Why You Can’t Work At Work

I ran across this Big Think interview with Jason Fried of 37signals regarding why the modern workplace is designed to not let you get any work done. I totally agree with his outlook on the situation… so true.

The worst thing you could ever do to a designer, developer, writer, creative, employee or anyone in fact, is to interrupt them while they’re in the zone. When you interrupt people at work, it’s equivalent to walking up to the stage while a band is performing and asking the lead singer, “how’s it going?”. Would you really expect Mick Jagger to stop the concert and have a conversation or answer a question like that? How do you feel the audience, who paid good money for the show, would feel about you interrupting the concert?

It usually takes me anywhere from 10-15 minutes to truly get in the zone. Once I’m in that zone, I can stay there for hours… I’m talking 4-18 hours straight. Yes, I have to eat and visit the restroom on occasion, but for the most part, my mind is focused on the problem and task at hand for that duration. If I’m interrupted 4 times every hour, and it takes me 10 minutes, conservatively, to get back in the zone after each of those interruptions, I only have 20 minutes of real time in that hour to produce results. Really it’s more like 10-15 minutes of real time, because don’t forget that you have to answer the question or hold an irrelevant conversation before you can get back into your zone. Add that up over the course of a day and you can see how many hours are wasted.

Interruption wastes people’s time.  It wastes your customer’s time and money, and it decreases the quality of the end-product, project, venture or whatever it is that you’re working on. It’s a lose/lose situation for everyone involved, so don’t do it. The people and companies that are successful are those that get things done, and you can’t get things done if you’re constantly interrupted.

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