For the past few months I’ve been traveling every week or every other week. The travel has been primarily for public speaking events – conferences, workshops, book signings, etc. It’s been fun, but it comes at a very high cost: A chaotic schedule.
We’ve written (and spoken) at length about the pitfalls of interruption at work. Every interruption cuts your work day into a series of work moments. 45 minutes here, then a meeting. A hour there, then a conference call. 20 minutes until someone taps you on the shoulder or calls your name across the office. These events kill productivity.
Most of these interruptions are experienced at a micro level. They’re experienced during a day. But I’ve found the same thing holds true on a macro level. If you stretch your time scale out to weeks or months, a day trip here or a couple days away there has the same effect: It kills productivity. A couple days away a week is like a few meetings a day — it makes it hard to get anything meaningful done. An interruption is an interruption.
This past Monday I gave my last talk (UIE Web App Masters in Philly) until mid September when I’m at the Business Innovation Factory 6 conference. I have a few more after that for the year, but then I’m done. I’m going to retire from travel-required conference speaking for a while. It feels great.
It’s only been three days since my last talk, but knowing I have a clear schedule for many months has shifted me into a pleasantly productive mindset. I’ve gotten a ton done so far this week. There have been some projects I’ve been meaning to start for a while, but with future travel hanging over my head I couldn’t get into a groove. I’m back in a groove.
It’s a good reminder of the power of an open schedule. Just knowing you have the time helps you make the time. Time to put it to good use.
Jeffrey Tang
on 10 Jun 10Perfect observation for me today. I’ve definitely noticed this effect; so much of productivity is psychological. As you said, knowing you have the time helps you put it to use, and thinking you don’t have time holds you back.
In a way, this is a case for tackling tasks/obligations in order of psychological impact, rather than in order of “logical” priority. Get the heaviest things off your chest first; then it’s easier to handle everything else once you know you have the space and time.
Nick Campbell
on 10 Jun 10While constant travel KILLS my productivity, traveling every couple months or so breaks my time up in to super productive chunks. A scheduled trip automatically sets a really nice limitation and deadline that doesn’t really exist when you work for yourself and have “All the time in the world” to work every day. Knowing that I will be away from the time and comfort that my home office brings makes me really productive in the last week or two and helps me finish a big project before a speaking gig or trip.
JF
on 10 Jun 10Nick: For sure. Every few months isn’t bad. Every week or every other week is.
Andy Cook
on 10 Jun 10Nice Jason! Glad to see you’re getting back in the zone. Will you still be doing interviews/talks through web outlets like Justin.tv? Or are your retiring from those too?
PJ Hyett
on 10 Jun 10I find traveling allows time for reflection to evaluate how the business is doing from a high-level point of view. So while being on the road may kill day-to-day productivity, it has the potential to help in an overall sense. That said, I agree that traveling too often would be a mistake if you didn’t have time to apply and focus on what you’ve learned while you’re home.
Adriaan Grove (Entegral)
on 10 Jun 10At least you’re getting a lot of PR out of the travelling – but one should have balance and still have time to do the things you enjoy and the reason you started the company.
John
on 10 Jun 10Jason, I agree on all points, and with Jeffrey as well. Keep up the good work so that we can all stay saner!
JiPé
on 10 Jun 10Yes having the time, always helps you getting into the groove of getting things done. Knowing you are going not to have the time makes it harder to get into the zone. But it is always good to have some constraints otherwise you may tend to spread the butter a bit wide on your toasts.
The recipe is a great balance between limiting the interruptions, getting into the zone with a clear idea of the two things your will be proud of having accomplish at the end of your day and some free time in front of you (just that feeling of having it is enough) to get into the groove of wishing to get things done.
Gary Bury
on 10 Jun 10I find infrequent travel gives me time to think and step back from the day to day of the business. But frequent travel is both time consuming and disruptive. Perhaps because in reality we are creatures of routine and there is very little routine in travel.
Bastian Manintveld
on 10 Jun 10Jason,
Depending on the job travel actually enables you to be more productive. You evangalize 37S and your views during your travels. As a result many people buy your products and subscribe to your views. That’s being productive in my book.
I think your views in this particular post are very applicable when applied to development and creative work, but you and David have a tendency to express yourself in a way that makes it look as if your philosophies are universally applicable. Although I’m pretty sure you included a disclaimer about this somewhere in your first book, I think presenting your views in their right context will strengthen them.
Respectfully,
Bastian
Noam
on 10 Jun 10Another great post!
It takes time to get to a deeper level of concentration – but travel is not necessarily an interruption. In fact many people work best while traveling! Because that’s when they get the least amount of interruptions (in airports, on the plane, or just being away from their office).
In your case, when you’re traveling you’re busy with events that interrupt your other work projects.
Jeff Yablon
on 10 Jun 10NO QUESTION that having open time makes you more productive (assuming you know how to shift away from the “constant interruption” mindset to a focused one).
Or another way to put it: Multitasking is evil. My recent commentary on this subject, here:
http://answerguy.com/2010/06/08/iphone-multitasking-computer-overload/
Jeff Yablon President & CEO Answer Guy and Virtual VIP Computer Support, Business Change Coaching and Virtual Assistant Services
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Mike Gorski
on 10 Jun 10There is no “power of an open schedule” unless you’ve also had the power of a hectic schedule. Each shapes the other.
Installero
on 10 Jun 10Hi, Jason. Thanx for the useful post.
I’ve noticed the same effect while working on two projects that are not anyhow connected together. While working in two different contexts. For example, web-design and semiconductor physics. When there are two deadlines in both contexts you ought to chose between failing them both or working nights.
It seems impossible for me to work 4 hours a day on one thing and then to switch my brain to a totally different one. My thoughts have a kind of inertia. I’d rather prefer to use ‘There are now deadlines’ principle on one of them and go deep into work on the other. Eventually I fail one of the deadlines, but nobody dies anyway.
Mark
on 10 Jun 10I tend to agree with Bastian. Undoubtly, one of your core functions is to spread the gospel of your idea of “less is more” to those who haven’t read your book or visited the blog (as alluded to in a recent post by Matt).
Since it’s a core activity of your business, it can’t be really considered a productivity killer, can it?
JF
on 10 Jun 10Since it’s a core activity of your business, it can’t be really considered a productivity killer, can it?
It’s all about priority. Right now I have other priorities. I’ve got a new product idea I want to explore. And I have some new design ideas I want to work on. Travel and interruption would get in the way of those priorities. Priorities shift, so maybe a year from now I’ll shift.
Chris Whamond
on 14 Jun 10Jason:
Great post. It’s hard to explain to others who aren’t designers or developers how their “forced Pomodoros” (what I call their interruptions every 25 minutes or so) throw me out of the zone.
You may have addressed this in another post, @JF, but how will you insulate yourself from this at your new office? Do you think it’ll be more of a problem working on a daily basis in the midst of everybody else?
Slippy
on 14 Jun 10Jason,
I hear what you are saying but I would suggest your rather flippant attitude is short sighted. You are the founder and brand custodian of 37signals and its products. Your employees and your customers rely on you to carry the 37signals message. You ought to fly the flag and this involves key note speaking, self publicity and road trips.
You are not (or should not be) a designer, a coder, a tester or a ‘do-er’. Innovating, creating, blue sky thinking – sure, but to get bogged down in the granularity of business functions will simply limit your growth and build dependency in the business on you.
You are on the verge of building true independent value at your company – not many entrepreneurs do this so don’t ruin your chances. Embrace hard work, travel, late nights and conferences – they are golden opportunities to spread the word; don’t take cover behind your Mac!
This discussion is closed.