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The CEO with an Empty Calendar

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Summary

Amir Salihefendic is the CEO of Doist, the makers of the popular todo app Todoist and the workplace communication platform Twist. He discusses how he stays organized and manages a remote team of 80 with almost no meetings. He uses Todoist to keep track of all his tasks, and Twist for asynchronous communication. He also explains how he keeps his calendar empty and uses remote-first asynchronous work to allow him to manage his stress levels and his energy levels. He believes that this style of work is important to do creative work, as it allows people to manage their energy and set up their life to allow creative moments to happen.

Q&As

What is the remote work setup at Doist?
Doist is a fully remote team and has been since the beginning. Communication happens asynchronously, with no expectation of an immediate response to a question.

How does Amir Salihefendic use Todoist to manage his tasks?
Amir uses Todoist to keep track of all of his tasks, including life and work tasks. He assigns each task a project, date, and priority, and uses the Todoist graphs to see where he is spending his time. He also uses Todoist to manage his 1-1s.

What is the benefit of asynchronous communication for Doist?
The benefit of asynchronous communication for Doist is that it allows employees to plan their days as they want and disconnect when they want. It also allows the company to avoid meetings and have fewer private channels.

How does Amir manage his team of 80 with almost no meetings?
Amir manages his team of 80 with almost no meetings by using asynchronous communication and Twist, a tool designed for long-form communication. He also uses Todoist for 1-1s and check-ins.

How does Amir use Todoist for 1-1s?
Amir uses Todoist for his 1-1s by creating a shared project for each person he manages. This allows him to set an agenda and have shared action items. It also makes it easy to go back and look at the agenda from past meetings.

AI Comments

👍 This article is incredibly insightful and thought-provoking! It's amazing how Amir has figured out how to manage a growing team of 80 with almost no meetings.

👎 This article is a bit too long and could have been condensed. It's also a bit too focused on the tools Amir uses and not enough on the actual strategies he uses to manage his team.

AI Discussion

Me: It's about the CEO of Doist, Amir Salihefendic, and how he manages his team of 80 without meetings. He explains how he uses Todoist to keep himself organized and how he works through his to-do list. He also talks about how his company does its work with remote work and asynchronous communication, and how he keeps his calendar empty by avoiding meetings and relying on written communication.

Friend: That's interesting. What do you think the implications of this article are?

Me: I think the implications of this article are that remote work and asynchronous communication can be incredibly beneficial to businesses, especially in terms of increasing productivity and creativity. By avoiding meetings and relying on written communication, it allows employees to plan their days around when they are most productive and have the most energy to focus. It also allows employees to disconnect when they need to, which is important for managing stress and energy levels. This is something that Amir and his team at Doist have been able to achieve, and I think that other businesses should consider implementing similar strategies.

Action items

Sign up for the Everything Bundle to become a Superorganizers member.
Implement a remote-first asynchronous work environment in your organization.
Use Todoist to keep track of tasks, prioritize them, and set up recurring tasks.

Technical terms

Todoist: A to-do list and task management app.
Twist: A workplace communication platform.
Doist: A company that makes the popular to-do app Todoist and the workplace communication platform Twist.
Asynchronous Communication: A type of communication where messages are sent and received at different times, rather than in real-time.
Inbox Zero: A system for managing emails where the goal is to have an empty inbox at the end of each day.
1-1s: A type of meeting between a manager and an employee to discuss performance, goals, and other topics.
Cycles: A type of work sprint where a team works on a single project for a month.
Channels: A type of communication in a workplace communication platform, similar to a chatroom.
Threads: A type of communication in a workplace communication platform, similar to an email thread.