his oct 2010 TEDxMidwest:
10 years research asking where do you get work done, 3 types of answers:
place: the porch, the deck, the kitchen, the coffeeshop, the library
moving thing: the plane, train, car, commute
time: early in the am or late at night
hardly anyone said at the office
esp with creative people.. they need long stretches of uninterrupted time
even though the work day is 8 hours.. when's the last time you had 1 hour to yourself at the office
that's why people choose to do work at home.. or go to all those other places
short bursts of time to get things done - like sleep
work and sleep are very related - phase/stage based (sleep has 5)
in order to get to the deep ones - you can't get interrupted, otherwise you start all over at phase 1 or 2
you don't go to sleep, you go toward sleep
you don't expect people to sleep well if interrupted, same should be true for work
what's different about work interruptions
turns out - voluntary distractions (tv/walk/etc) are not the main problem
but involuntary ones are:
facebook, twitter, youtube are not involuntary distractions (moder day smoke breaks) - those aren't the real problems
the real problems... the m&m's
the managers and the meetings
all the places people do get things done - you don't find m&m's
managers job - to interrupt people... they don't do the work, so they have to make sure others do the work - which is an interruption (wow - too true for teachers in a classroom - me included)
meetings called by managers - they aren't spontaneous mtgs by employees.. what are the changes all 10 or so employees are ready to stop
meetings aren't work, they are places you go talk about things you're supposed to do later
they cost a lot... and they procreate.. a 1 hour mtg with 10 people is a 10 hr meeting
suggestions for remedy:
1) no talk thursdays - or afternoon first thurs of month (a tremendous amount of work will get done) - giving someone 4 hours of uninterrupted time is incredibly valuable
2) switching from active communication (mtgs, etc) with more passive models (emails, im, etc) - yes emails are distracting but per your own schedule..
3) if there is a mtg coming up - cancel it.. don't move it.. just forget about it and you'll find out you'll be just fine.
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