Week 43, 2018

Crazy at Work, Part 1: Interruptions, Distractions, and Misguided Ambitions

Photo by Tim Gouw on Unsplash

Each week I share three ideas for how to make work better. And this week, I sample a few of the 60-or-so ideas presented in It Doesn’t Have to be Crazy at Work — the new book by Basecamp co-founders Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH). You can read-up on Basecamp on Wikipedia.

And so without further ado:

1. Interruption Factories

“Ask people where they go when they really need to get something done. One answer you’ll rarely hear: the office.”

Guilty as charged. When I have a lot to do, I either work offsite or go in early when no one else is around. “The modern-day office is an interruption factory”, writes Fried and DHH. And I think that’s true. Like many businesses, I’ve spent a fair amount of money building open-space offices that mix workspace with communal areas. They look nice, but they do get loud at times. And it makes it easy — perhaps too easy — to simply walk up to someone’s desk with “a quick question”. In reality, great workspaces should cater to both collaboration and deep work, not one…