Just found this TEDxMidwest talk by 37Signals founder Jason Fried, where he makes a great case that the typical office isn't the best place to get real work done. He touches on something I find fascinating, the serial, phased nature of dreaming and how it relates to ideation and creativity.
Jason is a fan of coworking as well. If you haven't tried working from someplace different, join us on a First Friday for just a little while, and try it.
The M&Ms
He makes an eloquent case about home having fewer, less damaging distractions than the average workplace. And M&Ms - Managers and Meetings - as the worst involuntary interrupters, are PAID to interrupt.My favorite quote: "Meetings are terrible, toxic, poisonous things." Expensive to the organization, talking about stuff that should happen, rather than doing actual productive work, too many people attending, and usually scheduled for much too long a period.
His 3 Productivity-Enhancing Suggestions
- No-Talk Thursdays. Just the first Thursday, just in the afternoon. Just silence. An uninterrupted period to allow people to focus. Four hours of quiet time is the best gift you can give.
- Encourage assymmetrical communications. Instead of face-to-face or phone, which interrupt, encourage the use of eMail and collaboration products like Basecamp that allow people to consume information when they're ready for it.
- Cancel one recurring meeting. And find that those meetings you think are indispensable, aren't.
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