Playbooks

Field notes argue one idea at a time, and the field guide maps a territory. A playbook is the runnable layer: the moves for one recurring leadership situation, specific enough to run this week. Each one gives you the default play, scripts you can adapt, the failure modes with fixes, and the variations that matter.

They're written for humans first, and structured so an AI agent pointed at any page can use it too. Every playbook is free, as a page and as a PDF, no email required.

Playbooks

Playbook

The 1:1 Playbook

A complete playbook for weekly 1:1s: the default structure, scripts for announcing and running them, failure modes with fixes, and remote and AI-era variations.

Read the playbook →

THE TEAM CYCLE · PLAYBOOK FAMILY

Four ceremonies, one loop. Plan the work, run the day, show the work, then look at how the work went.

Playbook

The Planning Playbook

Most teams go through the motions in sprint planning, pulling stories in with little discussion or simply getting handed a list of what's in the sprint and told to start.

Read the playbook →
Playbook

The Standup Playbook

Most standups have become status meetings where everyone takes a turn, says what they did yesterday and what they're doing today, and the meeting ends with the same work sitting in the same place, all about the people and not the work.

Read the playbook →
Playbook

The Review Playbook

A complete playbook for the review: how it differs from the demo, scripts for converting and running one, failure modes with fixes, and AI-era variations.

Read the playbook →

Feedback · Playbook Family

One discipline, three directions. Take one, or the whole set.

See the family →

Templates

A template is the fill-in layer: a document your team completes together, once, and keeps. A playbook you read and run; a template you sit down and fill in.

AI-NATIVE OPERATING DOCUMENTS · TEMPLATE FAMILY

Five documents for running agents in real work: the checklist before a rollout, the standards while it runs, and the plan for when something breaks.

BUYING COACHING · TEMPLATE FAMILY

Three templates for someone deciding to hire a coach, in the order they get used: choose the coach, agree the terms, then check whether it's working.

One-pager

The Coach Evaluation Sheet

A one-page sheet for choosing a coach: the kind of help you need, what to ask on the fit call, what to expect stance by stance, and the self-check that tells you afterward whether it is working.

Read the one-pager
Checklist

The Coaching Agreement Checklist

A one-page checklist for what to settle in writing before session one: goals, confidentiality and its limits, the three-way agreement when an employer pays, fees, how either side ends it, and which roles the coach may occupy.

Read the checklist
See the whole set →

Kits

A kit is a guided route through the playbooks and templates for one situation.

This shelf grows. New playbooks are added as they clear review.