Jason Fried is one of the co-founders of the software as a service company 37 Signals and gives a good pep talk in this video that is sure to resonate with anyone that works in a typical office with more than a handful of employees in it.
He believes the modern workplace is “optimized for interruptions and interruptions are the enemy of work.” Work is like sleep in that we can’t immediately fall asleep and we can’t immediately get work done. There is a period of ramp up time before real work starts but there are so many distractions in the office that it makes it nearly impossible to stay in the flow of doing real work.
Jason plugs a few of 37 Signals software tools such as Campfire which allow employees to work with each other and communicate in an efficient manner without interrupting each others work flow. He also gives a few good jabs at managers who make a job out of interrupting the employees rather than just letting them work.
One more thing. If your managers suck and they keep interrupting all the time or at the wrong time or don't respect your time and that it is a failure when they interrupt you, then you have a sucky manager and he's probably not even going to log into campfire or whatever, he'll just ask or interrupt anyways, so I think the biggest problem with interruptions is lack of respect for interruptions and stupid managers.
Ok, I agree with some of what he's saying, he says: "It can wait a day". Well, yes. In theory.
The truth of the matter is that if you're doing actual client work, you have to contact the client, then you might have to pinball things with your programmer or your designer or whatever, those things take time. If they all wait a day, and the client waits a day for you, before you know it, it's been a week. Maybe two weeks, and you don't have a clue why it took so long. This is just one example.
Of course this totally depends on what line of work you're in, but that's maybe my point. Not all companies are 37signals working on a SaaS product.
If you take a week to respond and do something for your client and your competitor does it in a day, you're going to lose.
Of course reducing interruptions is paramount for any business, but you can't get rid of them completely in most fields. You just have to control the interruptions, learn to distinguish between important and not so important stuff, keep as much communication in an asynchronous manner as possible, but when you need something asap, you need it asap.
Not in my case. In fact, doctors appointments, haircuts & family gatherings etc provide my main imputes for shaving -- or when the stubble starts getting trapped in my phone :)
This was basically his Startup School talk. He definitely has many great points but I question a few. Such as, using IM as a replacement for speaking directly to a coworker within an office. How can this be more efficient? I don't see it.
I didn't watch the video, but you can ignore IMs or reply to them later, not unlike emails, but much less so when someone is talking to you face to face.
I have a job where the office is IRC. Right out of the gate, using chat isn't more efficient. But after a period of adjustment, I would say about a month it becomes natural and just as efficient in most cases as having a face to face conversation.
I would say where it doesn't work well is when you need to discuss a lot of details. I think having meetings occasionally (on the phone or face to face) makes sense. It help gives a broader view on the project. I think Jason is referring more to having meetings every day. Often it simply isn't useful.
Much of our collaboration/communication is done over IM. The problem with IM is that they still expect a reasonably instant reply. Sure, you can ignore it but then you'll just get an email and/or a phone call.
As a preference though, I prefer to talk to people face-to-face so you can see if they're too busy/stressed etc.
Asynchronous communication, including IM, is usually more efficient than interruption iff the question of the moment is not urgent (in the truest sense) and the recipient is busily engaged in getting other things done. <insert I/O analogy of your choice here>.
For me, it is important to personally know my coworker. You cannot do that with chat.
I disagree. My employer's development group (only six people) is split between Pittsburgh and Santa Cruz, CA. Most of my work is with one of the programmers in the California office. I have spent probably a total of three weeks with this person (over three years), but I'd argue we have a very good working relationship, and a good friendship.
[+] [-] hnsummary|16 years ago|reply
Jason Fried is one of the co-founders of the software as a service company 37 Signals and gives a good pep talk in this video that is sure to resonate with anyone that works in a typical office with more than a handful of employees in it.
He believes the modern workplace is “optimized for interruptions and interruptions are the enemy of work.” Work is like sleep in that we can’t immediately fall asleep and we can’t immediately get work done. There is a period of ramp up time before real work starts but there are so many distractions in the office that it makes it nearly impossible to stay in the flow of doing real work.
Jason plugs a few of 37 Signals software tools such as Campfire which allow employees to work with each other and communicate in an efficient manner without interrupting each others work flow. He also gives a few good jabs at managers who make a job out of interrupting the employees rather than just letting them work.
http://hnsummary.com/2010/03/29/why-you-cant-work-at-work/
[+] [-] arnorhs|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] arnorhs|16 years ago|reply
The truth of the matter is that if you're doing actual client work, you have to contact the client, then you might have to pinball things with your programmer or your designer or whatever, those things take time. If they all wait a day, and the client waits a day for you, before you know it, it's been a week. Maybe two weeks, and you don't have a clue why it took so long. This is just one example.
Of course this totally depends on what line of work you're in, but that's maybe my point. Not all companies are 37signals working on a SaaS product.
If you take a week to respond and do something for your client and your competitor does it in a day, you're going to lose.
Of course reducing interruptions is paramount for any business, but you can't get rid of them completely in most fields. You just have to control the interruptions, learn to distinguish between important and not so important stuff, keep as much communication in an asynchronous manner as possible, but when you need something asap, you need it asap.
Sorry for the long winded response.
[+] [-] zacharydanger|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nickpp|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hopeless|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] froo|16 years ago|reply
It takes about 2 weeks (maybe 10 days, I haven't measured it exactly) to get something akin to a 5 o'clock shadow.
The downside is my face gets itchy often, which sucks to code with as its a huge distraction.
[+] [-] patrickryan|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hboon|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] CitizenKane|16 years ago|reply
I would say where it doesn't work well is when you need to discuss a lot of details. I think having meetings occasionally (on the phone or face to face) makes sense. It help gives a broader view on the project. I think Jason is referring more to having meetings every day. Often it simply isn't useful.
[+] [-] hopeless|16 years ago|reply
As a preference though, I prefer to talk to people face-to-face so you can see if they're too busy/stressed etc.
[+] [-] astrec|16 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dannyr|16 years ago|reply
If coworkers know each other, there's a degree of comfort to be much more open and honest to each other without taking offense.
[+] [-] bmj|16 years ago|reply
I disagree. My employer's development group (only six people) is split between Pittsburgh and Santa Cruz, CA. Most of my work is with one of the programmers in the California office. I have spent probably a total of three weeks with this person (over three years), but I'd argue we have a very good working relationship, and a good friendship.
[+] [-] Hexstream|16 years ago|reply
Usability FAIL.
[+] [-] jrockway|16 years ago|reply