CTO Logic

CTO Logic

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
Does your Company have a Think-first Culture?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
User's avatar
Discover more from CTO Logic
Pragmatic, hard-earned advice for professionals at the intersection of software engineering, tech management, leadership, and business.
Over 2,000 subscribers
Already have an account? Sign in

Does your Company have a Think-first Culture?

Itzy Sabo's avatar
Itzy Sabo
Aug 17, 2023
1

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
Does your Company have a Think-first Culture?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

7 reasons to prioritise writing in your company culture:

  • Deeper work

  • Fewer meetings

  • Fewer interruptions

  • Increased productivity

  • Self-sufficient employees

  • High quality decision-making

These are achieved through: 

  • Clear, written communications.

Is your time valuable? So is everyone else's.

💡 Writing-centric organisations cultivate a consciousness that everyone's time is valuable.

By prioritising writing, you prioritise thinking.

Clarity — Requires you to think and organise your thoughts.

Consistency — Writing tells everyone *exactly* the same thing.

Thoroughness — Helps communicate while raising fewer questions.

Being a "writing-first" organisation does not mean writing-only.

But it does mean investing in the written word, wherever possible.

And I don't mean monosyllabic one-liners in Slack!

Writing-first organisations tend to look like this:

📆 Fewer meetings

  • Meetings are focused and productive. 

  • Meetings have written agendas and clear goals.

  • No meetings just for “status updates” that should be emails or group posts instead. 

💥 Fewer interruptions 

  • Read messages and documents at *your* convenience.

  • Give people documents instead of private lessons.

  • You don’t have to answer questions continually.

  • You don't have to wait constantly for answers.

  • Get all the pertinent information in one shot.

👩‍⚖️ Quality decisions

  • Decisions are based on thoughtful analyses and written arguments, rather than heat-of-the-moment emotions, or shoot-from-the-hip ideas.

  • Decisions are written down, along with the rationale behind them. This makes them easier to communicate clearly. (Some might not view that as a good thing, but this also enables decisions to be revisited later. Many times I have wracked my brains why a decision sounded good at the time.)

🤔 Deep Work

  • Fewer meetings + fewer interruptions → Deep Work

  • Deep work in a state of flow is where breakthroughs happen. Every interruption or switch of context requires another 20+ minutes of concentration just to get back in "the zone".

📄 Documented procedures 

  • Procedures are documented, and don't just exist in some people's heads.

  • Everything is searchable and discoverable.

🕺 Independent, self-sufficient employees

  • Well written and comprehensive documentation allows present and future employees to become more self-sufficient, quicker.

  • Knowledge is democratised across the organisation. This is a double-win, because anyone can contribute too.

image.png

Q: Why is this graph exponential and not linear?

A: Because of Aha! moments and breakthroughs that become more common as more people think more deeply, more often.

Things you can do today:

👉 When writing an email or document, consider:

  • How will this piece of writing be used? 

  • What questions might people ask?

  • What are the main takeaways? 

  • Who is the target audience?

  • What is the main goal? 

👉 If appropriate, share an online document in preference to writing everything in an email. 

  • Shared documents are easier to comment on. 

  • Additional participants can be added without having to forward them long email chains. 

  • New employees will automatically gain access.

👉 When scheduling a meeting, share its purpose and agenda.

👉 Reject meeting invitations that don't make these clear.

If you have influence over the systems you use:

👉 Use a shared knowledge management system, e.g. Notion, Nuclino, Confluence, ...

If you have influence over the hiring process:

👉 Test candidates' written communication skills during the recruiting process.


Subscribe to CTO Logic

By Itzy Sabo · Launched 2 years ago
Pragmatic, hard-earned advice for professionals at the intersection of software engineering, tech management, leadership, and business.
Valentin U's avatar
1 Like
1

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
Does your Company have a Think-first Culture?
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
Share

Discussion about this post

User's avatar
How a CTO's Strategic Questions Saved a Startup from Hell
Asking the right business questions prevented a fintech startup from getting trapped in a badly structured partnership deal.
Oct 29, 2024 • 
Itzy Sabo
92

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
How a CTO's Strategic Questions Saved a Startup from Hell
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
3
Web Apps are Native Apps
Why native apps aren't necessarily your best option.
Apr 3, 2024 • 
Itzy Sabo
35

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
Web Apps are Native Apps
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
12
The New CTO's Survival Guide: Rescuing a System at its Breaking Point
You've just stepped into your role as CTO, only to inherit a revenue-generating system that's gasping for air. With 3,000 daily active users pushing the…
Nov 19, 2024 • 
Itzy Sabo
17

Share this post

CTO Logic
CTO Logic
The New CTO's Survival Guide: Rescuing a System at its Breaking Point
Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More
1

Ready for more?

© 2025 Itzy Sabo
Privacy ∙ Terms ∙ Collection notice
Start writingGet the app
Substack is the home for great culture

Share

Copy link
Facebook
Email
Notes
More

Create your profile

User's avatar

Only paid subscribers can comment on this post

Already a paid subscriber? Sign in

Check your email

For your security, we need to re-authenticate you.

Click the link we sent to , or click here to sign in.