Buffer stopped writing status updates, dropped the PM-to-design-to-engineering handoff, and gave up on quarterly planning. Kateryna Porshnieva, Head of Engineering Operations at Buffer, explains what AI actually replaced inside their engineering, product and design teams, what they pulled back on, and the one rule that keeps it honest: a human is always accountable, never the agent.
Episode one of Less Work, a show about the busywork AI really removes, told by the people who removed it.
The Steal:
• System: make one tool the hub. Every Linear project links to its Slack channel, every issue to its pull request.
• Rule: a human is always accountable for the outcome. The agent never is.
• Tool: Granola on a team plan, so every meeting is searchable.
0:00 Cold open
0:57 Meet Kateryna
1:51 What engineering operations does
4:52 Operations is not process
7:56 Where AI shows up at Buffer
9:54 The handoffs that disappeared
11:13 The feedback workflow one PM built
15:20 Easier to produce, harder to review
17:56 Touch grass: work spilling over
18:41 Why a quarter is too long
20:05 The busywork that's gone
22:23 How a new tool goes Buffer-wide
25:15 Buffer's tool stack
27:12 Linear as the hub
28:41 Healthy skepticism and accountability
31:34 Build week and the stewards
32:53 Quick fire round
40:00 Wrap-up
Show notes, quotes and every tool mentioned: https://lesswork.substack.com/
Tools from the episode: https://toolfinder.com
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