Bookmark: Needed: More Than Digital Tools For Deskless Worker Productivity
Exploring the often-overlooked world of deskless workers, this insightful piece from Deloitte highlights the crucial gap in digital tool availability for frontline employees. With only 23% feeling adequately supported by technology, it’s clear that enhancing their productivity requires more than just new gadgets. The Boston Consulting Group further asserts that making work enjoyable significantly improves retention, showing that satisfaction can indeed drive workforce stability. This article sheds light on essential changes needed to better serve the majority of our labor force.
One impactful quote from the article is: “The lack of integration between digital tools and existing workflows and poor user design can create additional work for frontline workers and make it harder for them to perform their jobs”
Needed: More Than Digital Tools For Deskless Worker Productivity
Featured writing
Why customer tools are organized wrong
This article reveals a fundamental flaw in how customer support tools are designed—organizing by interaction type instead of by customer—and explains why this fragmentation wastes time and obscures the full picture you need to help users effectively.
Busy is not a state
We've built work cultures that reward activity, even when nothing actually changes. In technical systems, activity doesn't count—only state change does. This essay explores why "busy" has become the most misleading signal we have, and how focusing on state instead of motion makes work more honest, less draining, and actually productive.
Infrastructure shapes thought
The tools you build determine what kinds of thinking become possible. On infrastructure, friction, and building deliberately for thought rather than just throughput.
Books
The Work of Being (in progress)
A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.
The Practice of Work (in progress)
Practical essays on how work actually gets done.
Recent writing
Dev reflection - January 29, 2026
So here's something I've been sitting with. You finish a piece of work. You ship it. Everything looks good. And then production starts teaching you that you weren't actually done.
Dev reflection - January 28, 2026
So here's something I've been sitting with lately. There's this gap—a subtle one—between a system that's running and a system that's actually working. And I don't mean broken versus not broken. I m...
Textorium is live on the App Store
Textorium launches on Mac App Store - a native editor for Hugo, Jekyll & Eleventy that manages hundreds of posts with table views and smart filtering.
Notes and related thinking
Bookmark: Nearly all bosses are ‘accidental’ with no formal training—and research shows it’s leading 1 in 3 workers to quit
Untrained managers drive one in three employees to quit. Discover how effective leadership training can boost retention and workplace satisfaction.
Article analysis: Breaking operational barriers to peak productivity
Unlock peak productivity by breaking operational barriers; enhance customer satisfaction, reduce emissions, and improve employee retention for lasting success.
Article analysis: We need to talk about the emotional weight of work
Explore the emotional weight of work and discover strategies to manage procrastination, boost productivity, and foster personal fulfillment.