Creative Reaction

It’s no secret that I am a big fan of 37signals, and it made my day when this TED Video was posted. 37signals’ Jason Fried explains the sad irony that people do not find their offices to be the place where they actually get work done. He blames both managers and meetings – two involuntary forces that interrupt work. Creative people (including engineers and developers) need blocks of uninterrupted time.

Managers, you owe it to yourselves and your employees to watch Jason’s presentation and rethink the way you manage.

Interruptions, at the very least, cause a loss of traction and a loss of time. The more complex your work is, the more likely an interruption will completely detour you, preventing you from returning to your task unless you are reminded of it. For creative work, interruptions are simply devastating; creative reaction is broken. Ideas can be lost entirely. Setting aside blocks of uninterrupted time is of utmost importance.

Creating blocks of uninterrupted time often requires explaining their importance to those around us, whether at home or at work. Guidelines need to be established and respected.

Take a minute to read this excellent essay from Harvard Business Review’s Peter Bergman to find out how you can reduce and eliminate interruptions and create more effectively.

Managers, are you allowing your creatives uninterrupted blocks of time? Are you protecting your creatives from interruptions? Are you leading by example?

Lifehacker.com’s Gina Trapani explains what multi-tasking really means and why it’s such a bad idea. If you still think multi-tasking is a virtue or a valued skill, check out this one-page article:

Work Smart: Stop Multitasking and Start Doing One Thing Really Well

After a long Holiday break, an office move, and a very unstructured schedule, I have completely lost traction in my blogging. For my first post of 2010, I’d like to direct everyone to this excellent post: Ten Essential Time Management Tips. In these back-to-basics reminders, I’ve found encouragement in what I’m doing correctly and practical advice to sort out the rest.

At Fast Company, an excellent article with a somewhat misleading title discusses the futility of overworking, especially within a creative environment.

In order to use your time and energy effectively (not efficiently) your brain needs some “breathing room”. This means a healthy lifestyle (exercise, rest, healthy eating habits), healthy relationships, as well as time to brainstorm, and have fun at work. (Click on the effectiveness tag below for related articles.) Without these activities, you are all but eliminating opportunities to “see patterns, make connections, and read what (your clients) want”.

Still unconvinced? Ask yourself, “how often do I have a great idea at work or at my desk?” If you come up with your best ideas in the shower or at home in bed, then there’s something wrong with your workplace.

Ah, nothing like a good paradox, to make you stop and ponder. And I have two.

To Get More Done, Slow Down

If You Need to Work Better, Work Less

The first article is a bit of a cheat; I’ve linked to it before, though I described it cryptically with only two words. It’s an excellent anecdotal article explaining the importance of taking time off to work more effectively.

The other – OK, I cheated a bit here too because I edited the title, which was wimpy. Any advice with the word “try” in it lacks conviction and offers a way out. “I tried, but I couldn’t.” (The hair on the back of my neck is standing straight up. Deep breath. OK.) I’m not a huge Star Wars fan, though there’s a quote from Yoda that has always resonated with me. ”Do, or do not. There is no ‘try.’” And to make things worse, the title originally said “maybe try”. Aarrgghh! (Another deep breath. OK. I won’t let little things distract me from good advice.) Check out the article and scroll down about an inch to hide the title.

The second article also has to do with taking time off, even if you have to force yourself to do it. This one is backed by both anecdotes and research. Pure gold.

There are three important lessons to be learned here:

1. Our bodies and minds need rest.
2. Family and friends are vital to life, and thereby work.
3. Having fewer hours to work, forces us to work more effectively.

You need to spend more time with family and friends. If you find it hard to not work, and believe me, I’ve been there, you have to make some important choices. Start small, even if it’s just one evening a week. Shut off your cell phone and your computer, and spend some time with people you care about. Do this for a month. The guilt about not working will gradually dissipate. Eventually, you’ll be able to take a full day off, and someday you’ll discover weekends.

Back on September 3rd, we covered a BBC article about Stanford University’s research on the myth of multitasking, and now Harvard Business Publishing has chimed in with their take on the same research.

“Despite starting the research on 100 college students with the hypothesis that multitaskers had some special abilities, the study found that multitaskers were actually quite ineffective at managing information, maintaining attention, and getting results. Compared to study participants who did things one task at a time, they were mediocre.”

There’s still a tendency to stand back and admire multitaskers for being able to do so many things at once. It’s like looking at a bunch of smokers out on the stoop, and catching yourself thinking “Oh, they’re SO cool“, then realizing, “What am I thinking? They are killing themselves and poisoning us!”

Multitaskers aren’t cool. They actually deserve a dope-slap. Especially when it’s you who are paying them.

A great follow-up to Last Friday’s post, Focus on What’s Important, Not What’s Urgent, is an article which explains a system to do just this.

Using Time Effectively, Not Just Efficiently offers a great explanation of the “Urgent/Important Matrix” aka the “Eisenhower Matrix”.

It is a tool to keep us working on what is important, even while faced with things that are urgent (and inevitable interruptions). Focusing on the important is what enables us to meet long-term goals. Worth reading!

It wouldn’t be funny if it weren’t so true…

The Hierarchy of Digital Distractions. It’s a wonder sometimes that we get anything important done.

Chris Brogan has a great post in which he asks, ”Have you ever stopped to consider how various communication tools impact the person receiving the communication? Have you ever thought about the various friction and interruption costs of various products?” He suggests determining:

1. How important your message is.
2. How quickly you need a response.
3. How willing you are to interrupt the other person.

Every workplace needs to train its employees to ask such questions and establish guidelines. And if possible, allow times for employees to go off-line and actually get some work done.

Based on the number of comments, the article seems to have struck a nerve. Check it out.

The 99% has a good article entitled Reclaim Focus, One Day at a Time, which deals with a dilemma faced by most creatives and Professional Knowledge Workers (PKWs).

“Reacting to each request while setting aside time to proactively research and execute new programs is an unrealistic proposition at best, and flat-out unattainable at worst… A lack of focus is at the root of this problem. Constant shifts mean that no task receives the proper attention.”

The author’s solution was to set aside specific days for specific ares of focus, then adjust her own mindset, as well as that of her co-workers according to these tips:

1. Inform those around you that you’ll be switching to this workflow.
2. Stop thinking of yourself as “on-call.”
3. Do something to get yourself in the day’s mindset.
4. Allow a bit of flexibility.

Of course, this means her employer must be more interested in results than procedures.

Managers, how can we allow our employees to be more effective without getting in the way?

For those of you still unconvinced, there’s more research featured in this BBC article showing that multitasking is counter-productive. Even more interesting is the fact  that people who think that they are bad at it are actually more productive than people who think they are good at it!

“The shocking discovery of this research is that [high multitaskers] are lousy at everything that’s necessary for multitasking… (and) when you ask the low multitaskers, they all think they’re much worse at multitasking and the high multitaskers think they’re gifted at it.”

(Click on the productivity or the myth of multitasking tags for similar posts here at CR.)

Slow down, focus, and be more creative. (Shortest post EVER.)

Behance Magazine has an excellent article on one of the consequences of Social Media; distraction. This ties in perfectly with one of my posts a few weeks back, “The Hidden Costs of Workplace Internet Usage“.

First off, I have to say that I take issue with their terminology. While they accurately discuss the root issue here, that of insecurity, they label the problem “Insecurity Work“. While constantly checking Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, e-Mail alerts, and Blog stats takes time and effort, it is the opposite of work/what you are paid to do/results.

That being said, check out the article: Tip: Reduce Your Level of Insecurity Work.

I have to admit that it’s a little painful to discover, or even worse, have someone point out, a weakness. The good news is that we have an opportunity to better ourselves and then help others. Isn’t that what management is about?

I came across this excellent post via an acquaintance of mine whom I follow on Twitter (@apsinkus) and since yesterday was Father’s Day, it is both timely and apt.

After seeing his daughter graduate from High School, Serial Entrepreneur Steve Blank took a look back and wrote Epitaph for an Entrepreneur.

At the core of his post is a list of “Family Rules” and I’m stunned to say I am in complete agreement.

No one says on his deathbed, “I wish I worked more”. In fact, many say, “I wish I spent more time with my family.” If you value your marriage and your children, read Steve’s post now.