Why work doesn't happen at work | Jason Fried

Key ideas

Fried argues offices shred the working day through involuntary interruptions from managers and meetings, and offers managers three small ways to give people long uninterrupted stretches back.

From a machine transcript of the audio. Quotes link to the moment they are said.

1. 1

   Ask where work actually gets done

   Fried says he has asked people for about ten years where they go when they really need to get something done. He reports the answers are a place like a porch or library, a moving object like a train, or a time like early morning, and almost never the office. He concludes that people arrive at work and swap a full day for scattered short pieces.

2. 2

   Deep work needs unbroken time

   Fried argues that designers, programmers, writers and other creative people need long uninterrupted stretches to think about a problem. He compares work to sleep: both move through stages, and an interruption sends you back rather than letting you resume. If nobody expects good sleep after being woken all night, he asks, why expect good work after a day of interruptions.

3. 3

   Blame interruptions you did not choose

   Fried separates voluntary distractions, such as TV at home or a quick look at social media, from involuntary ones imposed by others. He calls banning websites a decoy and names managers and meetings as the real problems, while admitting he is a manager too. He adds that an hour with ten people costs ten hours of the organization's time, and says meetings tend to breed more meetings.

4. 4

   Three small changes for managers

   Fried suggests starting with one silent afternoon a month, which he calls no talk Thursdays, and extending it if it helps. He also suggests moving from face-to-face interruption toward email and chat, because people can put those away and answer on their own schedule. His last suggestion is to cancel the next meeting outright, and he predicts things will be fine.

In Jason’s words

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