Jim Benson (OurFounder)

Generates power, has great lighting, and never loses suction.

Whether You Like It or Not, You're Becoming a Solopreneur AI / Remote Work / Job Insecurity / The Gig Economy are All a Pattern

AI, layoffs, and increasing confusion about where and how people work is creating a new type of worker: a Newpreneur. No one is prepared for this.

And you are likely one right now or will be so in the next 24 months.

View the full article here: humanework.substack.com/p/whether-yo...

There's so many that we ended up doing impromptu over the years, based on the needs of the team.

It's hard to believe we ever thought kanban was about workflow alone.

Modus Institute / Humane Work · Events Calendar View and subscribe to events from Modus Institute / Humane Work on Luma.

The activities we've come up with for the Kanban Evolved workshops are so fun, the conversations so deep. I love my job.

You haven't done kanban for real before you've addressed this stuff. lu.ma/modus?k=c

Personal Kanban Evolved 3: Build Your Workspace · Zoom · Luma Build Your Workspace: Making Your Work Actually Work A Kanban Evolved Workshop The myth of hybrid work: it's about managing two locations. The reality? It's…

luma is a wonderful app that does just what it is supposed to do and ... almost nothing else.

lu.ma/t495qtrj

Leaning on and with Each Other Lessons from Our Toxic Waste & Overload Calls

We can design our companies, our rewards, our workflows, our values in ways that don't hinder people's innate creativity, drive, and professionalism.

Article is here... humanework.substack.com/p/leaning-on...

If you are a leader or aspiring there are common mistakes we all make in the interest of decisiveness or getting things done quickly that have costly implications. In our Toxic Waste and Overload classes, we create strategies to create healthy work and constructively respond when things aren't good.

Useful but Flawed AI is a sharp kitchen knife in a world of shaky hands

It's time to start looking at the practical applications of AI and lose the hype.

humanework.substack.com/p/useful-but...

You and I operate with our own internally flawed models, just like AI is a flawed model. The difference is we’ve had a lifetime of understanding or at least coping with our own flaws. Our use of AI? We take it’s correctness for granted and laugh off the errors…to our shared detriment.

When we create space for people to effortlessly achieve their goals, when we create features that help people get over common hurdles, and when we do these things is a way that lets people build even better worlds inside what we’ve done… then we are leaders.

humanework.substack.com/p/on-the-ech...

My Sundays with Saarinen Exploring the Flow of Design and Human Connection

So, as the next 40 posts go by talking about AI … take some time a read Tonianne DeMaria’s piece about why we do things in the first place, how we do them, and with whom … told through the lens of a camera and the palette of architecture.

It's here: humanework.substack.com/p/sundays-se...

Your most used spaces have connection. Your favorite people have connection. Your favorite food, movies, scents, books…

As humans we connect and we get work done. We connect and we create. We connect and we relax. We connect.

My Sundays with Saarinen Exploring the Flow of Design and Human Connection

And we rarely realize. our work does as well. What we write, build, put out into the world, impacts other people. And that’s what Toni’s post is about. Her father, the TWA terminal at JFK, the design of furniture, and how we work, all combined into one post.

humanework.substack.com/p/sundays-se...

When we are with people. Family, co-workers, people on airplanes, … people… we impact each other. In little ways, in large ways.

We build, very quickly actually, shared languages. We measure temperament, current state, humor, shared observations. And then we impact and are impacted.

We are all silos from time to time. This doesn't mean we are focused team members getting our individual work done, it means we are stuck, alone, frustrated, and underinformed.

And we say, Oh Damn, I'm a Silo.

See the results of an awesome conversation here: humanework.substack.com/p/oh-damn-im...

We’ve made a series of fun, advanced Personal Kanban workshops through August if you are ready to hear some stories, have some fun, and move to the next level.

They are also affordable because, we could all use affordable right now.

Come join Toni and me here:

www.tickettailor.com/events/modus...

We’ve been working with people and their workload, for a long time, and with a lot of people. A…lot.

Talking about how we work, how we think, how we solve problems, how we undo the stress.

7 Steps to Build a Workspace Where Everyone Gets What They Need Stop failing at continuous improvement

It is still work, but the work is understanding what you need and not what someone else is telling you to do.

humanework.substack.com/p/7-steps-to...

Seriously, visualizing your work, creating a team space where we can get real work done (and talk about talking about it less), and keeping everyone moving is easier than we think.

#lean #leanthinking #personalkanban #kanban #obeya #visualmanagement #productivity

Telling people to calm down or not be afraid is not effective.

This is a short piece on how to create a system that reduces worry, fear, and doubt.

At work, at home, at anywhere.

humanework.substack.com/p/saying-no-...

Perfection Paralysis – Drag & Flow 02 Working with Neurodiversity Visually

Here is how one team created a way of working that specifically and elegantly leveraged the value of their team members, created better product, and left everyone more professionally fulfilled.

humanework.substack.com/p/perfection...

Neurodiversity is not a problem to solve, it is an asset to promote. There is a tendency in all people to focus on our individual work, for the neurodiverse this can be even more pronounced.

humanework.substack.com/p/perfection...

#neurodiversity #kanban #personalkanban #obeya

So part of you is also like, “I don’t remember saying that.” But you did. And your memory of it isn’t the point.

Your words have a life. You are a writer. You are not the words.

And that’s the day you become a writer. It’s ego poking, it’s humbling, and it’s something that drives you to do better…but you never know what the words are that will move someone.

But then, one day, you are doing a random thing and a person appears and they say, “You know, twenty years ago, you wrote <and then then quote you>. And, it changed so much for me.” Then they tell you how.

The crazy thing about writing is that you put something out there and get some feedback. Then it dies down over time, but the books still sell. Maybe a little, maybe nicely.

Your office hero is a wonderful, talented, necessary single point of failure on the fast track for burnout.

They are the most valuable bottleneck you have. They love being that and they hate it.

Here's how to fix it so everyone wins.

humanework.substack.com/p/the-heros-...

Should I Drag or Should I Flow? The forces that stop productivity and success, and how to combat them.

It's hard to find the root cause. But one thing is clear, drag kills every project, every transformation, every career.

We want to get beyond this. We want to be productive, effective, and professional.

humanework.substack.com/p/should-i-d...

Soon drag causes more drag (a slow team with multiple bottlenecks ends up in meetings to talk about how slow they are which makes them slower).

Drag is anything that stops you from getting the right work done at the right time. Overload, toxicity, bottlenecks, policies, personalities ... can combine to interrupt your flow.