Guide to Deep Work

https://doist.com/blog/complete-guide-to-deep-work/

by pointnova • 7 years ago

418 65 7 years ago

jaden• 7 years ago

One of the biggest factors is having large chunks of uninterrupted time. If your manager and team value deep work, having no meetings days can be a huge help.

And once you have an uninterrupted time block, it's important to ignore potential interruptions. I find this extremely difficult.

nomel• 7 years ago

If your manager and team value deep work

What are some good strategies if they don't?

thrower1232• 7 years ago

If you really need to get some work done, calling in a fictitious sick day once in a while isn't the worst solution.

iandanforth2• 7 years ago

If you're struggling with scheduling work time and getting things done I'd like to recommend https://www.focusmate.com/

You book 50 minute video sessions and are paired with a random other person who wants to get work done. You start by saying what you intend to work on, and you finish by saying what you accomplished. That's it, other discussion is strongly discouraged.

I work from home and have nearly unlimited leeway over my time. This is not such a great thing, with unlimited freedom I tend to wander or do nothing. This service has helped to provide a human expectation and environment conducive to work. It's free and the days I schedule sessions are distinctly more productive than the days I do not.

IggleSniggle• 7 years ago

Wow, this is awesome! I’m afraid to try it...I’m trying to read HN over here!

dboreham• 7 years ago

That's actually pretty neat. The anti-chatroulette.

noxToken• 7 years ago

I get that you're streaming yourself to a person, but how does that help enforce accountability? Part of my job entails very little typing or keyboard interaction, so comparatively, it could look like I was reading HN, Reddit, etc. Is it a purely psychological thing?

----

Before I sent this comment, I went deeper into the website beyond the home page and 30s video. It is just that:

Research in psychology and behavioral science shows that regular human connection reduces the likelihood that a worker will procrastinate or become distracted.
In our most recent internal survey, 95.5% of users reported a significant increase in productivity, and reduced procrastination.

It looks like it's not a site that will magically boost your productivity (which isn't really what it claims). You have to want to be productive, and the site helps facilitate that desire.

phalangion• 7 years ago

I've talked about this as a research idea in the past. Something about someone observing you work, even if it's only barely, gives a level of accountability. Also, it looks like you start and end your 50 minute focus session with a bit of accountability (what you will work on, what you got done), so there's that.

iandanforth2• 7 years ago

Some people who need this extra level of accountability share their screen. That's not desirable or possible for some of course.

sl1ck731• 7 years ago

I wonder if there would be any merit in replicating the experience on a fully remote team.

Maybe something like everyone schedules Slack video calls once a day with a random team member. Or a quick Flask app to output a schedule for the day.

yifanl• 7 years ago

I think you'd lose a lot of the benefits if this isn't opt-in. If you make it just another ritual, then I imagine by the month's end, it stops giving any type of accountability.

HNLurker23• 7 years ago

I am not 16 yet so I guess

skinnymuch• 7 years ago

Why wouldn’t you schedule sessions every day then (speaking as someone who does do sessions almost every day haha)?

O_H_E• 7 years ago

Man, I was just wondering if such product exists two days ago.

ssivark• 7 years ago

The real challenge is attention management. Switching gears from an execution orientation (knocking off tasks) to a careful thinking orientation is hard. The hardest aspect of deep work (for people used to a structured form of productivity) is immersion in the task/topic without a concrete plan of "how" to tackle it. (The necessary immersion is what makes "deep" a good metaphor) Every such session is a risky investment where you don't know what you'll come up with. Unless you believe it's a risk worth taking, trying too hard to de-risk endeavors will rob you of opportunities for deep work.

Deep work involves situated thinking -- thinking while doing, making use of feedback.

OTOH, the structured approach biases towards separating the two closely knit parts into "planning" and "action" -- so much so that in our organizations the two are done by different people/teams!

Drucker said that a decision has been made only when it's clear what the actions are. Correspondingly, deep work is required to the extent that the analysis can't be front loaded in that manner.

snlacks• 7 years ago

There's no reason why "figure out what to do next" can't be a concrete task. I set up a daily schedule and I schedule reassessing and specifying more detail into my work.

who8mylunch• 7 years ago

Thank you for this concise summary. At my job I'm often accused of not being a team player because I refuse to get sucked into other people's shallow-work emergencies. It feels good to know that I'm not alone!

commandlinefan3• 7 years ago

The real challenge is attention management

See, I think you have that backwards - the problem is management attention. When management is giving you their full attention and micromanaging, meaningful work becomes impossible.

dc443• 7 years ago

I like what you said but i think grandparent's use of management is not the management that you're referring to.

abhiyerra• 7 years ago

I set aside a day of the week, Tuesday, for all my planning for that week. Basically the deep work for that day is figuring out the plan for the week. The rest of the week is accomplishing that work. Basically Scrum applies to deep work.

sound12• 7 years ago

Beautifully articulated! On a tangent, I always seem to have issues with my superiors because of the way I work. Most of the initial part of a project I do nothing but think about how to approach it, best ways to solve some of the problems and what pitfalls to avoid. During this period they don't get much of the status updates or progress and they get mad. Then in a short burst I finish off everything when they think that project may be delayed, and this gets them extra mad because according to them I have been secretly working hard but never told them. I really don't blame them but sadly I don't work like most people do and admittedly it is a bit of a problem for project managers..

jogjayr• 7 years ago

It may help to document ideas and pitfalls as you think of them. If you're trying out things in code, leave that work on your own branches, and link from the doc. It gives managers a tangible artifact to see you're making progress. It's also valuable documentation for others after the task is done. Extra plus: come performance review time, you have a paper trail of everything you've done, everything you tried that didn't work out, everything you can take credit for.

enraged_camel2• 7 years ago

I read the article. Some of the advice might be valuable.

For me though, it's fairly straightforward:

- Decide what I need to work on, and try to visualize the end result as clearly as possible

- Put phone on DND

- Turn off email clients

- Close browser tabs not related to work

- Put on noise-canceling headphones with some music that has no lyrics (e.g. electronic, synthwave, etc.)

Then I work.

I can stay in "the zone" for many hours using this method, and tend to accomplish my best work. Furthermore, I can do it uninterrupted, except for the occasional 5-minute restroom break.

sneakernets2• 7 years ago

Unfortunately this is a no-go for so many people that do not have concept of "respecting the zone". People get angry at me for not being available at the drop of a pin these days, and when I cut off my email clients I miss important impromptu meetings, and so much more!

What we need is a messaging service that can only do preset phrases that comprise 99% of the distractions: Impromptu Meeting. Catering. Potential Hire. Change of plans. Emergency.

You would only have a few messages you can send a week, too, so you can't spam it with nonsense.

enraged_camel2• 7 years ago

I don't think it's possible to achieve Deep Work reliably unless you have full control over your work environment and schedule and can shut off distractions without getting reprimanded or suffering from FOMO.

This is a non-negotiable term for me when I interview.

Another thing I noticed about myself: I have "moods". Sometimes I feel like dicking around (like right now!), and in those situations I don't even try to get into Deep Work because it takes a lot of energy to do so. But a few hours later my mood will shift, and when that happens I need to be able to catch that window of opportunity and get myself in the zone quickly. From there, it's off to the races.

I've found that most work arrangements can't accommodate this type of arbitrary work habit. Which is why I'm currently employed at a very small firm where everyone is remote, and I have a super awesome manager who trusts everyone fully.

cracauer• 7 years ago

That is about the opposite of what works for me. A total absence of other signals isn't good. What I need is an "attention sponge". When attention lifts for a moment from the actual work, the "attention sponge" will hold it for a while, but that sponge is specifically chosen to not hold on to it.

An example is a background where a TV series runs that I watched 9 times already, let's say Babylon 5. The work computer has an attention accident (maybe just slow or whatever). My attention lifts from work, and B5 catches it before it goes off who knows where. Since B5 is not interactive and since I've seen it 9 times already it easily releases the attention so that it can go back to work.

I wrote more here: https://medium.com/@MartinCracauer/on-attention-focus-and-au...

vertline33• 7 years ago

What is being branded "Deep Work", was just work before the electronics arrived. Really shows how the new mediums have eroded our attention span.

nemo1618• 7 years ago

To be fair, it's hard to get people excited without fresh branding.

Come to think of it, there have been previous campaigns to get people to reduce their screen time, but "Deep Work" seems to be the most successful yet. Perhaps because it focuses on what you stand to gain (long periods of uninterrupted focus) rather than what you stand to lose (dopamine hits from your smartphone). I think Deep Work succeeded because it doesn't just say "X is bad for you," it says "X is holding you back from being a better version of yourself," and therefore allows you to daydream about being super productive.

briankirby• 7 years ago

Not quite, in the book it's clear that by "Deep Work" Newport is specifically referring to difficult tasks which create significant value. The book includes several heuristics for identifying this sort of work. It's true that the arrival of electronics has made "Shallow Work" easier to fall into, but by no means would going to work somewhere without a computer or a phone mean you are doing "Deep Work."

vertline33• 7 years ago

I think that the idea of prioritizing work that is adding significant value is not so new, to be fair. Professors would go on sabbaticals to finish their book for instance.

hawaiian• 7 years ago

For instance, if you’re working on an important project but feel constrained or unmotivated by your office setting, initiate a grand gesture by asking your manager to let you work from home for an entire week to get it done.

I'm not surprised this conclusion was reached so quickly. I find it a bit dysfunctional that working from home has become the go-to solution for distraction-filled workplaces.

How about we make work more like home instead? Companies will see the value of a beautiful, effective workplace in the form of increased productivity. Tech parks should offer restaurants, a gym with a sauna, a shower, pods for taking naps. Expecting the employee to keep a distraction-free home office seems strangely feudal, unless you really need the tax deduction.

geddy• 7 years ago

All of those things are nice, until they become reasons that the employer expects you to live at the office. At what point does _that_ become strangely feudal? You're practically living at work at that point. I want to leave my office when I'm done, not have it be my designated place for eating, sleeping, lifting, and working.

Heck, add a few video game systems, a keg, and a pool table and require 16 hour office days. Why not? You're already doing it anyway. How about a play room for the kids with babysitting services? At that point, why even have a home?

bitwize2• 7 years ago

Tech companies do this already, still organize their offices like seas of desks at best, and still have distracted workers. I would much rather have a standard-issue office with full-height cubicles. I could get a lot more work done there than in today's trendy startup, Google, and WeWork inspired zoos.

sneakernets2• 7 years ago

Why hasn't there been a backlash yet? Everyone hates the seas of desks layout.

thrower1232• 7 years ago

A week off to actually get some significant work done without distraction is blissful. Some of the best work I've ever done has been when the rest of the office took off to trade shows and I stayed home to hold down the fort.

There's so much less busywork generated when there are less people around.

xfitm3• 7 years ago

My home office is distraction free and it's amazing. I'm extremely sensitive to sound - mastication, burping, talking, music. I need dead silence.

I'll never work in an office again, unless I have to.

spraak2• 7 years ago

Don't compromise! Hold your ideals :) A recruiter asked me recently if I'm willing to relocate and I shared that I only work remotely. They then followed up with a different company that is remote.

mendelbot• 7 years ago

Maybe the real problem here is capitalism and productivity porn.

HNLurker23• 7 years ago

productivity porn.

Guilty of that. I've seen friends who are young (14-15) and they talk about work smart not hard, 80/20 and deliberate practice to break through the plateu. Can't tell if I should find it kinda funny or just sad. Business books do ruin social life and makes you very critical of yourself

thomk• 7 years ago

Does anyone else find the term "Deep Work" to be pretentious? Most people who say they were busy doing 'deep work' makes me feel like they are a bit self important.

Why not just say you need to focus?

jordanpg• 7 years ago

Deep work is to focus as enlightenment is to meditation.

It's an asymptotic, unattainable state to strive for. You can be sure that if anyone is (humble) bragging about attaining it that they have not.

travisjungroth• 7 years ago

Uh, no. At least that’s not how most people use the phrase.

drivers99• 7 years ago

"Does anyone else find the term "Deep Work" to be pretentious?"

I don't. It's a description of the work they're doing, not themselves. There's a bit more to it. In the book of the same name (Deep Work), he talks about how the kind of work you can do when you can get away from the distractions creates value beyond the same amount of time spread around those distractions.

Deep work: "professional activities performed in a state of distraction-free concentration that push your cognitive capabilities to their limit. These efforts create new value, improve your skill, and are hard to replicate" (Cal Newport)

focus: "to concentrate attention or effort" (Merriam-Webster)

Do you feel like they are self important because they were turning you away or declining invitations so they could focus, or because they are essentially describing their work as having high value?

stevenhuang• 7 years ago

Ha. Yes, personally I feel there are some overtones. I keep it to myself, but I tend to smile and nod when seeing its use. I admit the term's useful though, as others have explained it does capture more than just a state of focus.

spraak2• 7 years ago

It's in the same group of eye rolling phrases for me such as "heads down" e.g. "I'm going to be heads down working on X tomorrow so I won't be available on Slack". Something seems off with your priorities and expected responsibilities if you need to declare this. For me, just take the time you need to focus. I always see colleagues say this right before the end of a sprint when trying to get a feature finished or something.

afarrell• 7 years ago

One thing I wish Cal Newport's book had done better was to explain ways to be better at managing Shallow Work. Deep Work competes for time with Shallow Work. Therefore, if you want to have time for Deep Work, you need to either

A) Do less shallow work.

B) Do shallow work more effectively. Or schedule it more effectively.

-------

How possible is option A? Well, what is Shallow Work and why does it matter. Some examples of Shallow Work off the top of my head:

1) Phone-Interviewing people to work for your employer.

2) Looking at Sentry and Dead Mans Snitch and seeing if any of the exceptions reported from your backend this week are actually real problems that should be investigated.

3) Editing the notes you took at a meeting so that you can send them out to attendees.

4) Writing a response to a well-structured question which a junior engineer emailed you about a task which you delegated to them.

5) Creating and sending out a doodle poll to pick a restaurant to eat at before contra dance.

6) Scheduling a time to talk to your father who lives 5 time zones away.

7) Filling in a PDF listing your bank accounts to report to the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network by April 15th.

Each of these is backed by a responsibility -- either you're being paid to maintain a system or relationship for your employer or you are doing something to keep your social life running. You can dial back that responsibility, but that does have consequences. If nobody organizes pizza night, then you don't see your friends in real life and you end up scrolling through facebook out of a vague sense of loneliness.

So there is a certain amount of Shallow Work that needs to get done if you have certain goals or want to avoid particular sadnesses.

--------

How possible is option B? How possible is it to do Shallow Work so that it interferes less with Deep Work?

For #1, you can push phone interviews to the beginning or end of the day...when the currently-employed will find it easier to get time to interview.

For #2, you can establish a team habit to triage your Sentry and Dead Mans Snitch dashboards to Inbox Zero, that way you only need to glance at them and you don't need to load anything into your working memory.

For #3... actually I'm not sure what is a good way to be more effective at this. Any tips?

For #4... also not sure.

For #5, you can establish a default restaurant and go there every time.

For #6, you can have a default time every week.

For #7, there's nothing to be done. It is annoying and Adobe Acrobat is the worst.

--------

What techniques do you use to be skilled at Shallow Work or to at least get it out of the way of Deep Work?

PeterisP• 7 years ago

Cal Newport's work is essentially a reaction to the fact that all the literature on time/task management succeeds mostly at shallow work but isn't optimal for deep work.

So if shallow work is your weak spot where you'd like some improvements, then all the classics like David Allen's Getting Things Done or perhaps Covey's 7 Habits of highly effective people would be relevant.

lackbeard• 7 years ago

I think the key with shallow work you can't avoid is to schedule your day thoroughly. Batch the shallow work together into a single 30 minute to 1 hour block, as much as possible.

7ewis2• 7 years ago

Over the last few months, I've found I just can't focus on anything. Unless I find it interesting on challenging.

Generally, at work this is ok as I enjoy what I do. However, I study for a degree part time, which is in 'Computing and IT' - the same field as my work, BUT it's so out of date, and the content is so boring I just can't do it, until last minute when I have to.

I genuinely think if I had studied this course, before working in tech I may have changed my mind. It's mind numbingly boring. Even if they just taught the content in a better way, something like A Cloud Guru where you have videos, guides to follow along etc. but all I get is books. It's awful.

(While we're on the topic of it, I should be studying... getting back to it now, promise!)

AQuantized• 7 years ago

Do you happen to be studying through the Open University? I had a very similar experience studying maths part time. My first couple of years were basically just doing the assignments a few days before they were due, and then cramming for the exam.

I did eventually manage to get into the habit of doing more consistent gradual work throughout the year, and that's the only advice I could give. The habit of devoting that hour or two per day became the norm and I no longer had to struggle to force myself to study (or fail to).

7ewis2• 7 years ago

That's the one!

Just find it so hard to concentrate on it, almost wish I hadn't started it but don't want to give up on it now. Will have to try and get into a habit like you, good luck with it!

rebelidealist• 7 years ago

Would CEOs or Execs / Managers perform better with deep work?

positr0n• 7 years ago

The article mentions Bill Gates' famous week-long thinking retreats where he would go rent a cabin for a week and think about the future of Microsoft.

holri• 7 years ago

Learn a musical instrument. Without deep work you will get nowhere. Music teaches really deep work in an obvious manner and the very satisfying reward from it. That is why children should always learn an instrument.

edisonjoao• 7 years ago

I struggle with this everyday

Guide to Deep Work

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