Geoff Schultz

How I work, including the parts I'm bad at.

Revised August 2026 · fourth revision

  1. 01

    Name the goal before touching anything.

    Most disagreements are two people optimising for different unstated outcomes.

  2. 02

    Ask what to remove before asking who to hire.

    Adding is visible and rewarded. Removing is invisible, which is why it stays undone.

  3. 03

    Write down the decision, not the process.

    Handbooks rot. Five lines about why we chose this survive.

  4. 04

    I take on too much at once.

    Told to me in a performance review in 2024 and it was accurate. I finish things now, I just start more than I can finish at the same time.

  5. 05

    I work measurably better with a partner.

    Every good stretch I have had involved someone else in the room. Every stall involved working alone.