February 19, 2006
Context, inertia, collisions, and Getting Things Done
Posted by bopuc at February 19, 2006 08:33 PM
"Context" is very much my favorite word these days. People around me must be getting really sick of hearing me yammer on about it.
Anyways, Karl shares this great entry from Tao of Mac:
Doing less things at a time is, as usual, the best way to get more work done, but that seems to be lost on the modern organizational paradigm of "ad-hoc cross-competency teams" that assumes (wrongly) that:
- you can slice your time across many different projects provided you are given clear bounds on your assignment.
- you're flexible enough to accommodate everyone's whim.
- you and the rest of your so-called "team" will have compatible schedules.
I need to "go offline" more often, allow myself to stay "in context" on a project or task for longer periods of time. Being pulled in 20 directions at all times, while I seem to have adapted quite well to it, is still a sub-optimal way of being and causes me a near constant, albeit mild and subtle, anxious tummy ache. ;p
Comments
I hear you, man...I hear you. My philosophy going forward is to strip down: getting rid of current projects, taking on no more additional projects, focusing on the few things that matter long-term to me and then enjoying the rest of life.
Ah now if only i could follow my own philosophy, I'd have a viable religion.
Posted by: Joel at February 24, 2006 06:16 PM