Deep work

Deep work

Session based on the book Deep Work by Cal Newport (also author of Digital Minimalism and So Good they Cant Ignore you)

Deep work is about individual productivity, not about team/org productivity as such.

Getting Things Done (GTD) by David Allen is for organising your work and is somewhat related. GTD: your head is good for having ideas, not for storing them

Solving complicated problems e.g. by programming can require 20-30 min just for building a model in your head about the problem, before you start implementing. This is not something that fits into slots between meetings but requires longer chunks of uninterrupted time, to get deep in the work.

The opposite of deep work is shallow work - work that can be completed without a deep focus, examples include reading/sending e-mail and similar administrative work.

Aim for a high Deep Work to Shallow Work ratio.

How to allow deep work to happen:

• Work on one thing at the time (your most important task)
• Get rid of all nonessential notifications
• Read e-mails at set times only (e.g. after lunch when you are not at 100% focus)
• Reduce amount of times spent in meetings
  • you can ask your manager how many % of your time he expects you to sit in meetings/calls on average
• Bunch up meetings at the end of the working day when your focus is at the lowest

There is a lot more to Deep Work and GTD which we did not have time to cover in the session