Treat yourself as a product and write a “user manual” so collaborators do not have to guess how you work.
Raymond’s explanation
When someone buys a new appliance, they first read the user manual. But when working with a new colleague, people rarely provide their own “user manual.” The result is a lot of time spent guessing, testing, and adjusting. According to McKinsey research, knowledge workers spend 61% of their time communicating and collaborating, most of it inefficiently.
The WORK model is a framework Raymond designed to help someone quickly write a useful personal user manual:
- W — Who I am: Who are you? Your background, expertise, and work. Not a résumé, but a way for others to quickly understand your position.
- O — Operating style: Your working style. Are you an early riser or a night owl? Do you prefer written communication or meetings? When are your deep-work hours?
- R — Rules: Collaboration rules and boundaries. What helps you work most efficiently? What causes friction? For example, “Please don’t call during my deep-work hours.”
- K — Keep in touch: How can people contact you? Your preferred communication channels, expected response time, and how to reach you in an emergency.
The manual is not only useful for others to read; writing it is itself an exercise in deep self-understanding. Many people think they know themselves well, but research shows that more than 90% overestimate their self-knowledge. Writing it down helps reveal their actual work preferences.
Everyone on Raymond’s team has one in Notion. When a new collaborator joins, reading everyone’s manual saves 80% of the adjustment time.
Origin
An original framework by Raymond. The concept was inspired by Ivar Kroghrud’s personal user-manual practice, reported by The New York Times in 2013, and team cultures at technology companies such as Slack and ByteDance.
Where it has been discussed
Course scripts
- 27 | How to Write a Useful Personal User Manual — a full guide to the WORK model, with an action exercise
Articles
- 2024-10-02_Raymond Hou’s User Manual — a real example
Related concept pages
- Time Management — the WORK model as a team-efficiency strategy
- Communication and Expression — a tool for reducing communication friction