How to murder your productivity
dextronet.com
dextronet.com
Only three levels of indirection from the (purported) original source! I'm convinced.
I tried tracking down the original study, because I have access to the internet, and eventually found http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002493.h..., in which the guy who ran the original "study" says how ridiculous the reaction to it is.
Too late now, though - every other blog post about productivity mentions how Tim Ferris mentions that Josh Waitzkin mentioned that he heard about it. The next one I see will probably use this post as its source.
The typical office environment is the antithesis of what you need to achieve 'flow'.
Fact is, I did not want to be him working 4 - 1 for the rest of my life. Most sales jobs require odd hours, pushes on weekends, and a different skill-set than other types of jobs. No thanks, I'll take my 9-5 in exchange of other crappier hours, working on weekends, etc. You take a job, you know what effect it will have your lifestyle, that's really all I'm saying.
I'm trying to understand what you mean...
Yes, you're right. when you sign up for a job you acknowledge the change in lifestyle it may cause. My point is that from the perspective of the organiztion, it can a highly inefficient use of money, and aggravate some otherwise competent and capable engineers.
That's true, some would enjoy the freedom of more flexible scheduling. I consider myself very lucky to be able to change my schedule around to make my daughters doctor appointments, tour several private schools in the area, and sometimes stack my hours at the beginning of the week, so it's 2'o clock on a Friday and I'm out the door. Not all the time of course, but every once-in-awhile it IS fantastic.
The old saw (from the days when you worked for the same company for decades and retired with a pension):
Companies pay employees just enough not to quit; Employees work just hard enough not to get fired.
And I am still talking about productivity here in the way that because my life is organized into such organized blocks of time it's easy for me to go 120% during each time. I know I can't pay my mortgage, take Jiu Jitsu, have the quality of life I do if I don't work hard. So my job gets me 100% 8 hours a day, for 5 days a week. It's a compromise and one I'm willing to make.
Working at home or on flexible schedules (and again I have a pretty flexible schedule) sounds great until you realize that teams can't collaborate together as effectively; deadlines still need to be achieved, and so on. Really if you're having problems with productivity or with work not being finished in-time; then check what you're expecting of your team.
My .02.
Have two lists. It's that simple, really.
List one is edited only when a change in schedule is required, or a new project is added. The second list is edited and revised daily.
More importantly, those two lists are done using pen and paper, which I found to be the best tool for the job.
I work in the media, so it's my job to react to what is happening. Information comes through to my email and if I miss it, we are behind competitors.
Notifications at essential to immediate communication between colleagues who need me to certain things for program output.
That said, I would like a new chair...