Stop Asking Humans for Status Updates — In the AI Era, People Should Only Report the Future

Past and present progress is already etched into artifacts, commits, PRs, CI, and observability, and an AI agent can summarize it on demand. If so, there's little point in having humans re-report their progress. The information only humans hold lives on the side of the future, in intent no artifact has captured yet. From the seat of a CTO running a fully remote organization, I take apart the status-update ritual and redesign meetings and reviews around the future.

Reading Notes: 'REMOTE: Office Not Required' by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, translated by Riko Takahashi

Reading notes on 'REMOTE: Office Not Required' — quotes and reflections on remote work operations, hiring, and communication.

September 6, 2014 Topics

A daily roundup: remote-collaboration tool Sqwiggle, portfolio service JAYPEG, and GREE news — September 6, 2014.

Set Up a New Laptop the Day It Arrives — What HP's 7-Day Dead-on-Arrival Rule Taught Me

A new laptop arrived defective, but I was slow to notice and nearly missed HP's 7-day dead-on-arrival window. The conclusion is simple: set up and test a new laptop the day it arrives.

Engineering Manager in a Fully Remote Engineering Organization

Being an Engineering Manager in a fully remote org — tools, 1on1 prep, and attendance conventions.

I Purchased the Electric Standing Desk FLEXISPOT E7

The configuration, price, and setup photos of my new FLEXISPOT E7 electric standing desk.

Free, Long-Duration, Multi-User Web Video Conferencing Tools

Comparing free web conferencing tools for long, multi-user calls — Google Hangouts, Skype, Zoom, and Whereby.

Setting Google Calendar to Display Time for Each TimeZone

Enable Show world clock in Google Calendar to keep multiple time zones visible in the sidebar.

How to Create Fixed URLs for Google Hangouts

Create a fixed Google Hangouts URL from a personal account by extracting a far-future Google Calendar video conference URL.

Running HipChat, Slack, and Sqwiggle concurrently can kill you with memory shortage

Running HipChat, Slack, and Sqwiggle at the same time was rough on a MacBook Air with only 8 GB of memory.

IIJmio Data Option Convenient for Remote Work

IIJmio's Data Option is handy for remote-work tethering — but remember to cancel it to stop monthly charges.

I Think Not Being Able to Buy Additional Coupons During IIJmio OFF-Time Communication Restrictions is a Lost Opportunity

IIJmio's off-time throttling makes even buying more data impossible — a real-world lost-opportunity story.

Are iPhone Earphones the Best for Remote Work?!

Why I ended up going back to Apple's EarPods with 3.5 mm Headphone Plug for remote work.

join.me Screen Sharing Service is Super Convenient for Pair Programming and Meetings

join.me — a lightweight screen-sharing service — proved great for pair programming and estimation meetings.

Achieve Comfortable Video Calls with Noise Cancelling App Krisp

Using the Krisp noise-cancelling app to keep remote video calls clear from background noise.

For Kumamoto-Nagoya Business Trips, I Prefer Taking the Shinkansen Over Flying

Why I prefer the Shinkansen over flying for Kumamoto-Nagoya business trips.

Looking Back on 2016

Reflecting on 2016 across business improvement, returning to engineering, and starting remote work from Kumamoto.

Why Narcissistic Leaders Resist Remote Work — A Reflection from Running a Fully Remote Organization

A Wharton team has published evidence that the more narcissistic a leader is, the more they resist remote work. The reason isn't productivity or culture, but the loss of the power and status that in-person work supplies. From the seat of an executive and CTO running a fully remote organization, I reflect on this uncomfortable finding a step removed: auditing your own motives, the hidden costs of return-to-office mandates, and remote work as a governance mechanism.

I Purchased Okamura's Baron Chair

The articles I referenced before choosing Okamura's Baron Chair as my home office chair.

Even for IT companies, phone calls are still the emergency communication method

Even at an IT company, phone calls are still the emergency channel — configuring iPhone Do Not Disturb around it.

Reading Notes: NO HARD WORK! / 『NO HARD WORK!　無駄ゼロで結果を出すぼくらの働き方』

Reading notes on Jason Fried and DHH's book — 40-hour weeks, no goals, JOMO, and async-first communication.

Health Habits for a Fully-Remote Worker — Closing the 10-Year Fitness Gap with Walks, Mobile AI Coding, and a Sit-Stand Desk

Office workers teleworking four-plus days per week showed a roughly 10-year-equivalent decline in physical fitness compared to non-teleworkers (Meiji Yasuda Health Foundation, December 2025). As someone working fully remote, I want to write down the habits I actually keep: walks scheduled inside work hours, leaning on Claude Code and Codex from mobile, and defaulting to a sit-stand desk.

Full Remote Work Isn't for Everyone — Reading the 'Home Alone' Isolation Study from Both Sides of the Household

Full remote work is comfortable. But what if a mental-health cost is quietly accumulating behind that comfort? The new Science study 'Home alone' shows, with data from nearly 590,000 workers, that working from home increases isolation and worsens mental health, and that the harm concentrates among people who live alone. I have lived through full remote work both alone and in a household of five. Here I read the study's data against both versions of my life.

Remote Work May "Potentially Degrade Social Skills"

A favorite illustration from The Oatmeal on how remote work may quietly degrade your social skills.

Three Ways to Use Slack with External People

Three ways to work with external people in Slack — shared channels, guests, or a separate workspace.

Using Slack Reminders and User Groups to Prevent Forgetting Team Meetings and Tasks

Combining Slack's /remind with user groups to keep a team from forgetting recurring meetings and tasks.

Slack and Synchronous/Asynchronous Communication

How fast should you reply on Slack? It depends on Workspace rules; my stance is responses within 30 minutes.

Purchased a Used Office Chair for Remote Work Base

Picking up a used Okamura Adfit office chair for a remote work base via Office Busters.

Shipping PCs With Yamato? Split Them Into Separate Parcels — Working Backward From the ¥300,000 Liability Cap

In a fully remote company, you ship PCs by courier all the time. When I send PCs with Yamato Transport, I deliberately split them into separate parcels even when they would fit in a single box. The reasons are the per-parcel liability cap and the risk of damage. Here is how I think about shipping PCs, working backward from that ¥300,000 limit.