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Whilst I freelance now, I used to keep an office for our small design company for almost a decade. I appreciate the freedom and flexibility in work hours and location and am optimistic about this method of working in the future.
Bring it on!
Meanwhile, I'm gonna have to keep learning online to keep up...
mass market. The entire concept of an office is going to be completely
turned on its head.
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091101/the-way-i-...
Great post Steffan.
These guys are considered the extreme now, but you know what, they'll for
sure be the norm soon because they're doing it right.
Hard working employees = valuable employees
Valuable employees = creative employees
Creative employees = Happy employees
and on and on and on.
They're definitely doing it right.
true to reality and why results only work environments work better):
"*After lunch, I get a little lazy between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. I don't feel
that productive, so I'm usually screwing around, which I think is really
important. Everyone should read stuff on the Web that's goofy or discover
something new. I hate it when businesses treat their employees like
children. They block Facebook or YouTube because they want their employees
to work eight hours a day. But instead of getting more productivity, you're
getting frustration. What's the point? As long as the work gets done, I
don't care what people do all day*."
of discussions like this. We all fear that our boss would assume that we
were being lazy - but that's because of the "you should only be doing
productive work from 9-5" mentality. Jason's point is that the assumptions
underlying the 40 hour work week and productivity need to be rethought - and
I agree with him. Creating the right environment and culture where people
feel free to get things done but manage themselves is about acknowledging
people's natural rythms, the importance of building unstructured downtime
into people's days and letting individuals work when they feel most
productive. For example, I'm usually most productive at 3 times during the
day - early in the morning 7-11am (I'm a morning person), at the end of the
day (3-5pm) and at night (8-11pm). Night sessions are great if I've rested
in the afternoon. I'm a big fan of mid day power naps. I don't care what
anyone says...a good solid nap during the day can be amazing for getting you
in the zone for a really productive work session from 8-midnight. The 8 hour
(straight) work day assumes that productivity is maximized when a lot of
people are stuck together in clusters for long stretches. I find that that's
not the case. This might be true of a manufacturing plant or of workers who
do lots of data entry and basic processing tasks, but it's flawed thinking
when it comes to people who are doing thought work like
writing, analysis, designing or coding. I batch my work into tasks that
take up to a few hours each. I make lists of the most important things that
need to get done. When I have a block of time, I start on the most important
thing and focus on it until it's done. Then I stop and take a break and pick
up the next thing. Working in focused bursts, but
also allowing for unstructured periods of time in between is important for
keeping productivity sustainable. I've seen colleagues burn out quickly when
they don't take breaks and try to take on too much all at once. They get
overwhelmed and lose focus. Big four accounting was like that, especially
during busy season. It ruins the work environment, people get bitter and the
work place loses it's energy which can have a powerful negative affect on
teams.
I get crazy productive after 11pm usually until 1am or so. I love late
night.
*no, that's not an ad for Taco Bell.
:)
For more on this topic, check out Jason Fried's (37Signals) article "How I
Work" in this month's Inc. or Dan Pink's TED talk on the new paradigm for
work and motivation. You're right, companies that figure out how to give
their employees autonomy and freedom will win in the long run. 37Signals is
the best example of that - they're leading the way in "new work styles".
I'll check out your post in a few. I'm sure it's full of great insights. In
the mean time, check out Jason's piece in Inc. :
http://www.inc.com/magazine/20091101/the-way-i-...