How We Work: Kickoffs & Heartbeats - REWORK

37signals works in 6-week cycles, which begin with a Kickoff and wrap up with a Heartbeat. In this week’s REWORK podcast, co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson break down the purpose and benefits of the Kickoff and Heartbeat documents and share tips for implementing this process across an organization.
Key Takeaways
00:40 - When 37signals started using Kickoffs and Heartbeats
02:13 - Details of the Kickoff write-up process
07:34 - How much input Jason and David have in the Kickoff
13:43 - What Kickoffs & Heartbeats look like for departments with ongoing work
17:37 - The Heartbeats as an opportunity to highlight and celebrate the work of individual employees and team
22:50 - The benefits of writing up work summaries for institutional history
Links & Resources
Shape Up - basecamp.com/b...
Books by 37signals - 37signals.com/...
Sign up for a 30-day free trial at Basecamp.com
Once. com - once.com/
Campfire - once.com/campfire
HEY - www.hey.com/
The REWORK podcast - 37signals.com/...
Let's be social!
Twitter: x.com/37signals
Tiktok: / 37signalshq
Instagram: / 37signalshq
Newsletter: www.basecamp.c...
Rework is a production of 37signals. You can find show notes and transcripts on our website. Full video episodes are available on RUclips and X.
If you have a question for Jason or David about a better way to work and run your business, leave us a voicemail at 708-628-7850 or email, and we might answer it on a future episode.

[@BramVandenBosch-g8q]

Nice to see the inclusion of the OPS and SIP teams in this talk. As mentioned in this talk, there is quite some reactive work in these teams, as well as planned/structured work. It would be nice to see how these teams organize themselves to respond to reactive work and still get their other work done; while still adhering to the calm workplace that 37signals stands for, and possibly coping with the cycle approach.

[@gabyzzivi]

I like the 6-week cycles, and the heartbeats. I'll figure out how to implement something like that for myself, because sometimes I feel like I don't do enough, so this might be a way to keep track. Thank you for sharing!

[@37signals]

Give it a shot and let us know how it works for you! Thanks for watching the podcast. -Kimberly

[@padeosarran]

Guys, can you dedicate an episode where you take us through the beginnings of 37 signal? How the co-founders met. Did you decide to build something first and get to know each other and go from there? At what point and which milestone did you decide that this is the founding team. Or was it love at first sight? 😀.

[@37signals]

Hey there! We talk a bit about how Jason and David got their start in this episode. ruclips.net/video/9b9Jkw4ZbBw/видео.html. Enjoy! -Kimberly