When I first started in 2021, there was no framework. I was just writing about the topics I was interested in and ideating rapidly on different projects.
Frameworks such as Zettelkasten and the PARA Method fascinated me. And even though at the time, I was doing a lot of things, I did not have what I would call now a system.
In the early days, most of my work involved creating and managing a diverse range of information artifacts – sketches on A4 paper, notebook entries, reading and annotating PDFs, and text files. I was reading, writing, and building things all the time. And I was changing directions quite erratically.
All these things I was doing, but for a long time, I did not have a direction.
It couldn’t be called ‘work.’ It was more like a scattered jumble of very small projects that did not cross the minimum 10 hours of consistent effort. Within days they would be forgotten on the arrival of newer ideas.
Sometimes, I felt my ideas were fantastic. For example, what if I had a Business Model Canvas that updated itself every time I created a new version of the model and what if I could see those snapshots of how it changed over time in a single interface. I did build something back then. But it rarely led to something tangible.
And then I was offering consultation, and I realized that I needed to track contact information, files, emails, transactions. If I lost a single detail, I could risk losing my credibility.
That thought was harrowing. But it was useful. That is how I realized that I needed a – system.
Systems are helpful. For example, they help us keep resources and inventories organized. The perception of having a stable and consistent pattern in the environment, the structural security – that impact cannot be ignored. At the end of the day, we want to close our eyes knowing that things are where they are supposed to be.
And so, by the end of a really chaotic phase, I finally told myself that it was time for me to become more ‘systematic’.
User Zero
Every system needs its user. I did not come up with my system as something to be sold as a course. I was facing a host of problems, and they were hurting a lot. The worst of them would probably be the lack of consistency.
Entrepreneurs need to be consistent about what they do and how they work. It matters how we approach our prospects and deliver our promises. Consistency can make or break a deal if we are not careful. Some call it branding. But I like to believe it goes deeper than that.
Consistency in performance, for example, can be critical to overall progress.
In my case, inconsistent levels of effort were hurting my progress. On some days, I would work for more than 12 hours, and then for the next 3 days, I would just be gone from the scene.
I do not believe sensible entrepreneurs willingly waste their own time. What is happening here under the hood is burnout.
To tackle the burnout, I needed to be consistent about how many hours I worked per day.
So I started tracking my time. I used a notebook and pen to track how much I was working on each day. Then I started tracking all this data in a spreadsheet.
All of this was painful at first. I was working long hours, but I was also meticulously tracking time in a notepad. The sheer level of cognitive load made the extra work feel totally unnecessary.
Yet I continued. From weeks to a few months – I collected that data. And then I saw a pattern.
It looked like, after spending about 19 hours of work (in a day or in several adjacent days), I needed to take a day off from work. When I did not, my body took revenge on me. I would experience severe mental burnout and wouldn’t be able to work at all.
That small discovery changed how I viewed work. There is a saying – “what gets measured gets managed.” I had come across the quote before. But after this discovery, I realised this was the key to systematic work.
That’s how it began.
A Short History of The Polymod Framework (and PolyOS)
The name ‘Polymod Framework’ was adopted in a hurry. It did not even have a name in the beginning.
Ever since that small discovery, I became serious about keeping logs. I was using just a notebook, a pen and a spreadsheet. I was keeping logs every day, meticulously tracking every work session.
There was a lot of friction. But it was good friction. Now that I could see that I had attempted 9 different projects in a matter of two weeks, it made me extremely aware of my hopping tendencies. Over time, it felt more and more inconvenient for me to keep hopping from one unfinished project to another.
Four years into this journey, I continued to do my work while meticulously keeping logs in parallel. I ended up building an extensive writing environment around it. There was a collection of analytical dashboards and reports that helped me measure, monitor and track projects and their progress. I even used techniques that would help me use AI to discover answers to obscure questions, and spot implicit patterns.
Eventually, this whole process started to feel like it had become its own thing.
I named the essence - ‘The Polymod Framework’, a short form of The Polymodular Framework. Much later, the toolchain I would develop received the name ‘PolyOS’ (short for The Polymodular Operating System).
I do not say it lightly when I call PolyOS my operating system. From the start of the day till the end of it, I use my operating system extensively. It has such a collection of curious use-cases. I could get creative with things like finding a specific file I worked on two years ago, or checking the updates of a project I have not returned to since last week. Getting that information conveniently from how I’ve set up my operating system increased my confidence in it.
To clarify, the Polymod Framework is a methodology that helps me work systematically. This is the kind of rigor you might see required for serious professional work. You might also find similar setups by autonomous individuals pursuing their interests to incredible depths.
In the beginning, the rate of progress with most operating systems can be very slow. It takes time to set something up and get it to return outputs at satisfying levels. But the good news is that once established, it is easier to automate systematic work. The PolyOS was built to do that.
The PolyOS (as of now) is a set of conceptually connected tools. Over the years, my choice of tools has changed slightly, but the underlying data structure remains untouched.
PolyOS is a bit opinionated – the tools used to build PolyOS, the spreadsheet, the code editors, the version control mechanism, is anchored in the principle of Data Sovereignty. I am a believer in the idea that users should own their data. This is why many of the PolyOS tools make use of plain-text formats such as .txt, .md, .csv and .yaml.
My vision for PolyOS is to build a tool ecosystem that can in sha Allah withstand the test of time – with resilience, extensibility and the support of compounding value.
The Why
“But what is the purpose of all this?”
The answer would be –
“to help users think.”
We have entered a period in history where tasks that only humans were capable of handling are being automated rapidly. On a positive note, this promotes our position from the level of ‘skilled workers’ to ‘thinker-builders’.
As entrepreneurs, we design systems. And designing systems, in my opinion, involves thinking. Very sharp, meticulous thinking.
We also need to execute. But that execution often involves testing hypotheses, problem-solving, and then making subtle changes to the output so that it matches the nuances of the standards and the requirements of our clients. That too requires thinking.
Over the years, I have curated a rather long list of use cases of the framework. Here are some of my favourite ones:
Sensemaking & Self-Guidance: Entrepreneurs need to make sense of the external world. But perhaps less attended to is the sensemaking of the internal world. Internal sensemaking requires asking simple questions such as “What did I do today?” or “What projects have I worked on since the start of the quarter?” Questions like these help us ground ourselves in execution. We do this in review sessions to see if our work has led to meaningful, tangible progress over time. The data is there, and the open-ended nature of how we can utilize this vast amount of personal data is where the true value of the framework gets unlocked.
Problem-Solving Support System: Entrepreneurs are problem-solvers. The key is in identifying the source of the problem, uncovering its nature and assessing its impact. The Polymod Framework ecosystem helps users do that. For example, users can use a special syntax called PolyMark to perform a granular linguistic analysis of a problem. The users can collect data on a specific context to understand what could be causing the issue. Finally, the project-management techniques used in log-keeping help users systematically break down a challenging problem and solve daunting monoliths using computational thinking.
Value Management: Although entrepreneurs add value through their work, it is rarely the case that they add value right away. Value addition happens in a multitude of layers. Often it would start with an observation or thought – the birth of an idea. But an idea in itself has no value. It has to be executed. Execution could go unnoticed if it is not communicated well. Value is generated and absorbed in each layer. The PolyOS offers useful reports and interfaces where a user can plan and track how value is generated different stages of a project.
Other use cases include (but are not limited to):
Self-Accountability -> Sustainable Progress: A PolyOS dashboard can help indicate if the user is overworking, or skipping days away from work. This visibility creates awareness. Awareness can create the drive for change. In the long-term, if the user chooses to act on the insight by setting a limit on daily work hours to protect energy, they create sustainable, compounding progress over time.
Documentation -> Decision Support: It is generally accepted that evidence-based decisions tend to have better outcomes. The Polymod Framework helps users document their work with minimal but highly structured input. The operating system creates dynamic documents that the user can use to audit the historical records of a specific project, helping the analysis and informed decision-making process.
Creative Ideation -> Portfolio Building: Ideas come to us all the time. It’s easy to be distracted by them. At the same time, ideas that we could have worked on might have led to incredible breakthroughs. The framework helps track ideas and executing them in projects that matter. Maintained well, users can develop a well-organized and detailed portfolio of their work.
Is the Polymod Framework / PolyOS for you?
Solopreneurs, Young and Early-Stage Entrepreneurs (SEYEs) are a curious crowd. They have great ideas, unique clarity into situations and are full of energy. Yet they are often underfunded, lagging in the necessary knowledge, skills and network to start building the vision they have.
SEYEs are not the only demographic I serve, but they are the primary concern of The Polymod Framework and The PolyOS. Being a solopreneur myself, I can empathize well with their challenges, and it helps in the development process.
I think it’s a positive trend (as of now) that more people are turning to entrepreneurship. On the flip side, since the competition is increasing every day, the risks of entering the scene without certain skills seem considerably high.
For example, think about the skills needed to keep information organized.
It doesn’t seem like a very critical aspect of work in the beginning. One may question the need for documentation, for example.
If there is revenue coming in without extra effort why bother with extensive documentation anyway?
Yet, several years later without documentation and proper organization, that thought starts to taste bitter.
Consider this well-accepted principle in The Polymod Framework:
Everything accumulates. Decisions, effort, knowledge, and even chaos. It’s a useful habit to keep things clean and organised whenever possible.
Sometimes lessons like these are learned too late. I take it as my job to point out small aspects like these whenever I get the opportunity. Forward-pushing activities are certainly important. Yet in order to scale while having the necessary control, those structures and systems are a much greater advantage in the long term.
Considering all these in the background, we may ask if the Polymod Framework and the PolyOS can be useful for you. I encourage you to consider the following:
- Do you have a vision that you’re determined to reach, even though you don’t know how right now?
- Are you an innovator? Do you enjoy getting to the nitty gritty of your work?
- Do you wear different hats and move up and down the ladder of abstraction in your work?
- Do you believe systematic work is more likely to be sustainable in the long term?
- Do you believe thinking matters, especially when designing good systems?
- Do you want to have a head start as a new entrepreneur?
Well, if you believe most of these are important this might be the right space for you. Perhaps the Polymod Framework would be useful in what you are trying to achieve.
Where to Go from Here
I thank you for taking the time to read this far. I have a feeling that you’re different from the usual crowd. Hopefully, you’re the kind of person I’d love to know, work with and learn from.
I encourage you to visit this blog often. When you do, engage actively with the ideas presented here, and see what you can adapt to your own work. I would love to hear what you find out.
Until then, let us pause here and return to what we do best.