Looking for executive function coaching?
Task prioritization. Time management. Organization. If that’s what brought you here, you’re in the right place. And I should be upfront: what I do is different from what you’re probably expecting.
I’m Michael Greenspan. Seven years a software engineer, nine years an engineering manager, now a coach for software engineers and tech leaders with ADHD. I work 1:1, remotely, from Toronto. We talk every two weeks, and you can reach me between conversations when something comes up. It starts with a few free conversations, to figure out whether and how I can help.
What you’re probably looking for
If you searched for executive function coaching, some version of this is likely true:
Everything feels like it’s falling through the cracks. The to-do system is a scattered pile of sticky notes, or a graveyard of abandoned apps. When someone asks “what did you work on this week?”, you draw a blank. Not because you did nothing. Your memory of it is just disorganized.
Prioritizing feels impossible when three urgent things land at once. The small gaps in the day, waiting on a build, waiting on a review, turn into an hour somewhere else. And underneath it all there’s a quiet pressure to always be producing, always be improving. It never lets up.
So the conclusion writes itself:
Here’s the thing: you’ve already tried that
The planners, the frameworks, the apps, the methods. You’re an engineer. Learning systems is not your problem. If a skills curriculum were the answer, one of them would have worked by now.
What I notice in conversations is that the skills usually aren’t the bottleneck. The bottleneck is autopilot: pushing harder, bullying yourself into action, reaching for the next fix without ever quite seeing what’s actually happening when the work gets hard.
So we don’t start with systems. We slow things down and get curious first. When does the overwhelm actually show up? What was different the week work felt calm? What is the procrastination responding to? It’s usually responding to something, and it’s more often ambiguity than laziness.
The work isn’t to fix you. It’s to understand you.
From here, this goes one of two ways
I won’t promise you a transformation. Here’s the honest version, in both directions.
If nothing changes, it compounds. The apps keep piling up, and so does the quiet shame of abandoning them. “I’m stuck” slowly turns into “I suck.” You push harder, and you trust yourself a little less each time.
If it does change, the ADHD doesn’t vanish. It stops running you. The “messy” habits become information instead of evidence against you. Sometimes the pile of scribbled notes turns out not to be a failure of organization at all. It’s a working system that needed a real home, and less shame attached to it.
You start telling the difference between too much work and too much ambiguity, and you know which one your overwhelm is pointing at. The pressure to fill every spare minute eases, and downtime starts counting as rest. What you’re left with is a running list of what actually works for you. Not for a template. For you.
Coaching, therapy, or another productivity system?
An honest sorting, because these get blurred together:
Therapy
Treats and heals. The right place for anxiety, depression, and the heavier weight some of us carry. Coaching doesn’t replace it, and some people do both.
Skills-based executive function coaching
Teaches structure and strategies. For some people that’s exactly right. If templates have kept failing you, though, more template probably isn’t the answer.
Productivity systems
Structure without self-knowledge. They work until they don’t, and then the failure feels like yours instead of the system’s.
This coaching
Works on the gap between knowing and doing. Self-awareness first, with someone who’s sat in the engineer’s chair and the manager’s chair, and knows what standups, code reviews, and performance cycles feel like with a brain that won’t follow the template.
How it works
A one-hour conversation every two weeks, remote. Between conversations you can reach me when something comes up, so you don’t sit with it alone for two weeks. Session recordings, transcripts and summaries are yours if you want them.
This is a relationship over time. Somewhere to come back to as things change, not a one-off. It starts with a few free conversations, to figure out whether and how I can help. Once we have a clearer picture of what we could create together, we talk about what working together could look like. If life intervenes, a new baby, a job change, travel, we adjust. The relationship comes first.
Small roster. Confidential by default. More on how I see this work →
Common questions
Is this executive function coaching?
Not in the usual sense. Executive function coaching typically teaches skills and systems: planners, prioritization frameworks, time-management methods. My work starts from a different place. We build self-awareness first, slowing down enough to see what’s actually happening when the work gets hard, and let the systems emerge from what you learn about yourself. The executive function improvements tend to show up anyway. They’re just not where we start.
Do I need an ADHD diagnosis to work with you?
No. Some of the engineers I speak with were diagnosed recently, some years ago, and some are still figuring it out. A diagnosis isn’t a prerequisite. If the patterns on this page sound like your working life, that’s enough of a reason to have a conversation.
What does the coaching cost?
The first few conversations are free, and they’re not a sales pitch. We use them to get to know each other and figure out whether and how I can help. Once we have a clearer picture of what we could create together, we talk about what working together could look like, including the investment.
How is coaching different from therapy?
Therapy often looks back to treat and heal. It’s the right place for trauma, anxiety, and depression, and coaching doesn’t replace it. Coaching looks at how you’re working right now, building the self-awareness to read your own patterns and respond deliberately instead of pushing harder. Some people do both at once.
I'm a senior engineer. Shouldn't I be able to handle this myself?
You’ve been handling it. That’s usually how people get to senior in the first place. But the strategies that got you here, working harder and hiding the struggle, tend to stop scaling right when responsibility grows. Working with someone who’s held those roles isn’t a step down from self-reliance. It’s usually the more deliberate move.
Where are you located, and do you work remotely?
I’m in Toronto, in the Eastern time zone, and all coaching happens remotely over video. I work with engineers across North America and beyond, and I’m flexible on scheduling across time zones.
Start with a conversation.
The first conversations are free and unscripted. I’ll learn what you’re struggling with and what you’re hoping will be different. You’ll get a sense of whether my approach fits. No pitch, no decision expected.
I read every inquiry personally.
Not ready for a conversation? The weekly reflection is the quiet way in: a short reflective exercise for engineers with ADHD, once a week.
Send me a weekly reflection