Saturdays in the fall are non-negotiable in my house.
Ohio State football is on, the kids know the rules, and I get to watch a team that still believes in something most productivity advice has forgotten: run the same play until it works.
Not ten new formations every drive.
Not a brand-new offensive system every season just because a shiny one appeared on YouTube.
They install a core set of plays, execute them with brutal repetition, and only tweak when the data (and the scoreboard) says the current version is no longer enough.
That approach has more to teach small teams about workflows than most AI tool roundups.
The productivity version of playbook chaos
New tool every month is not iteration
I see the same pattern in small teams and solo operators:
A new project manager appears → “We should try this.”
A new AI note-taker launches → “We should try this.”
A new Notion template goes viral → “We should try this.”
Three months later the team has pieces of five different systems and no single reliable way to answer “What’s the status?”
That is not innovation. That is offensive playbook churn.
Complexity feels like progress
Adding steps, tools, and conditionals feels productive. It also creates more places for the ball to get dropped when someone is tired or in a hurry.
The Buckeyes do not win by running the most complicated play. They win by running the right simple play with timing and force.
What “run the same play” actually looks like at work
Choose a small number of core workflows
For most 5–20 person teams, these are usually enough:
How a new piece of work enters the system
How status is updated
How handoffs happen between people
How client communication is logged
How something is marked done and reviewed
Pick the simplest version of each that still works. Then run it long enough to know whether the problem is the play or the execution.
Measure the right thing
The scoreboard is not “number of tools adopted” or “how modern the stack looks.”
The scoreboard is:
How often work gets stuck
How long it takes to find the current status
How many follow-ups fall through the cracks
How much time is spent on coordination versus actual work
If those numbers are improving, keep running the play. If they are not, adjust one variable at a time.
Tweak, don’t replace
When something is not working, the temptation is to scrap the whole system and install a new one. That is usually the wrong move.
Change one element:
Cut a required field
Add a clearer next-action step
Move a handoff earlier or later
Remove a tool that duplicates another
Then run the modified play for a few weeks before you touch anything else.
The garage parallel
My pegboard does not get a full redesign every time I buy a new tool.
I hang the new tool on an open hook. I use it. I see whether it earns its place. If it does, it stays. If it does not, it goes back in the box. The rest of the board remains stable.
Workflows deserve the same respect. Stability is not stagnation. Stability is what lets people build speed.
A simple weekly practice
The Monday play review (10–15 minutes)
Ask only three questions about your core workflows:
What got stuck last week?
Was the problem the play design or the execution?
What is the single smallest change we will test this week?
Write down the change. Run it. Do not add a second change until the first one has been tested in real work.
This is the opposite of the usual “let’s overhaul our systems” meeting. It is slower in the moment and much faster over a quarter.
Who this is hardest for
Perfectionists and novelty-seekers.
If you enjoy designing systems more than running them, the urge to rebuild will always feel more exciting than repetition. I know because I have that urge too. The pegboard and the Buckeyes are my correction.
Repetition is not glamorous.
It is how you get the timing down so the play still works when someone is distracted, new, or having a bad day.
The Pegboard Principle applied
A good workflow should be:
Simple enough that a tired person can run it
Clear enough that a new person can learn it quickly
Stable enough that you can measure whether it is actually improving
When you find a play that meets those three tests, keep running it.
Tune the blocking.
Adjust the timing.
Swap one route if the defense has adapted.
But do not throw out the playbook every time a new formation shows up on social media.
Meat. Heat. Bun.
Run it again.
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