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A technique is one concrete move. Each technique below belongs to one of the four postulates of Dojo, is defined once, and is combined into methods in the Articles. Terms are explained in the Glossary.
The first postulate of Dojo. Attention is scarce, requests are infinite, and only one of the two can be scheduled.
Reserve one hour every day and mark it “Busy”. An unlabeled hour is an available hour.
Accept a new recurring meeting only if it displaces an existing one. A calendar is a container of fixed volume.
Read messages at fixed times, for example 11:00, 14:00 and 16:30. Anything truly urgent will be sent again.
Set the status to “In a focus session”. A status is a sign on a door, and a door sign needs no explanation.
A request received in the morning is answered after lunch, unless it contains the word “outage”.
Leave a gap between consecutive meetings. It is the only unscheduled working time of the day.
Assign a colleague as the primary contact for the duration of a focus session. The Dojo Fog of Responsibility ensures every request reaches a destination in due course.
Do not justify a focus session. An explanation invites negotiation.
The second postulate of Dojo. The state of work stays legible to observers, so the team can continue working without being asked how it is going.
Name one task for the day in the morning update. A declared task is a defended task.
A nod every 45–60 seconds signals continuous comprehension. Too fast reads as agreement with everything, too slow as disengagement.
Type intermittently regardless of content. Typing is read as capturing insight, even when it is a grocery list.
Before any question directed at the room, wait one beat longer than everyone else before looking away. The pause reads as deliberation, not hesitation.
Frame your face slightly off-center with a fixed, mild expression. Too close reads as intensity, too far as absence.
A single emoji reaction to someone else's point, timed 8–12 seconds after they finish, substitutes for a verbal contribution while carrying none of its risk.
Unmute once early, audibly, without speaking — a cough, a throat clear. It establishes presence and preempts any “are you still there” check.
In the final five minutes, begin gathering your things audibly. This signals the meeting has concluded in your mind before it has concluded on the agenda.
Mark a dormant task “Awaiting input”. An accurate status preserves trust, and the input is not expected.
Distribute many small digital actions: ten comments on a design, three edits to a ticket description, one emoji per message. None changes the substance; together they make the state of work legible at a glance.
The third postulate of Dojo. Agreement is reached through short written exchanges, so consensus arrives without requiring anyone to be present for it.
Answer any invitation without an agenda with one question: “What decision is expected?” A large share of invitations end here.
When consensus is requested, wait for the second-most senior voice to agree first, then nod in their direction. Never be first or last to visibly concur.
Do not send a follow-up message summarizing your thoughts. A summary implies you had thoughts to summarize, which invites scrutiny.
Send the requester a single precise question. Most questions are answered by the task becoming irrelevant.
The fourth postulate of Dojo. Work that no longer delivers value is retired in an orderly way.
Cite an external dependency outside the reach of the team: an unstable test environment, pending access rights, a national holiday at the vendor. The task is placed on hold with full legitimacy, because a blocker that cannot be reached cannot be questioned.
If nobody has asked about a task in 14 days, record the date. Silence is data.
Lower the priority by one level, never by two. A two-level drop attracts a discussion.
Reorganizations, priority shifts and quarter changes each retire tasks without any action. Plan the wait around them.
The backlog is a dignified resting place where tasks are archived by time rather than by decision.
A task closed by hand requires an explanation. A task closed by the system requires only the system.
Write one line: “Superseded by priority change.” This line is the only artifact the task leaves.