Deep work. Essentialism in asynchronous culture
published on 2022/12/21
Nowadays, we are getting accustomed to working in a continuously interrupting environment. Smartphone notifications, hundreds of e-mails, open spaces, and meetings slicing our workday. We are feeling busy, and overworked, but are we more productive? If I am a salesman or project coordinator that way of working can bring good effects and even improve my skills. However, for Software Developers, Designers, and other professionals that need a quiet environment for creative effort, it can lead only to frustration and burnout. They need something that is called deep work. Deep work is a concept popularized by Cal Newport in his book under the same title published in 2016. The author divides mental activity into two categories:
- shallow work, that does not need intensive concentration like sending e-mails, formatting documents, chatting using communicators, etc.
- deep work, that demands distraction-free focus on one task like writing a document, learning a new skill, designing a software system, etc.