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YardScaleDigital

Module 0 · Lesson 2 of 2 · 7 min read

The founder operating rhythm

Motivation runs out. A weekly rhythm does not. This is the one this course assumes you are keeping.

Objective: Set up a weekly cycle of deciding, building, shipping and reviewing.

Working draft. The method in this lesson is complete; Andrew's own examples from the products he is building are still being added.

The founders who finish are rarely the most talented. They are the ones still showing up in week twelve. You get there with a rhythm that tells you what to do when you sit down, so you never spend your limited hours deciding where to start.

The weekly cycle

  1. 01

    Decide

    At the start of the week, pick one outcome for the stage you are at. One. Write it as something that is either done or not done.

  2. 02

    Build

    Spend your protected hours on that outcome only. New ideas go on a list, not into the week.

  3. 03

    Ship

    Put something in front of another person: a customer, a tester, the community. Unshipped work teaches you nothing.

  4. 04

    Review

    Fifteen minutes at the end of the week. What shipped, what you learned, what the next outcome is.

Keep a build log

A build log is a running document with one entry per week. It is your memory, your accountability and, later, your content. Three lines is enough: what shipped, what you learned, what is next.

Illustrative entry

Week 4. Shipped: five customer interviews booked, three completed. Learned: nobody mentioned the feature I assumed was the main one; two people described the same workaround in a spreadsheet. Next: finish interviews, rewrite the problem statement.

When a week goes badly

It will. Write the entry anyway: nothing shipped, and why. A missed week you recorded is recoverable. Three you did not notice is how projects end.

Exercise

Set your rhythm

Make the rhythm concrete enough that it survives a bad week.

  1. 01Block your protected hours in your calendar for the next four weeks.
  2. 02Choose where your build log lives and write the first entry today.
  3. 03Pick one person or community you will report to each week.

Implementation assignment

Write this week's single outcome for the stage you are at, and post it somewhere another person will see it.

Done when

0 / 4 complete

Recap

  • Decide, build, ship, review — every week.
  • One outcome per week, for the stage you are at.
  • The build log is your memory and your raw material for content.