Less Work

Buffer stopped writing status updates, dropped the PM-to-design-to-engineering handoff, and gave up on quarterly planning. Kateryna Porshnieva, Head of Engineering Operations at Buffer, explains what AI actually replaced inside their engineering, product and design teams, what they pulled back on, and the one rule that keeps it honest: a human is always accountable, never the agent.

Episode one of Less Work, a show about the busywork AI really removes, told by the people who removed it.

The Steal:

• System: make one tool the hub. Every Linear project links to its Slack channel, every issue to its pull request.

• Rule: a human is always accountable for the outcome. The agent never is.

• Tool: Granola on a team plan, so every meeting is searchable.

0:00 Cold open

0:57 Meet Kateryna

1:51 What engineering operations does

4:52 Operations is not process

7:56 Where AI shows up at Buffer

9:54 The handoffs that disappeared

11:13 The feedback workflow one PM built

15:20 Easier to produce, harder to review

17:56 Touch grass: work spilling over

18:41 Why a quarter is too long

20:05 The busywork that's gone

22:23 How a new tool goes Buffer-wide

25:15 Buffer's tool stack

27:12 Linear as the hub

28:41 Healthy skepticism and accountability

31:34 Build week and the stewards

32:53 Quick fire round

40:00 Wrap-up

Show notes, quotes and every tool mentioned: https://lesswork.substack.com/

Tools from the episode: https://toolfinder.com

More about Alyssa Holland.

👀 Culture in Between: https://cultureinbetween.com/ 🔥 Alyssa's work: https://blog.alyssaholland.me/

VS Code – https://toolfinder.co/go/vscodeWebStorm – https://toolfinder.co/go/webstormFork – https://toolfinder.co/go/forkWarp – https://toolfinder.co/go/warpSunsama – https://toolfinder.co/go/sunsamaEllie Planner – https://toolfinder.co/go/ellie-plannerApple Calendar – https://toolfinder.co/go/apple-calendarNotion – https://toolfinder.co/go/notionHashnode – https://toolfinder.co/go/hashnodereMarkable 2 – https://toolfinder.co/go/remarkableKindle Scribe – https://toolfinder.co/go/kindle-scribeRaycast – https://toolfinder.co/go/raycastShottr – https://toolfinder.co/go/shottrCleanShot X – https://toolfinder.co/go/cleanshotSlack – https://toolfinder.co/go/slackJira – https://toolfinder.co/go/jiraFigma – https://toolfinder.co/go/figmaChatGPT – https://toolfinder.co/go/chatgptSuperwhisper – https://toolfinder.co/go/superwhisper

Steven Bartlett is a well-known business person and dragon. But what makes him productive? Let's explore his productivity apps that fuel his focus.  @TheDiaryOfACEO  Get stacks in your inbox every week: https://uz0ydchnaf0.typeform.com/to/YVXR0bv1 His full app stack: https://toolfinder.co/stacks/stephen-barlett - Whoop - http://toolfinder.co/go/whoop- TimeShifter - http://toolfinder.co/go/timeshifter- Monday - http://toolfinder.co/go/monday-dot-com- Replit - http://toolfinder.co/go/replit- Stan - http://toolfinder.co/go/stan-store

Ariana Cofone delves into why she doesn't use a to-do list app, and her full app stack. Browse more: https://toolfinder.co/stacks✨ Coda: http://toolfinder.co/go/coda🔥 Arc Browser http://toolfinder.co/go/arc-browser🧾 Baron Fig: https://baronfig.com/en-gb/products/strategist

Marie Martens is the co-founder at Tally. Here's her app stack, how she stays productive & her routine: https://toolfinder.co/stacks/marie-martens03:02 – Notion: https://toolfinder.co/go/notion03:02 – Slack: https://toolfinder.co/go/slack03:27 – Canva: https://toolfinder.co/go/canva03:27 – Figma: https://toolfinder.co/go/figma03:27 – OctoLens: https://toolfinder.co/go/octolens03:56 – Jitter: https://toolfinder.co/go/jitter04:30 – Opus Clip: https://toolfinder.co/go/opus-clip05:02 – ChatGPT: https://toolfinder.co/go/chatgpt05:40 – Cursor: https://toolfinder.co/go/cursor05:40 – Code Rabbit: https://toolfinder.co/go/code-rabbit05:40 – GitHub: https://toolfinder.co/go/github05:40 – Plausible: https://toolfinder.co/go/plausible05:40 – Google Cloud: https://toolfinder.co/go/google-cloud05:40 – BrowserStack: https://toolfinder.co/go/browserstack06:11 – Tally: https://toolfinder.co/go/tally-forms

Dan Koe is a writer and has over 1M+ subscribers, but what apps help him? Get all Dan's apps below, or explore his stack in full: https://toolfinder.co/stacks/dan-koe

-- TOOLS USED --

✨ Kortex (notes & planning): https://toolfinder.co/go/kortex

✅ Granola (AI meetings): https://toolfinder.co/go/granola

👀 Midjourney (AI images): https://toolfinder.co/go/midjourney

📱 Typefully (for social media): https://toolfinder.co/go/typefully

📊 Slack (team chatter): https://toolfinder.co/go/slack

🤖 Claude (AI help): https://toolfinder.co/go/claude

📚 Zendesk (support desk): https://toolfinder.co/go/zendesk

💪🏼 Boostcamp (gym workouts): https://toolfinder.co/go/boostcamp

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