For the last several years I’ve been running classes teaching leaders how to design and trial 4-day workweeks. (Oddly, I have a very specific memory of putting together the roadmap for the course: it was during a long evening in Copenhagen, sitting in the common space at the Wakeup Hotel Borgergade, powered by a delicious cheeseburger from Gasoline Grill, which is rightly called one of the best burgers on the planet.)
A lot of it was based on my book Shorter, of course, but there were already a few organizations that were talking about how they had done it. So the essential roadmap has always been a bit like an introductory college course: everyone agrees on what basics need to be covered, we just differ on the readings and assignments and expertise.
Since then, I’ve revised and updated it several times, and many other programs and organizations have used a similar structure in their 4-day week programs. And the number of really good first-hand accounts from 4-day week veterans (including several written by my former students!) has only grown. The result is that there’s a big body of publicly-available writing of high quality, making it possible to create an open-source course that anyone can use to plan their 4-day week, for free.
Of course, I still think a class led by someone who’s worked with several hundred organizations, and who’s gathered a huge archive of primary materials and templates and workshop exercises, can deliver exceptional value. So the free class is to my regular programs as a cookbook or pattern is to a catered dinner or bespoke suit: you use the one if you want the experience of making your own; but if you want to draw on a deep well of expertise to create something made just for you, you choose the other.
Here’s the course. Enjoy, send feedback if you like, and tell your friends!
Wow impressive Alex and so generous of you! Lots of reading material! lol.
Thanks for your generosity - and for the burger tip.