TL;DR
Automattic is running an internal experiment called Radical Speed Month. For one month, two-person teams get full autonomy to build and ship projects without the usual approval processes. I’m paired with Matthias Reinholz, and we’re using the time to run an experiment we’re calling Flavor.
What is Radical Speed Month?
For one Month, Automattic is running a radical internal experiment. Two-person teams get full autonomy to build and ship without the usual approval processes. No design reviews, no product sign-off, no marketing sign-off.
It’s a structured experiment to find out what small pairs can do when the normal approval chain is suspended. I want to find out for myself.
For me, this is also a test of how I work. My default mode as a PM is cross-functional teams, stakeholders, long feedback loops. Stripping all of that away is half the experiment.
Who I’m working with
My partner for the month is Matthias Reinholz. He works on partnerships and strategic projects. We’ve crossed paths at WordCamps and Cloudfest, but never built anything together until now.
What I’m most curious about is the working rhythm. No standing meetings, no shared rituals, no trained handoff patterns. Just two people trying to ship together.
Why I’m in
The reason I signed up is the problem we picked.
Launching a blog or a site is easy nowadays. It’s the 10th, the 50th, the 100th post where things break down. Not because ideas don’t exist. Because the speed and adaptiveness required to keep up get brutal. Different channels. Different audiences. Different tones. Different formats. Every day.
Most creators and publishers I talk to hit the same wall. They have the voice. They have the sources. They don’t have the system to turn signals into the next post, fast, consistently, on brand.
What we’re exploring
We’re calling the experiment Flavor.
The direction we want to explore: what if you could bring your sites, your styleguides, and the sources you trust into one place, and have the tool match those sources to the right outlet, plug into your stack through integrations, and help you discover even more? The bet is that this kind of setup lets creators move fast and stay adaptive when syndicating new content, across every site they run.
Our first signal set is the obvious one: blogs, news outlets, influencers, and press rooms. On top of that, we want to suggest angles and formats you can make your own on each channel.
This is an experiment. Some experiments turn into products. Others turn into lessons. Both outcomes are useful.
Help us shape this
If you’re a content creator, a publisher, or run multiple sites, I want to hear from you.
What’s the hardest part about finding stories worth publishing? Which sources do you actually trust? What formats do you wish existed in your workflow? Where does your current editorial pipeline break down?
Drop a comment below, or ping me on LinkedIn. Your input goes straight into what we build next.
Leave a Reply