Welcome to Verstreuen, meaning “to scatter.” Each week I share highlights from my Workframe system, the process I use to turn books and notes into structured insights. Here, scattered ideas find connection and become something worth sharing.

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🗃️ This Week’s Highlights

This week's notes come from 8 new additions to the Zettelkasten - here’s the three that stood out most to share with you:

🟨 Why experts make peace with luck.

🟦 Why balance is a myth - rhythm is what keeps you moving.

🟥 Why scale starts with structure - create the frame, then step back.

I’ve been getting back into chess recently. I’m not very good - maybe “competent amateur” on a good day - but it’s been a humbling reminder of how thin the line is between skill and luck.

You can prepare, calculate, and visualize all possible moves… and still win or lose because of a single overlooked detail or unexpected mistake. At first, that felt frustrating - like failing to control the game. But then I came across a line in The Biggest Bluff that reframed it.

The author, a professional poker player, describes the relationship between skill and chance:

Mastery, then, isn’t about eliminating uncertainty. It’s about learning how to work with it.

In chess, that has meant using patience as a strategic play - not forcing tactics, not chasing perfection, just playing competently and waiting, calmly, for opportunity.

It’s the same in life and work. You can’t rush good positions into existence. You prepare the ground, make solid moves, and stay alert for the moment chance opens a door.

At a certain level, progress stops being about control and starts being about rhythm.
You don’t beat chaos - you learn to let it work for you.

 📎 Takeaway: At a high competitive level mastery isn’t control - it’s learning to work with chaos.

—🗃️—

Lately, I’ve been experimenting with a new wave of AI developer tools - and the most surprising part isn’t what they do, but how they change the way I work.

Most of the time, I’m spinning them up and checking back when they finish or need attention. It reminds me of cooking: three burners going at once, each pan needing focus at different times - the whole thing humming in controlled chaos.

Howard Stevenson’s idea of juggling captures this dynamic. It’s not about holding everything at once - it’s about switching your attention to what needs you now and responding in kind.

That’s exactly what this new workflow feels like. I can launch a few automated processes, then shift into manual or creative work, and circle back as I hit natural pauses. It looks like multitasking, but it’s really about timing - a rhythm between doing and letting things run.

Even before AI, I worked this way without realizing it. My day usually starts by kicking off a few conversations or requests, then I drop into deeper work while those “process.” The loop continues. Inputs return. I respond. It’s not a system I designed, but a working style I’ve grown into.

The truth is, you can only focus on one thing at a time. But now, with tools that can handle real work, you can stay in motion - managing systems, focusing where it counts, and letting progress compound through timing.

📎 Takeaway: Juggling compounds your leverage - as long as you know which task needs your full attention next.

—🗃️—

If “juggling” is about motion, “managing” is about momentum - not by doing more, but by designing the space where work can happen without you.

We usually see limits as restrictive - time, scope, rules. But in reality, they’re what make collaboration possible.
They define where others can move, create, and contribute.

Lately, I’ve been thinking about this while building with Spec Kit, GitHub’s new toolkit for spec-driven development. Instead of starting with code, you start with a spec - a living frame that outlines what matters, what’s fixed, and what’s flexible.

Once that frame exists, AI agents (or teammates) can step in and fill the gaps with confidence. The work accelerates - not because you’re doing more, but because the system is now doing the moving.

That’s what good management really is: creating structure that invites participation.
The clearer the boundaries, the more freely others can build inside them.

The tighter the frame, the more confident the play.

📎 Takeaway: Design constraints that make autonomy possible.

—🗃️—

Closing Thoughts

Mastery isn’t about tightening your grip - it’s about widening your range.

You start by learning to move with randomness.
Then you learn to juggle multiple elements to stay in motion.
And eventually, you stop trying to do it all yourself - you design the frame so the system can scale with you.

That’s the real curve of work:
From mastery of skill → to mastery of rhythm → to mastery of structure.

Progress is what happens when you stop trying to play every note -
and start writing the score.

Thanks for reading Verstreuen! 👋 

Until next week
-GH

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