Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout

Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout by Cal Newport

In factory work, productivity is easily measured by widgets produced and time spent working. Knowledge work is different. However, we try to focus on the same productivity measures. We often force ourselves to keep busy and spend time doing lots of things. However, this business can distract us from actually being productive. Newport encourages us to take breaks and not overly schedule. We can allocate a meeting-free time when we can work. Or we can give ourselves one chunk of time for our own work for every chunk we devote to helping others. It helps to communicate well with others. We can list what we have on our plate and when they can expect to have things finished. Going outside our fields can be helpful for inspiration. (As an example, a writer might second-guess himself when reading other books. However, movies can provide creative insight without self-criticism.) It is also important to scheduled breaks and downtime. Especially in knowledge work, time spent working does not equate with productivity.

Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World

Cal Newport advocates an "Amish" approach to modern technology. On the surface, the Amish appear to reject much of modern technology. However, it is actually a very thoughtful decision process. Any new technology is evaluated for the benefit that it can provide for the community. Cars were seen to have a negative impact, so they were not adopted. Electricity is fine, but connecting to the grid is not due to the external dependency. 

In our lives, social media and modern internet technology can have benefits, but it can also have a very negative impact in our lives. Conflicting studies of social media bear that out. There are bits of social interaction that help. However, the entire ecosystem is designed to suck us in and be obsessed with the "likes" of others. We can spend so much time with these "digital friends" that we don't have time to spend with our real world friends.

News sites, games and other internet activities can also be negative. We may intend to just spend a few minutes, but we end up following links down rabbit holes. Or we may play just "one more round" of a game. The phone is easily accessible and ready to suck more of our time. It has lead to reduction in the "complex" social interaction that help us thrive as people.

Newport recommends we quit all "optional" online internet usage for one month. Anything that is not absolutely required should be stopped. Work email should probably still be checked. Facebook, probably not. After the month, any valuable activities can be added back in with a strict look at the goal and benefit provided. Other alternatives can be explored. Maybe it is better to read a physical newspaper. Perhaps calling a friend would be better than following facebook. Or maybe a short time window is allocated for social media. The solution is different for each person. Some people may even go to extreme of using a dumb phone. The goal is to get the benefits from new media without suffering the extreme costs.  

A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload

Email encourages originally started out as a means for users of a multi-user mainframe to be able communicate with each other. Since then, it has grown to become ubiquitous in business. Email has helped make some forms of communication easier. However, it has also created numerous problems. It is easy to write a short email that demands significant effort for response. The availability of email also encourages responses at all hours. The rapid asynchronous communication has become an integral part in the "interactive hive mind" culture. Alas, this culture is an inefficient use of time by knowledge workers.

Email is the titular focus of the book. However, it is a stand in for all forms of general electronic communications, including tools like Slack. They all enable us to communicate with others in an always available fashion. This ends up disrupting our work process. Knowledge workers end up spending a great deal of time dealing with urgent non-important tasks, and little time on their core work.

The author provides a buffet of alternatives, with different ones applicable to specific situations. The goal is to allow people to focus on the tasks that they do best. Technology has enabled people to "acceptably" do almost anything. However, that does not mean it is the best use of their time. Hiring somebody to manage a calendar and schedule meeting can save a large amount of time. Many other tasks, such as booking travel or creating powerpoints may be more effectively outsourced to specialists. Setting limits on accessibility can also help. Experts may have only specific "office hours" when they are available to answer questions. Setting expectations of responsiveness in advance helps to eliminate the expectation of quick response and allow people to focus. Software development concepts such as Agile development with Scrum and Kanban or "Extreme Programming" can also be applied more generally. Working "harder" and "shorter" is often much more productive than working "longer."

Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World

Deep Work has a very simple theoretical base: knowledge workers need "Deep" concentrated work to be the most productive. Many of the things that we spend our time doing in the day distract from this. Email interrupts our chain of thought. We feel the desire to respond immediately to things that come up. We are also consumed with other easy shallow work tasks and activities from booking travel to following news and social media. Many of these bits of "shallow work" are not bad in themselves. However, they do not help us to achieve our goals. The author proposes that instead of evaluating these tasks for "goodness", we instead put a harder criteria. Is this needed for achieving my goals? Is this better use of my time than other things. Many of the shallow tasks we think we need may not be so necessary after all. Responding to emails at all hours is something that is often thought to be important but usually proves not to matter. We can also reign in our availability. Be willing to say no. Give actionable responses to prevent endless back and forth. 

Deep work can be hard and mentally draining. It can also be difficult to find time to do it. There are different strategies that can be used appropriately allocate our time. By being more cognisant of how we are using our time, we can ensure we are making better use of it. We often think we have a shortage of time only to find we spend most of our time multitasking among unimportant tasks. I have had experiences where just planning a few important things to do can be extremely helpful. It becomes easy to accomplish everything with focus. Without the focus, there is a tendency to waffle around  and get distracted - and not accomplish nearly as much. There is still a need to do many of the "shallow" tasks. However, by prioritizing deep work, much more can be accomplished in less time.