At Causify, we have always believed that how a team works matters just as much as what they work on. We have adopted ideas from Come Up for Air, a book focused on helping teams escape the chaos of modern work by building better systems. What we found resonated deeply with the challenges we face as a growing company, and we have been putting several of its core ideas into practice.

What appealed to us was not the promise of perfect productivity, but the idea that better systems can reduce unnecessary friction. Like any operational change, these practices come with tradeoffs. They require discipline, consistency, and a willingness to change habits that may feel easier in the moment.

Building Around the CPR Framework#

One of the central ideas in the book organizes team efficiency into three pillars: Communication, Planning, and Resources. We use this three-part lens to shape how Causify operates across every level of the organization.

Communication determines how information flows between people.#

Planning determines how work gets prioritized, assigned, and completed.#

Resources determine how knowledge is captured and made accessible to#

everyone who needs it.

When all three work well together, the team spends less energy managing chaos and more energy delivering results. The fix is not working harder. It is fixing the system.

Separating the Right Communication into the Right Tools#

We route communication by type, and that discipline makes a significant difference in how smoothly the team operates. Email is reserved for clients, vendors, external partners, and major company announcements. Internal conversations happen in Slack, organized by team and topic so discussions stay focused and easy to follow. Project discussions live directly on tasks in our work management platforms such as GitHub and Asana, keeping context tied to the work itself rather than scattered across inboxes. This structure means that when someone needs information, they know exactly where to look. People spend less time searching and more time acting.

Fixing the Information Scavenger Hunt#

We organize information so it can be found, not just sent. At Causify, decisions, processes, and important updates go into our knowledge base as a habit, rather than getting buried in chat threads or lost in one-off messages. This reflects a core principle from the book: the speed at which information can be retrieved is just as important as the speed at which it is shared. A fast message that cannot be found later has limited value. A well-organized knowledge base compounds in value over time, reducing repeated questions, accelerating onboarding, and giving every team member a reliable place to turn when they need answers. It takes a little more time upfront, but it saves far more time across the team in the long run.

Protecting Focus Time#

Causify operates with a communication culture that does not demand immediate responses. We recognize that interruptions are not just minor inconveniences. Being pulled out of focused work carries a real cost, and when that happens repeatedly across a team, the cumulative impact on quality and output is significant. Notifications are batched rather than acted on immediately. People are encouraged to protect uninterrupted blocks of time for work that requires full attention. We distinguish between what is genuinely urgent and what just feels urgent in the moment. This approach has helped our team develop the kind of deep focus that produces better thinking, stronger work, and more creative solutions.

Automating the Repetitive#

Recurring reports, follow-up reminders, status updates, and onboarding steps are handled through automation at Causify. We actively look for tasks that happen repeatedly and follow a predictable pattern, then systematically remove them from people's plates. The mindset is straightforward: if a computer can handle a task reliably and consistently, a person's time and energy are better spent elsewhere. Automation also reduces the risk of things slipping through the cracks, since systems do not get distracted, forget steps, or have off days. The cumulative effect is a team that carries less cognitive load and has more capacity for creative, strategic, and relationship-driven work that genuinely moves the business forward.

Saying No as a Productivity Strategy#

We are intentional about which work Causify takes on and how it is distributed across the team. Saying yes to everything might feel productive in the moment, but an overcommitted team rarely does its best work. We evaluate tasks honestly and ask whether each one needs to be done at all, whether it needs to be done now, and whether it needs to be done by the person currently holding it. Some tasks get eliminated. Others get delegated to the right person. Others get deferred until the timing makes sense. This discipline keeps the team focused on the work that has the greatest impact and ensures that when we commit to something, we have the capacity to do it well.

Recognizing the Tradeoffs#

None of these changes are free. Routing communication more deliberately can feel slower at first, especially for teams used to solving everything through quick messages and constant responsiveness. Writing things down in a knowledge base takes more effort in the moment than sending a chat. Protecting focus time can also mean that answers are not always immediate, and stronger prioritization inevitably means some work gets delayed or declined.

But these tradeoffs are intentional. We are choosing a way of working that favors clarity over constant reaction, durability over convenience, and long-term effectiveness over short-term busyness. The goal is not to remove all friction. It is to remove the kind of friction that drains time and attention without adding value.

The Results#

The biggest change has been greater clarity in how work moves through the organization. People have a better sense of where communication belongs, where to find decisions and documentation, and what deserves immediate attention versus what can wait. That has reduced unnecessary context switching and made day-to-day execution more predictable.

We have also seen practical benefits in areas that matter across any growing team. Fewer questions get asked repeatedly because information is easier to retrieve. Project context is easier to follow because conversations live closer to the work itself. Onboarding is smoother when knowledge is documented rather than passed along informally. And when routine steps are automated, people have more time for the work that requires judgment, creativity, and deep focus.

These changes do not eliminate pressure or make work effortless. But they do create more breathing room, more consistency, and a stronger operating foundation. For us, that is the real value. The point is not just to be more efficient. It is to build a company that can scale how it works without scaling confusion alongside it.

A note on attribution: The ideas in this post are inspired by Come Up for Air by Nick Sonnenberg. The frameworks and concepts belong to the author. What follows is our own interpretation and how we are applying them at Causify. We strongly recommend reading the original book.

References#

• Sonnenberg, Nick. Come Up for Air: How Teams Can Leverage Systems and Tools to Stop Drowning in Work. HarperCollins Leadership, 2023.
• Official website: https://comeupforair.com/
• Additional resources: https://comeupforair.com/come-up-for-air-book/resources/