Quick Win: Why unexpected interruptions to work are bigger problems than you might think, with Almanac CEO Adam Nathan
May 1, 2024
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Almanac CEO Adam Nathan explores the impact of unexpected interruptions on productivity and job satisfaction. He emphasizes the importance of learning from 'fire drills' and embracing the mantra 'Slow is smooth and smooth is fast'.
Professionals prioritize completing tasks on their to-do lists, even if they involve shallow work.
Unexpected interruptions or 'fire drills' are the real enemy of productivity and must be minimized for efficiency.
Deep dives
Importance of Minimizing Unexpected Interruptions
Professionals often measure productivity by completing tasks on their to-do lists, even if they involve shallow work. The real hindrance to productivity is unexpected interruptions or fire drills. Learning from and minimizing these interruptions is crucial for achieving work satisfaction and efficiency.
Value of Structured Response and Team Coordination
Teams benefit from the approach of 'slow means smooth and smooth means fast,' emphasizing the importance of responding calmly and cooperatively to new events. By pausing to reflect, teams can improve their response strategies for future occurrences. The coordination and structure within a team enhance business velocity and overall success.
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Maximizing productivity by minimizing unexpected interruptions
Almanac CEO Adam Nathan believes in the value of deep work. He’s seen how effective it is, and knows first-hand how satisfying it can be. But in recent years, he’s learned that this doesn’t automatically make shallow work the greatest enemy to productivity or job satisfaction…
Instead, he’s discovered that most professionals consider their time well spent if they’re able to check everything off their to-do lists, even if some of that work is shallow. What really matters is simply getting stuff done, and the real enemy of getting stuff done is unexpected interruptions.
Being prepared for uncertainty isn’t about being able to predict the future, but instead being able to learn from these unexpected interruptions, or ‘fire drills’ as they’re called at Almanac, when they do occur.
Adam’s favourite way to approach these problems is with the mantra, “Slow is smooth and smooth is fast,” adopted from the U.S. Marines. The problem isn’t that a fire drill occurred, it’s that most companies don’t take a moment afterwards to figure out why it happened, and how best to deal with it if it happens again…