In 1959 Peter Drucker coined the term “knowledge work.” In 2021 knowledge work is the most dynamic part of our economy. Over the intervening decades a Cambrian explosion of tools and technology have promised to boost knowledge worker productivity like Frederick Winslow Taylor and Henry Ford did for manufacturing.

It hasn’t worked.

Studies routinely show that despite the proliferation of technology, knowledge worker productivity has barely improved. Our tools have gotten indisputably better, but the way we work has not kept pace. Instead of innovating and experimenting with how we work, we’ve let new tools and Pyrrhic cost savings decide for us. The result is knowledge work that looks an awful lot like it did in the 1950s. Plus email.

But at Stansbury Weaver we’re in the business of doing things differently.

In that spirit—and with the goal of improving our quality, consistency, and speed—we’re going to try a new way of working.

Beginning in July, Stansbury Weaver will operate on two-week cycles. The first week will be Client Week. The second week will be Deep Week. Then we’ll start over again.

If you’re a client, here’s what that means for you.

During Client Week we’ll hold our standing monthly and bi-monthly client calls and Strategy Sessions. During Deep Week we’ll go heads down and focus on research and production, staying out of our inboxes and Slack as much as possible—keeping distractions at bay so we can think deeply about you and your work.

Of course, your work doesn’t always adhere to a tidy on-week, off-week cadence. So a Client Success Coordinator will be available to field your messages and get them to the legal team, which will reserve time during both weeks to handle emergency work.

And if things really go sideways, well, it happens. We’ll scrap the schedule and roll up our sleeves.

But things are usually more placid. Particularly if we’re helping you preempt problems. So outside those pockets of chaos, we’ll be minimizing distractions and producing deeper, more thoughtful work.

Work that is less time sensitive will be scheduled and triaged. This deliberate pacing will allow us to give problems the focus they deserve, instead of treating every task as a five-alarm fire. Your Client Success Coordinator will be available to update you on the status of your work and pass along messages between our standing calls.

This will be a big change in how we approach work internally. But if it goes as we hope, all you’ll notice is a bit of initial call rescheduling and after that just better, more creative work.

As we settle into this new way of doing things, we would love to hear your feedback. Reach out to me directly. Let me know how we’re doing—and where we can improve.

Thanks for working with us as we experiment and develop ever better ways to support you on your entrepreneurial journey!