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Productivity

Title card reading Brag document, a copyable template and how to keep one, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

Brag Document: Template and How to Keep One

What a brag document is and why it works, a copyable Markdown brag doc template with a worked example, how often to update it, and how to turn it into a self-evaluation or promotion case.

Title card reading How to write a self-evaluation, gather the evidence first, then write it, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

How to Write a Self-Evaluation (With Examples)

A step-by-step method for writing a self-evaluation: gather the year's evidence first, follow the review form, write accomplishments as outcomes, name growth areas and goals, plus phrasing do's and don'ts and how managers read it.

Title card reading Self-evaluation examples for a performance review, section by section, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

Self-Evaluation Examples for a Performance Review

Copy-and-adapt self-evaluation examples for each section a performance review form asks for: accomplishments, goals met and missed, competencies, growth, next-period goals and manager comments, plus a filled-in sample.

Title card reading Standup meeting, a 15-minute agenda, better questions and an async version, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

Standup Meeting: Format, Agenda and an Async Version

What a standup meeting is, a 15-minute agenda with timeboxes, better formats than the three questions, facilitation rules, remote and time-zone setups, an async standup template, and what a standup costs.

Title card reading Async communication, a practical guide for remote and hybrid teams, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

Async Communication: A Guide for Remote and Hybrid Teams

What async communication is, how it differs from sync, when it fails and you need a call, the norms that make it work, three copy-paste templates and tools by job, plus how to keep progress visible without surveillance.

Title card reading How to work remotely, what to change in your first weeks: setup, async, written updates and focus, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

How to Work Remotely: What to Change in Your First Weeks

New to working from home? The changes that make remote work actually work in the first weeks: setup and boundaries, async habits, written updates instead of presence, focus, switching off, staying connected and a trial that stays approved.

Title card reading The presence tax: what being seen at work costs, about 126 hours a year for a US hybrid worker, on the DoneThat blog.
Don

The Presence Tax: What It Costs to Be Seen Working

The presence tax is the time, money and energy spent being seen working instead of doing the work. For a typical US hybrid worker, the commute alone costs about 126 hours and $900 a year. The method, the range and how to cut it.

A packed meeting calendar beside a blank progress record, showing that occupancy is not the same as visible work.
Don

Async Work Only Works If People Can See Progress

Async work is not fewer Zoom calls. It fails when the only shared artifact is a calendar or a standup. The teams that make it work keep a cheap, durable progress signal: writing, hill charts, Friday shipped notes.

A calendar grid fading into a trail of task-switch marks, showing planned meeting blocks versus the work that actually happened.
Don

Trace the Work. Calendars Are Not a Log.

Rahul Vohra found 6-7% of his week on craft work a calendar would never have shown. A calendar is intention. A switch log is the trail. Microsoft telemetry explains the gap, and memory is not a backup.

A reconstructed week from memory set beside a contemporaneous time log, with recruiting and strategy shares that do not match.
Don

Why You Cannot Categorize Time From Memory

Reconstructing how you spent a week from memory or a calendar fails. Sam Corcos logged 17,784 hours and still would have put recruiting at 20% instead of 3%. Contemporaneous logs plus a small category set is the practice.