Just viewed this interesting TEDtalk from Jason Fried, who is the co-founder of 37signals. The talk lays out Jason’s views on why it is so hard to get work done in a formal office setting, and anyone who has worked — or is working — in a traditional office setting where there are lots of co-workers around will find his observations ring true! There is a nice dose of humour running through the talk so even though I found it running a bit long at 17 minutes, it’s pretty easy to listen to and will definitely have you chuckling at least a few times…. on the other hand, if you are a control-freak manager, you’ll be wincing a lot… you’ve been warned…
Jason makes some good points in distinguishing between “involuntary distractions” and “voluntary distractions” and in the process, touches upon companies that ban Facebook and YouTube in the offices, the “M&M” time wasters (you’ll have to watch the video for this one), and a few other goodies. The talk ends with a few modest suggestions which you’ll either find humorous and possible, or offensive and counter-productive. Personally I found 1 of the 3 suggestions to be excellent, 1 possible, and another possibly counter-productive in some work environments… I’m happy to straddle the fence on this one.
So, grab a beverage, kick back, and check out this TEDtalk — why doesn’t work get done at work? Maybe because we’re all watching TEDtalks..!!
