Another excellent post on the Signal vs. Noise blog, this one by Jason Fried: Urgency is poisonous. 37signals recently moved to a four-day work week and this post gives an update on just how well it's going.
One thing I’ve come to realize is that urgency is overrated. In fact, I’ve come to believe urgency is poisonous. Urgency may get things done a few days sooner, but what does it cost in morale? Few things burn morale like urgency. Urgency is acidic.Emergency is the only urgency. Almost anything else can wait a few days. It’s OK.
The comments on the post are particularly interesting. Many argue that the approach isn't possible in most companies, client-driven environments, or the "real world". Here's Jason's response:
Ah, the mythical, absolute “real world.” The real world is the one you choose to live in. Your world is no more real than my world. I’m sorry you’re trapped in yours.
It's a worthwhile conversation about an entirely different way to look at the life of work.
Jason is right, I think we forget to breath sometimes. I recently left a job where every day there was something on fire. My job now pay's half as much but I never work more then forty hours and I finally have time to try and write again. I am really enjoying your posts and have subscribed. Thanks!
Posted by: Matthew Wheeler | May 14, 2008 at 06:41 PM