Andy sent me this article describing why email can be bad for you, and how to be more productive in general. (Homestar: “Ow … those things are BAD for you!”)
Let’s take the concentration impact first. I’m a software engineer, and programming requires extended periods of concentration. Actually this isn’t unique to programming, a lot of fields require that you concentrate. (Probably just about everything worth doing requires some concentration!)
I maintain that programming cannot be done in less than three-hour windows. It takes three hours to spin up to speed, gather your concentration, shift into “right brain mode”, and really focus on a problem. Effective programmers organize their day to have at least one three-hour window, and hopefully two or three. (This is why good programmers often work late at night. They don’t get interrupted as much…)
That last part is something I knew, but had never seen put into words before. Now that I have some tangible ground to stand upon, maybe I can structure my work-environment a little better. Like closing Apple Mail and NetNewsWire … unless I’m really looking for a special email.
01/12/2004 at December 1, 2004 @ 10:47pm Permalink
This is a great article! Lots of good ideas that could be implemented into a better work environment; that is, if I cared.
03/12/2004 at December 3, 2004 @ 12:38am Permalink
Wow, I never even thought about this. No wonder I feel so un-productive at work. I’m constantly bombarded with emails, updates, banners, new site features, photography questions, where am I going for lunch, etc. thru my work day. Almost every day I feel as though I don’t accomplish anything. I wish I could just lock myself in a room and work alone. Besides, most of the stuff that I want to do, I can’t do because our tech department has everything locked down so much that I need to ask them to do things and explain to them why things need to be changed, updated. This usually takes a few days to a few weeks because they need to fit things into “their” schedules. If we just used PHP/MySQL I’m sure I could have it done within a day or so.
Sorry, but I had to vent a little.