Transform Your Workplace

Basecamp CTO and co-founder on Why it’s so crazy at work

Aug 20, 2019

39:32

You’re super busy at work — your phone's blowing up from the overflowing inbox of notifications, reminders, and chats. There’s so much interruption that you’ve got no time to think. And when you do, you have to stay stuck at the office, working more than 40-hours a week or force yourself to pull an all-nighter to meet unrealistic deadlines.

You don’t even have time to sleep because of your packed schedules and endless meeting.

When weekends come, instead of spending your precious me-time relaxing and having fun, you have those Sunday-afternoon emails to worry about, waiting to be read and dealt with.

It’s just crazy!!!

But hey, work doesn’t have to be crazy.

It’s true. We can still deliver a fantastic job without making ourselves miserable and insanely working like crazy to meet those so-called “goals.” We can have a productive work environment that lets people do their work in the best way possible.

Basecamp is setting a great example of what it’s like to have a calm and productive workplace! How can we achieve a productive workplace without sacrificing long hours and avoid getting burned out?

In today’s episode, I’ll talk about the book “It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work” with David Heinemeier Hansson, the author, CTO, and co-founder at Basecamp. We will also discuss the topic of the constant state of businesses, overworked employees, and the fact that we’re working more hours but still come out as unproductive.

David argues that you can still have that million-dollar business without requiring your employees to work insanely long hours and he’s going to tell you how. He will also share a lot of useful advice and action ideas you can apply back to your organization!

Grab your copy now! Check out the book here.

In this episode, you will learn about:

What crazy means in the workplace
The reason behind the long work hours
Hustle Mania and the obsession with growth
Burned out and overworked employees
Setting your goals the Basecamp way
Achieving the state of calmness
The negative consequences of introducing technology and rejecting the “present person” practice
The reason why Basecamp doesn’t do shared calendars inside the office
How David coaches his people not to be distracted by constant interruptions from people internally and externally?
Office hours and part-time managers
David’s thoughts on work-life balance
Out of the office benefits vs. In office