View from the Potting Shed

High-trust teams need less process

Process is useful. It creates structure, makes work visible and helps people coordinate.

But as teams mature and trust grows, some processes become unnecessary. What once provided helpful support can become friction.

Process often compensates for low trust

When trust is low, organisations tend to introduce more controls:

additional approvals
detailed status reports
frequent progress checks
rigid handovers
rules designed around exceptional failures

These may provide reassurance, but they also slow decisions and reduce autonomy. Over time, people may focus more on satisfying the process than achieving the outcome.

Some project outcomes must be discovered, not defined

Cynefin can help us manage uncertain projects in GTD.

One of the most useful practices in Getting Things Done is defining a successful outcome for each project.

What will be true when this is finished?

For many projects, the answer is reasonably clear:

Submit my tax return
Replace the broken washing machine
Publish the new website
Book accommodation for the holiday

A clear outcome helps us decide what ‘done’ means. It also makes choosing the next action much easier.

But the Cynefin framework reminds us that not every situation offers that degree of certainty.

Recovery is part of the rhythm: how to rest without guilt

Sustainable productivity needs a rhythm of effort and recovery.

That can be easy to accept in principle but much harder to practise. When we pause, we may feel guilty that we are not doing something more productive.

Learning to honour recovery means recognising that it is not a reward for finishing everything. It is part of how we remain able to continue.

Beyond consistency: why sustainable productivity needs rhythm

Consistency is often treated as the secret to productivity: show up every day, maintain the routine and keep the streak going.

But consistency can become unhelpful when we interpret it as doing the same amount, at the same intensity, every day.

In this short post, I explore why sustainable productivity is less about maintaining a constant pace and more about finding a healthy rhythm between effort and recovery.

Batch-convert Microsoft Publisher files to PDF before Publisher disappears in October 2026

Microsoft has announced that support for Microsoft Publisher ends on 1 October 2026, and Microsoft 365 subscribers will lose access to the application at that time.

I’ve accumulated around 850 Microsoft Publisher (.pub) files over the years. While I no longer use Publisher for new work, I didn’t want to lose the ability to view or print those documents once Publisher disappeared.

To solve the problem, I developed a simple PowerShell script that automates Microsoft Publisher’s own PDF export.

I’ve shared it in a GitHub repo for anyone who needs to do the same.