The hottest Productivity Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Business Topics

🎮The Power of Play: How Gamification is Revolutionizing the Workplace

Work3 - The Future of Work • 58 implied HN points • 26 Apr 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Gamification can make dull and repetitive work more engaging by applying game-like mechanics.
  2. Employees, especially Gen Z, seek mission-driven jobs and may feel disengaged due to lack of autonomy at work.
  3. Implementing gamification in the workplace can involve rewards for assessments, fun training methods, stimulating goal-setting, and a feedback reward system.

Paradoxes at Work

Ways of Working • 58 implied HN points • 24 Aug 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. People can be both smart and incompetent at their jobs.
  2. Busyness can lead to stagnation and hide larger issues.
  3. Focus is important, but it can still lead to failure; enjoying the journey is key.
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Productivity growth and the European slowdown

Economic Growth Blog • 58 implied HN points • 15 Jun 23
💰 Finance Productivity
  1. European economic growth slowdown featured more dramatic declines in productivity growth compared to the US
  2. The relationship between slower productivity growth and higher labor force participation in Europe was interesting and complex
  3. The unintended consequence of expanding labor force participation in Europe led to a decline in average skill level and ultimately lower measured productivity growth

Hustle Week

Play Permissionless • 99 implied HN points • 16 Jan 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Meeting business partners in person can lead to increased productivity and better collaboration.
  2. Working together in person for a short period can bring clarity and alignment to business goals.
  3. Dedicating focused days to different aspects of business, like client acquisition and retention, can lead to immediate results and progress.

Applying AI where it matters

Engineering Enablement • 7 implied HN points • 26 Nov 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. Use a simple need-vs-use map to decide where to invest in AI, so you can spot high-need, low-use opportunities to build and high-need, high-use areas to harden.
  2. Developers welcome AI for repetitive operational work, use it cautiously for high-stakes technical tasks to reduce effort or check mistakes, and limit AI in mentoring or identity-defining work that requires human judgment.
  3. AI tools must be safe, reliable, private, transparent, and easy to control, with more experienced or AI-savvy developers especially valuing transparency and steerability.

Side Effects of outsourcing our Thinking

Poems, Short stories and other things.. • 29 implied HN points • 08 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. Relying too much on smart tools makes us lazy thinkers. We should still use our brains to analyze and understand things instead of just taking shortcuts.
  2. AI can help us save time but it's important to keep our memories and reasoning sharp. We shouldn't let AI do all the thinking for us.
  3. While AI has the ability to remember everything, it's not always a good idea. Sometimes forgetting helps us move on and making tools that remember everything can be harmful.

How we increased execution by 10x at Coda | Oliver Heckmann - Head of Engineering at Coda

platocommunity • 39 implied HN points • 13 Dec 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Cutting down planning time to 10% allows for better focus and higher quality plans, leading to increased execution speed.
  2. Bridging the Planning-Execution Canyon by synchronizing OKRs in planning and execution documents improves insight, accountability, and progress tracking.
  3. Creating centralized Team Hubs with all important information in one place reduces information silos, fosters transparency, and promotes unified teamwork.

How do I get everyone to use AI?

The Engineering Manager • 5 implied HN points • 18 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. AI adoption follows a J-curve: there’s early hype, a frustrating trough where things feel slower, and then real productivity gains once people and processes adapt.
  2. Forcing AI can work for a few big-brand companies, but heavy mandates usually breed resentment and risk losing good people, so coercion is risky for most orgs.
  3. Help adoption by investing in training, time to experiment, and the right tools, and make a clear business case for costs versus expected gains to get finance on board.

Dreams reset

10x your mind • 79 implied HN points • 29 Dec 22
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity
  1. A new year offers a reset to reflect on goals and dreams.
  2. Writing down intentions, systems, and measures of success can help make big dreams achievable.
  3. Structuring your thoughts on paper can clarify priorities and streamline actions for progress.

Computer self-help

My Home Office Hacks • 5 implied HN points • 15 Dec 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. Try fixing problems yourself by searching online before calling IT or going to a store; many issues have simple step‑by‑step solutions.
  2. Use built‑in command‑line tools like sfc /scannow and DISM (e.g., DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth) to repair system issues, and run Command Prompt as administrator then reboot.
  3. Learning to follow instructions and try fixes on your own saves time, reduces downtime, and builds confidence working from home.

Backstage - How I Pair with Teams

🔮 Crafting Tech Teams • 59 implied HN points • 24 Jun 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Working remotely with tech leads and their teams can be challenging due to different approaches being perceived as intrusive or creating undue pressure.
  2. Enabling growth in teams requires finding a balance between being helpful and not overshadowing or complicating the team's problems.
  3. Supporting teams in their growth journey involves being mindful of how one's actions can impact their productivity and autonomy.

On why the advice "if you want to leave a meeting, just start getting up" works

Defender’s corner • 19 implied HN points • 15 Mar 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity
  1. The advice of getting up to leave a meeting without a specific excuse works by lowering your standard of what is an acceptable reason to leave.
  2. Deadlines function similarly, not creating work out of nowhere but pushing you to start and improve upon what you have.
  3. You can train your subconscious filter by consciously evaluating excuses and adjusting your automatic labeling of ideas, leading to better decision-making and creativity.

✅ New book: AI tools for public relations

Wadds Inc. newsletter • 39 implied HN points • 30 Nov 23
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. The book covers how AI tools like large language models can help public relations by making writing and understanding information easier.
  2. It showcases productivity tools that can make tasks like transcribing and media monitoring faster and more efficient.
  3. The book emphasizes the importance of human skills in PR, like emotional intelligence and ethics, even when using advanced AI tools.

How to speed up your group decisions

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 19 implied HN points • 12 Mar 24
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Group decisions can take a long time, especially with remote work. It's important to find ways to make these decisions quicker.
  2. Using decision maps can help clarify the decision-making process. They can guide groups through their choices more efficiently.
  3. Understanding how long decisions take in your organization can highlight where improvements are needed. This awareness can help teams speed things up.

AI is the future of the SDLC

Dev Interrupted • 32 implied HN points • 10 Jun 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. AI will make software development faster and more efficient. It can help save time and reduce the amount of work needed to complete projects.
  2. Adopting AI in software development should be done with a clear plan. It's important to set rules and guidelines for how AI is used to ensure it benefits the team.
  3. There's a debate about the impact of AI on coding. Some people are skeptical, but many believe that AI will change how we work in really positive ways.

The 5 intensity zones of software teams

Leading Developers • 59 implied HN points • 11 Feb 25
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Software teams can operate in different 'intensity zones' ranging from very light to maximum effort. Understanding these zones helps managers know when their team can relax or when they need to ramp up work.
  2. Switching between intensity zones is important for a team's success and well-being. It's crucial to have a balance and prepare the team for high-pressure times while also allowing them to unwind afterward.
  3. Effective 'intensity management' is key to keeping a team adaptable and preventing burnout. Setting clear expectations about workload and work intensity helps everyone understand what to expect.

How do you go so fast?

Sunday Letters • 119 implied HN points • 17 Jan 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. In bigger companies, things can slow down because there are many people involved and a lot of requirements. It's easy to get used to this slow pace, but it's important to push for speed when working on new projects.
  2. People often mistake being busy with actually making progress. Sitting in meetings and creating documents doesn’t always mean you are building something valuable for users.
  3. Moving quickly can be challenging because you have to adapt and learn while you go. It requires a different mindset and the willingness to take risks while focusing on what matters most.

GRANTED: The case for closing open offices and opening our minds

Granted • 99 implied HN points • 30 Sep 22
💼 Business Productivity
  1. It's important to balance caring about others' opinions and being true to your values, without conforming.
  2. Open offices have negative impacts like increased sick days and lower cognitive performance; access to private spaces is crucial for health and productivity.
  3. Consider the future of intelligence and survival; exploring deep-held beliefs and opening minds can lead to growth and progress.

The Long Game 171: Fatigue, Unfair Advantage, Vertical vs. General AI, Sales Learnings

The Long Game by Mehdi Yacoubi • 2 implied HN points • 16 Jan 26
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. Being physically tired from real work or regular exercise quiets overthinking and forces action, so most people would actually feel and perform better with more controlled physical fatigue.
  2. Identify the unfair advantages you already have — such as time, connections, money, or skills — and use them relentlessly instead of pretending everyone starts on an even playing field.
  3. General coding or program‑synthesis AI is becoming a powerful horizontal tool that can automate many tasks, but domain‑specific work still matters for enterprise data access, compliance, integration, and closing the last 5–10% of value.

My Markdown personal management system

normality’s Substack • 3 HN points • 25 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. This personal management system uses plain text in Markdown format, making it easy to use and modify. You can adjust it to suit your own workflow without getting overwhelmed.
  2. It provides flexibility while still offering helpful structure, so you can prioritize your tasks effectively. You can customize it to include sections for today, this week, and even future tasks.
  3. Though it's a personal tool, it can help you keep track of your projects and milestones. You can also use it to document completed tasks, which can be handy for remembering what you’ve accomplished.

How empty spaces in your calendar lead to better decisions

Ruben Ugarte's Growth Needle™ • 39 implied HN points • 21 Nov 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Building emotional competence helps leaders make better decisions. It's important for leaders to understand their emotions and those of others.
  2. Having empty spaces in your schedule allows for better brainstorming and connecting ideas. It gives your brain time to think and create.
  3. The idea of 'blocks of time' can limit decision-making in companies. Companies should be more flexible instead of strictly scheduling everything.

Three biggest productivity myths

10x your mind • 59 implied HN points • 09 Feb 23
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity
  1. Having fun doesn't necessarily mean you're wasting time; it can also stimulate creativity and problem-solving.
  2. Merely staying busy without achieving tangible results is a form of 'fake work' that hinders productivity.
  3. True productivity lies in creating and sharing your work with others, not just getting lost in planning or research.

The Wile E. Coyote Illusion

The Ruffian • 276 implied HN points • 22 Jul 23
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Economies can experience a 'Wile E. Coyote moment' where everything seems fine but is about to crash.
  2. Working-from-home (WFH) might seem productive at first, but lack of in-person interaction can lead to long-term issues.
  3. The 'Wile E. Coyote illusion' can be seen in various contexts, such as relationships, consumer markets, and AI development.

The Science of Daily Distractions.

Day One • 539 implied HN points • 15 May 20
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity
  1. Living in today's world means being surrounded by limitless distractions that can hinder focus and productivity.
  2. To eliminate distractions, consider physical separation from tempting items like phones and optimizing your online environment.
  3. Challenging oneself, embracing discomfort, and connecting with high-performing individuals are key to personal growth and achieving greatness.

A New Year’s dialogue with... my AI coaching app

Building the Builders • 3 implied HN points • 31 Dec 25
💼 Business Productivity
  1. A scarcity mindset—seeing time, opportunities, and energy as nonrenewable—undermines creativity, relationships, and risk-taking, while an abundance view treats resources as renewable and compounding and enables bolder moves in work, experiments, and family life.
  2. Slow-feedback projects and subtle social moments need intentionally built feedback loops to sustain momentum and confidence; simple habits like session-level notes, prompts, or visible reminders turn distant progress into immediate, learnable signals.
  3. Deliberate identity work helps you "remember what you know": study persistent builders, free-write without censoring, and act opposite scarcity-driven fears so repeated practice and risk-taking produce the evidence that cements an abundant, builder mindset.

the 5-step framework for making clear choices

Tiny Empires • 73 implied HN points • 20 Nov 24
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Establish foundation decisions that are your core rules. This means making important choices once so you don't have to think about them again.
  2. Create templates for regular decisions. These templates will make your choices easier by providing a simple 'if/then' format for common situations.
  3. Batch similar decisions together and set rules for major choices. This helps you make decisions more efficiently and avoid feeling overwhelmed.

Doing less is a competitive advantage

Cosmos • 19 implied HN points • 23 Feb 24
🏥 Health & Wellness Productivity
  1. Focus on doing less can be a competitive advantage in productivity.
  2. Narrow your focus, avoid multitasking, and do one thing at a time to increase efficiency.
  3. Deep work, focused attention, and creating a conducive environment are essential for breakthroughs and productivity.

UX Roundup: Simplicity | Error Prevention | Educational AI | Heuristic Evaluation with AI | AI 4x Better at Medical Diagnosis | Grok 4 and AI Prices | AI Video

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 23 implied HN points • 14 Jul 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. Simplicity in design is tough to achieve but very rewarding. A simple user experience can make things feel easy and smooth.
  2. AI is significantly changing education by offering personalized learning experiences. Rather than replacing teachers, it helps them focus on mentoring students.
  3. AI tools are becoming essential in medical diagnosis. Studies show that they can outperform human doctors in accuracy while also saving costs on tests.

Smaller meetings are more productive than larger meetings

Respectful Leadership • 54 implied HN points • 25 Jan 25
💼 Business Productivity
  1. Smaller meetings are better than larger ones because they keep people engaged. In big meetings, many attendees often feel bored or have nothing to contribute.
  2. You should only invite the people who are essential for the meeting. This helps everyone stay focused and avoid distractions from their actual work.
  3. Frequent large meetings can waste a lot of time. It's more effective to communicate via email or messages for announcements instead of gathering everyone together unnecessarily.

Future is Lean, Mean, and Scary for UX Agencies

Jakob Nielsen on UX • 50 implied HN points • 19 Feb 25
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. UX agencies are facing tough times because more companies are building their own in-house UX teams. This means less need for outside consultants.
  2. AI is changing the UX game by making work more efficient. With AI tools, one UX professional can do the work of three, leading to smaller, more effective teams.
  3. The future of UX will split into two paths: high-end firms offering specialized strategic consulting and low-end providers using AI to deliver basic design services. Mid-sized agencies may struggle unless they adapt.

Instantly Snap, Copy, and Paste Screenshots

CodeFaster • 72 implied HN points • 08 Nov 24
🕹 Technology Productivity
  1. You can take a screenshot and instantly paste it as an image. This makes sharing images quicker and easier.
  2. There's a simple script you can use to automate the process of taking and saving screenshots.
  3. Using a hotkey can speed up your workflow, so you can take screenshots without interrupting what you're doing.