How I've Run Major Projects - Ben Kuhn

Six Principles

1. Focus — Clear 6+ hours daily for crisis projects. Information processing (meetings, Slack) is surprisingly time-intensive. Without dedicated focus, projects drift into autopilot.

2. Detailed Planning for Victory — Concrete step-by-step plans reveal timing risks early. "Knowing how well or badly things are going is important because it tells me when to start asking for more support, cutting scope, escalating problems."

3. Fast OODA Loops — Large projects are information-constrained, not execution-constrained. Multiple daily touchpoints. Ranked "open questions" docs. Frequent reorientation.

4. Overcommunication — Team members need ambient awareness to make autonomous, high-quality decisions. Repeat key information more than feels natural. Twice-weekly synchronous standups.

5. Break Off Subprojects — Beyond ~10 people, delegate project management itself. Assign crisp, simple goals with limited overlap. Organizational skills > technical depth for subproject leads.

6. Have Fun — Collaborative intensity on ambitious work creates meaningful experiences.

DRI Starter Kit

• Weekly 30-minute meeting: review, silent discussion, synchronous discussion
• Master working doc (landing page): goals, staffing, links, roadmap, running notes, open questions
• Roadmap with milestones (honest about uncertainty)
• Clear priority ranking
• Dedicated Slack channel (avoid DMs/threads)
• Weekly broadcast updates (signal over noise)
• Retrospectives every 2-8 weeks

Key Insight

"Direction is more important than magnitude" -- better a slower team on the right goal than a faster team misaligned. Information flow and coordination are primary project constraints, not secondary overhead.