Hi Christoph, great post. 37Signals does some great work. I've always felt we've been suffereing a sort of post-industrial era hangover in the way our workdays are still built around factory hours even though most are knowledge workers now. Things in the mainstream change so slowly.
The video had some good insights, although nothing new to me. But I think Jason comes off a bit amateurish, especially when he says something like: "In business nothing is 'urgent'. It can always wait an hour or a day..." He must work in a bubble. We are a non-corporate design agency, but running a business comes with urgencies... if you have clients :)
The main thinking that 'interruptions are the enemy of creativity and productivity' I can stand behind, no doubt.
The challenge though is not to replace the existing 'corporate' workplace structure but rather to create integrated systems that have less interruptions in an existing structure [most our ours are somewhat dominated by corporate clients with a 9-6 and deadlines] It's a balance, a give and take, not a right or wrong as Jason points out. IM, group chat... sure. But there's gotta be more unless you wanna work in a place where people sit across from each other and don't talk all day. Might as well work from home. Virtual offices. Already happening anyway.
BTW: At our agency, no meeting is a waste of time. It's such a [corporate] cliche to say that....
Hi Christoph, great post. 37Signals does some great work. I've always felt we've been suffereing a sort of post-industrial era hangover in the way our workdays are still built around factory hours even though most are knowledge workers now. Things in the mainstream change so slowly.
ReplyDeleteThe video had some good insights, although nothing new to me. But I think Jason comes off a bit amateurish, especially when he says something like: "In business nothing is 'urgent'. It can always wait an hour or a day..." He must work in a bubble. We are a non-corporate design agency, but running a business comes with urgencies... if you have clients :)
ReplyDeleteThe main thinking that 'interruptions are the enemy of creativity and productivity' I can stand behind, no doubt.
The challenge though is not to replace the existing 'corporate' workplace structure but rather to create integrated systems that have less interruptions in an existing structure [most our ours are somewhat dominated by corporate clients with a 9-6 and deadlines] It's a balance, a give and take, not a right or wrong as Jason points out. IM, group chat... sure. But there's gotta be more unless you wanna work in a place where people sit across from each other and don't talk all day. Might as well work from home. Virtual offices. Already happening anyway.
BTW: At our agency, no meeting is a waste of time. It's such a [corporate] cliche to say that....