1st Sept 2026: An Increase in Membership Prices
Commoncog is increasing membership prices on 1st September 2026. If you’d like to lock in the old prices, you should probably sign up before then.
Commoncog
Commoncog helps you get good at business faster. Read by 9k+ investors and operators.
Latest posts
What Does It Look Like When You Handle Disruption Well?
Announcing a new series about people and businesses handling disruption well (or badly). Why are we doing this? Well, that’s hopefully going to be obvious to you.
Tactical Decision Game with John Schmitt
Aug 13 2026 9am-12pm CDT / 10pm-12am SGT. A live tactical decision game with the creator of Tactical Decision Games, John Schmitt. TDGs are an accelerated expertise training format developed for the US Marines. Schmitt has kindly agreed to run a TDG and to take questions from the membership.
How Moats are Built
Building a moat is the difference between having fun with business, vs eating glass all day, every day, for years. This is how moats are actually built.
Using the Quartz Crisis to Make Sense of Technological Disruption
Also: the quartz crisis isn’t really about quartz at all. A sensemaking exercise for those who want to get better at making sense of possible AI disruption.
A Retrospective on Goldratt’s Thinking Tools
Some notes on a series of members-only workshops on Eliyahu Goldratt’s Thinking Tools, presented by Roger Williams.
Did Quartz Really Kill the Swiss Watch Industry in the 70s?
What happens when a case you commissioned turns out to be based on a mainstream narrative ... that’s false!
Cate Hall Q&A on Agency
Jun 7 2026 6-7pm PDT / Jun 8 2026 9am-10am SGT. Cate Hall joins Commoncog members to talk about agency, the topic of her new book You Can Just Do Things.
Sensemaking as the Heart of Expertise
A demonstration of how training sensemaking is a path to accelerated expertise.
Reflections on the Software Dark Factory Q&A
Some thoughts from watching a demo of a Software Dark Factory.
Software Dark Factory Q&A
Jun 1 2026 8-9pm PT / Jun 2 11am-12pm SGT. Jay Taylor and Navan Chauhan will give a presentation of a real software dark factory for members. This Q&A will be moderated by James Cham of Bloomberg Beta.
There are Many Configurations of Business That Work
Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to give up your life to build a successful business. Though what success means, and what ‘giving up your life’ means depends on you.
Live Goldratt Thinking Tools Workshop with Roger Williams
May 23, 30, Jun 6, 13, 20 2026 8am-9am EDT / 8pm-9pm SGT. Roger Williams teaches how he uses Eliyahu Goldratt’s Thinking Tools.
How to Improve at Sensemaking AI?
What we can learn from the disorienting changes hitting the software industry, and how we can use that to improve at sensemaking this uncertain new technology.
How Experts Sensemake
Two decades ago, the US military funded some research into how humans sensemake. This piece is about that theory — the best theory of sensemaking that we have — why it matters for expertise, and how you can apply it to make sense of AI.