Are you most productive at the office?

Wednesday, December 1st, 2010 John Gallagher, Sr. Public Relations Manager

For hundreds of years many people have traveled to offices to work in a dedicated building, it’s nothing new. However, office work culture has changed a lot over the last twenty years. Mostly because of the desktop computer, access to the internet and mobile phones. However, with the daily distractions at work: How productive are you really at the office? So where do you go to get work done?

The train, bus, the car on your way to work? The coffee shop, airport, airplane, at home in the spare room? Late at night or early in the morning? For many of us we have places to go or times we have; where we feel most productive to complete our jobs.

Today, being connected – wherever that place or time for you to work – is crucial for mobile workers. Jason Fried, one of the founders behind collaboration software such as Basecamp, gave a talk recently at a regional TEDx (MidWest.) It’s worth watching the video as I’m sure it will resonate with many of you.

Some of Fried’s words resonate for a reason – it’s true some days we have work moments rather than work days. His biggest work distraction peeves are managers and meetings (M&Ms) not websites such as Facebook or twitter – he calls these websites “modern day smoke breaks.”

So what does he suggest? Give your colleagues 4 hours of quiet time without interruption or use instant messenger or email to communicate rather than interrupting colleagues. If only work life was that simple – even with instant messenger or email – it’s hard to ignore.