Alright so today I wanna talk about this “factory team” thing I tried setting up. Basically got tired of spinning my wheels trying to do stuff alone.
Starting Simple
So anyway, I noticed my projects just weren’t moving. Kept opening the laptop, staring at blank screens, scrolling cat videos instead. You know how it goes. Needed something different. Heard people talking about building “human factory teams” for accountability. Sounded like hype, but desperate times, right?
Reached out to two friends first – Tom and Emma. Tom writes code, Emma draws stuff. Just sent ’em a dumb message: “Hey, anyone else drowning in their own to-do list? Wanna try being factory machines together?” Surprisingly, they both said yes immediately. Guess misery loves company.
Setting Up The Machine
Figured we needed simple rules. Real simple. Made a group chat called “Widget Factory Floor”. Rules were stupid easy:
- Every weekday morning at 9:30 sharp, all three gotta check in. Just say “punching in”. Late? Better have a good excuse.
- Work sprints: Set a timer for 50 minutes. Head down. No distractions.
- Quick check-ins after each sprint: What got done? What blocked you? One sentence each. No essays.
- Done for the day? Gotta “punch out”. Tell the group you’re clocking out.
That’s it. No complicated tools, just us and our phones. Honestly felt kinda ridiculous saying “punching in” every morning like some factory drone.
First Week: Pain & Gain
Day one? Disaster. Tom overslept. Emma forgot. Second day? Tom punched in on time, Emma late but still joined, I actually managed half a sprint before getting sucked into emails. Felt like herding cats. Almost gave up.
But by day three… weird thing happened. Knowing Tom and Emma were waiting made me actually set that 9:30 alarm. Saw Emma message “punching in” while brushing my teeth. Thought, crap, can’t be the lazy one. Opened my design file first thing. That tiny bit of “they’ll see if I flake” pressure? It worked.
Got my first decent sketch done during sprint two. Sent a pic to the group. Emma fired back her progress screenshot. Felt weirdly good. Like actual momentum.
Where It Stands Now
Two weeks in. Still feels awkward sometimes. Tom still complains every morning. My cat still tries to sabotage every sprint by sitting on the keyboard. Some days we barely scrape by.
BUT. We haven’t missed a single morning check-in since that first week. Emma shipped two illustration sets. Tom finally fixed that bug he avoided for months. I actually finished redesigning my portfolio section. Small wins, but tangible. Way more than I managed alone. That 9:30 kick in the pants actually gets me moving.
Is it magic? Hell no. Meetings still suck. Distractions still happen. But having two other grumpy human “machines” waiting? Somehow makes me feel less dumb grinding away. Less alone in the chaos. We ain’t perfect robots. Just three folks punching in, grinding a bit, punching out. Making widgets one messy sprint at a time.
