them space to create, rather than leaving them drained from a marathon session. ✅ Reduces Calendar Lockdowns – Instead of monopolizing hours at a time, work is distributed more effectively and meetings are only used when necessary. Most importantly, this approach treats participants like adults. It gives them flexibility and agency while ensuring that meetings serve a clear, valuable purpose. We don’t need long workshops. We need better workshops. Curious—how do you approach workshop fatigue? Would this work in your team?

Your meetings don't make you productive. Your back-to-back calls won't build great products. While scaling Caisy from 0 to enterprise clients, I discovered something powerful: Deep focus beats shallow productivity. Here are 6 traits that high-performing teams exhibit: 👁️ Protected focus time -> No meetings. No Slack. Just pure creation. 💪 Async-first culture -> Default to written updates over meetings. 💥 Clear priorities -> One main goal per week, not 10 scattered tasks. 🤲 Trust in outcomes -> Judge results, not hours worked. 🗣️ Strategic Silence -> Normalise quiet time for deep work. 🤝 Intentional collaboration -> Every meeting must have clear action items. Want to elevate your team's output? These 4 proven methods are your starting point: 1. Deep Work Blocks ↳ 90-minute focused sessions ↳ No distractions, no exceptions 2. Meeting Detox ↳ Cut meetings by 50% ↳ Replace with async updates 3. Energy Management ↳ Match complex tasks to peak hours ↳ Save admin work for low-energy times 4. Output Metrics ↳ Track impact, not activity ↳ Celebrate meaningful progress Your calendar isn't a magic wand. It won't make you productive if you're not intentional. Put these methods into action, and watch your team's creativity soar. Which method resonates most with you? Let me know in the comments ⬇️ #Productivity #Leadership #DeepWork

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 “𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗗𝗼” About 20 years ago I was leading a merger of two technology companies, Prescient Systems (a company I founded) and viaLink. I distinctly remember a 1:1 I had with Karen Sickles 👋 , one of our most valuable directors. She was drowning in responsibilities as our teams integrated. Instead of adding more structure or resources, we did something counterintuitive. We stood in front of her whiteboard and methodically listed everything she would 𝗦𝗧𝗢𝗣 doing. This wasn't about shirking responsibilities – it was about creating clarity through elimination. The relief on Karen's face was immediate. By the end of our session, she had a manageable focus and could apply her considerable talents to what truly mattered during our critical integration phase. I didn't know it at the time, but what we conducted was what authors Robert Sutton and Huggy Rao would later call a "subtraction session" in their book "The Friction Project." 𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗴𝘂𝗲, 𝗱𝗼𝗻'𝘁 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺𝘀 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝗱𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 – 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽 𝗱𝗲𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼. This principle works because: • It creates bandwidth for high-value activities • It reduces cognitive overload and decision fatigue • It prevents the default organizational tendency to keep adding without removing • It builds clarity when teams feel overwhelmed Two decades later, I'm convinced this remains one of the most underutilized leadership practices. 𝗜𝗻 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗹𝗱 𝗼𝗯𝘀𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗮𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗰 𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹. What's one regular activity you could eliminate that would free you to focus on higher-value work? Or if you're a leader, when's the last time you helped your team decide what to stop doing? #Leadership #Productivity #OrganizationalEffectiveness #TheFrictionProject

I fired my time management system. Revenue went up 571%. Year 2 at AppSumo: • Color-coded calendar • Time-blocked to the minute • Every productivity app installed Result: $7M revenue, working 60-hour weeks, dead by Friday. Year 5 at AppSumo: • Tracked my energy instead • Deleted half my meetings • No calls before noon Result: $50M+ revenue, working 40-hour weeks, energized on weekends. The difference wasn't time. It was energy. I discovered something tracking my energy hourly for 90 days: • 9-11am: Strategic genius mode (worth $10k/hour) • 11-1pm: Barely functional human (worth $100/hour) • Post-workout: Second wind that lasted 3 hours Yet I was scheduling catch up calls at 9am and deep work at 3pm. Backwards. Expensive. Stupid. So I replaced time management with something better. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐠𝐲 𝐀𝐮𝐝𝐢𝐭 (𝐝𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰): 1. Track your energy 1-10 every hour for one week (use a spreadsheet) 2. Find your genius windows (8+ energy) 3. Find your zombie zones (4 or below) 4. Redesign your calendar around your energy levels 𝐌𝐲 𝐧𝐨𝐧-𝐧𝐞𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐢𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐰: • No meetings before noon • Deep work only in genius windows • Workout at noon to create afternoon energy • Kill any recurring meeting that drains more than it delivers The most productive CEOs I know have MORE blank space on their calendars. Because they understand: You can always find more time. You can't manufacture more energy. One bad 9am status meeting costs more than missing a whole day of work. That "quick sync" just stole your most valuable thinking time. That afternoon deep work session? You're operating at 20% capacity. While everyone else optimizes their calendar... Optimize your energy. Cancel your worst recurring meeting this week. Put deep work in your genius window instead. Watch what happens. See you at $100M 🤝

One of the best things to ever come out of my time at CMB was a new approach to focus time. Because we had a four day work week (I know that’ll be tough to beat at my next job), we were hyper vigilant about eliminating unnecessary meetings and protecting focus time. In order to ensure I could actually meet my deadlines and enjoy the coveted three-day weekend, I had to figure out how to optimize my focus time. Starting a new task never came easy to me. I always felt daunted by the uncertainty of it – not knowing where to start, worrying about perfectionism. Luckily, I found the pomodoro method. 25 minutes on, 5 minutes on. Honestly, tracking my focus time felt incredibly liberating. Instead of committing to work for an uncertain amount of time, starting off with 25 minutes at a time felt way more approachable. I also found that tracking my focus time over the course of weeks and months took away from my anxiety of feeling like I wasn’t being “productive enough.” I could see it plain as day that I was putting in the time. And like any good marketer, the tracking gave me benchmarks that I could strive to beat. How could I optimize my work week further to get in more focus time? What were things I was spending on time on that wasn’t worth it? The pomodoro method is famous. But there are many different tools that you can use to implement the method. Personally, I recommend session: https://lnkd.in/gxK683ie I love the in depth analytics it provides of how your focus time is being spent and how it’s trending WoW, MoM, etc. And better yet, when you’re in focus time, it automatically puts your notifications into “do not disturb” mode. And yes, I used session to force myself to eke out this post. What are some productivity hacks you’ve used to make the most of your time?