This isn’t a productivity newsletter
A short note before the first issue.
This newsletter is for software engineers with ADHD who are tired of being at war with themselves at work.
Over the past year, I’ve had dozens of conversations with thoughtful, capable software engineers with ADHD. Different roles, different companies.
But I noticed that the same pattern keeps showing up.
Something goes off.
A task slips.
A moment doesn’t go the way it should.
And even after the situation is dealt with, the hardest part sticks around.
“The worst part isn’t the mistake — it’s how much I can’t stop hating myself afterward.”
That’s the moment this newsletter is about.
ADHD isn’t just a productivity problem.
It’s often a relationship-with-self problem, especially at work.
Each week, I explore one real ADHD-at-work moment from the inside:
where shame shows up,
where clarity drops,
and where execution quietly gets harder — not because of the work, but because of what’s happening internally.
We won’t focus on tips, hacks, or advice.
Because you’ve tried them all already, and if they worked, you wouldn’t be here.
Instead, we slow the moment down — especially the part most advice skips — and look at what happens when the self-attack isn’t driving everything.
— Michael