Out of Stealth, to Redefine Knowledge Work

[In this issue you'll read about the launch of my new company, Ritual, but first the full backstory :]

The workplace is under going unprecedented change and the future of work will look very different.? ?

It’s easy to make such claims.? But it’s exponentially harder to explain what that future looks like in practice.?

It's easy to say work will be radically different but much harder to pin down what it will look like, and what that means to you.

Before leaving a President role at MGM Resorts, I reflected on the red thread of the last 20 years.? It turns out the common thread has been the most personally meaningful.? For me, it’s helping teams and companies navigate through the unknown and move ideas into action.?

In the past we gave this a label - innovation.? But the world of work has changed.? Nearly every team in any company is asked to solve new problems, pursue new territory, and move from ambiguous objectives to tangible impact.? Navigating the unknown is mainstream.? And its necessity in the core of a company.?

That’s why I believe navigating the unknown will come to define knowledge work.? All knowledge workers will be asked to do it well.?

We’re at a pivotal time — the Jack Welch era of business (execution is king) building on management theory of Peter Drucker is coming to a close.?

On top of that, workplace expectations are different - three of the five generations in the corporate workforce have a different notion of contribution than employers.? They value contribution that allows for continuos growth vs. staying in place. They want it to take a more agile form (digital, asynchronous).? And let's not forget about the onset of AI.? No one? has disambiguated how AI and knowledge work will play out.?

We're at a pivotal time. Knowledge work is about to shift. It's long overdue and AI will just make that obvious. I'll explain why.

Knowledge work hasn’t been redefined since Peter Drucker coined the phrase in the 1950’s but the time has come. ?

It’s time for new ways of working that are designed for the current realities not the assumptions of the past.? You could argue we need a new management system for business. One that is more sustainable for workers, gives companies the velocity they are seeking and is where there is space for human capital to outperform AI.?

Over the last few years, I’ve jumped into this looming disruption.? The future of knowledge work has become my North Star. ?

I hope to demystify the future of knowledge work and how you can prepare yourself to benefit.

Atif's Constellation of Things

My work has several components.? Many of you know I’ve written a book about upstream work (how to go from the idea or objective stage to decision points in a smarter and faster way).? McGraw Hill released Decision Sprint in April. It’s reached the WSJ bestseller list and has been covered in Forbes, Inc, Bloomberg, Fast Company, WSJ and elsewhere. And I’m really honored to be been nominated for Thinkers50 (an organization focused on promoting the top management thinkers globally). ?

Writing is one channel to introduce new ways of working.? But today's avenues are expansive and it’s why I’m pursuing my north star through a constellation.

For many years I’ve been toying with getting back to my roots in another respect.? In my mid-20s I started a software company in Silicon Valley.? Fast forward 20 years.

In early 2021, I left “corporate” and put two facets of my background back together. ? There’s the love of software and a deep experience with how companies work.? It’s the "why" behind my new company, Ritual. ?

I believe that software can play a big role creating a culture of continuous problem solving and curiosity in the workplace.? Workflow + AI (software) will become central to the collaboration of teams.? It will help companies move with a new level of speed and confidence that will make today’s norms look ancient.?

But this kind of software doesn’t really exist, until now.?

Introducing Ritual

My co-founder, Mike Vo, and I have been bootstrapping and building Ritual for 2.5 years. ? I’ve known Mike for 15 years since we met while I was at Yahoo!? (after his time as one of the first engineers at Facebook).

And I’m really happy to share that yesterday we launched Ritual? at the Harvard Club in my hometown of NYC. Thanks Victoria Taylor for moderating the event.

We had a great turn out of executives, investors and startup folks join us for the launch of Ritual on Tuesday, October 24th.

What is Ritual?

Ritual is a workflow + AI product focused on helping?teams with problem / idea exploration.? The core of the product is an easy way to build and run explorations so that teams can progress from idea stage to recommendations and decision making. ?

In a nutshell, Ritual makes it easy for teams to:

1. Define problems?- develop a problem statement to guide everything that comes next.
2. Source the right input - source key questions to explore when it comes to a promising idea, important project or company initiative.?
3. Build an exploration - organize an exploration based on the key matters and questions.
4. Run explorations - develop answers that feed recommendations and strategy.
5. Simplify content preparation - tap content from explorations to prepare for meetings and milestones.

Quick video on what we're up to: ?Ritual Overview Video ?

How you can benefit from Ritual

Do any of the following scenarios seem familiar?

• You're working on an important initiative or project where there are more questions than answers.
• Your team is?facing key forks in the road and needs to create clarity for the organization.
• You're part of a working team on the hook to deliver a recommendation, strategy or plan for an initiative.?

It’s likely you’ll need to go through a number of brainstorms, deep dives and reviews to collaborate and drive toward some deliverables before you can move on to execution.? This is what I refer to as upstream work (in contrast to downstream execution or project management). ?

Ritual helps with this journey in a way that is simple and intuitive. ? Build and run explorations that help you develop recommendations, unlock alignment and speed up decision making.?

Tap Ritual for a project that is already in flight but facing its next big fork in the road.?

Or use it pre-project to better develop a promising idea before pitching it.?

Use it to help with strategic planning and prioritization (create a common way for ideas to be compared against each other).?

There are many ways to use exploration to make unknowns and ambiguity actionable.? Fear of being stuck (FOBS) and risk of being stuck (ROBS) is reason enough to try a new way of working.?

The risk of being stuck is always high when solving new problems but you can avoid it all together

Get Ritual

Ritual is now available in the app stores. ? Take it for a spin, and let us know what you think. ?

As an added bonus, my team and I are available to help onboard teams.? And for leaders and teams that are ready to move with conviction, we also offer masterclass level workshops and services for implementing Decision Sprint, embedding Ritual software in the rollout.? A number of well known companies are already teaming up with us.

Why is Ritual the future of knowledge work?

Now that you’ve heard about Ritual, you may be wondering what's the link.

What’s the link between Ritual and the future of knowledge work?? Hint: The only kind of knowledge work humans will perform in the future is originating it. ?

Let me explain.?

But first, brace yourself for a reality that you may be hearing for the first time.?

A hidden secret of today’s workplace: most knowledge workers in today’s economy simply administrate knowledge. ? Originating knowledge is an entirely different thing.? Very few people and corporations generate original thinking, and the knowledge that comes out of that.? And here in lies the rub.? AI will always outperform humans when it comes to making sense of existing knowledge.? But most people build corporate careers administrating knowledge that others, often a very small percentage of the workforce, generated in the first place. ? Sometimes those originators of knowledge are long gone. ?

Here in lies the rub.? AI will always outperform humans when it comes to making sense of existing knowledge.

We have to prepare ourselves for this fast approaching future.?

And there is a way forward which makes me optimistic, provided we can shift the focus of humans to where companies need it.? It’s starts with contributing to your company’s problem solving frontier.? What is the problem solving frontier? ? It’s the most meaningful areas of growth, continuous improvement and innovation that will help your company win.

Everyone can contribute toward creating knowledge our companies need to solve their most meaningful problems. ?

There are many ways to help clarify unknown territory that your company is navigating.? It can take many forms:

• Asking a relevant question.
• Developing a thoughtful perspective in response to a question.
• Developing a clear answer that synthesizes the important considerations.?
• Providing a well reasoned conclusion or recommendation based on answers to questions. ?

Ritual makes it easy to make any of these contributions while operationalizing them into the milestones for which a team is accountable. ?

The Upshot

We’re just getting started with Ritual, and would love to help your team navigate important and meaningful initiatives in a smarter and faster way.? We look forward to teaming up with you to help solve the challenges you’re currently facing, while putting in a place a game changing foundation for knowledge work.

Resources:

Get Ritual: https://onelink.to/ritual (do this from your phone to get app)

Atif’s WSJ Bestseller: www.decisionsprint.com

Ritual’s website: www.ritual.work