Topic
Operating Systems for Executives
Every senior operator runs on a personal operating system. Most haven't built theirs deliberately, so it works until it doesn't. The ones built deliberately survive the absence of their builder. Operating yourself is its own discipline, and the people who take it seriously do noticeably less flailing.
Start here
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The parts of an executive operating system
Every senior operator has built the middle of the system they need to do their job. The role usually breaks at the input side and the output side.
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The asymmetry between running a company and running yourself
Senior operators build systems for the business and improvise their own week. The cost of that asymmetry shows up the day someone else has to inherit the role.
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What breaks when an executive disappears for three weeks
A week away is a vacation everybody waits through. Three weeks is long enough that the organization has to route around you, and what it fails to route around is the part of your role that doesn't exist as a system.
Sub-threads
All memos
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How to write a decision log
Most decision logs tell you what was decided. The useful ones tell you why, and under what conditions the decision would need to change.
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Operator debt
The backlog of decisions an operator hasn't written down yet, compounding quietly.
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The asymmetry between running a company and running yourself
Senior operators build systems for the business and improvise their own week. The cost of that asymmetry shows up the day someone else has to inherit the role.
-
The parts of an executive operating system
Every senior operator has built the middle of the system they need to do their job. The role usually breaks at the input side and the output side.
-
What breaks when an executive disappears for three weeks
A week away is a vacation everybody waits through. Three weeks is long enough that the organization has to route around you, and what it fails to route around is the part of your role that doesn't exist as a system.
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The information problem of senior roles
Every senior operator is drowning in inputs. The question is less the total volume than the cadence at which each kind should be read.