Tuesday, February 06, 2007

The Importance of Alone Time

Interesting advice from a cutting-edge web development company:

"When you have a long stretch when you aren't bothered, you can get in the
zone. The zone is when you are most productive. It's when you don't have
to mindshift between various tasks. It's when you aren't interrupted to
answer a question or look up something or send an email or answer an im.
The alone zone is where real progress is made.

Getting in the zone takes time. And that's why interruption is your enemy.
It's like rem sleep - you don't just go to rem sleep, you go to sleep
first and you make your way to rem. Any interruptions force you to start
over. rem is where the real sleep magic happens. The alone time zone is
where the real development magic happens.

Set up a rule at work: Make half the day alone time. From 10am-2pm, no one
can talk to one another (except during lunch). Or make the first or the
last half of the day the alone time period. Just make sure this period is
contiguous in order to avoid productivity-killing interruptions.

A successful alone time period means letting go of communication
addiction. During alone time, give up instant messenging, phone calls, and
meetings. Avoid any email thread that's going to require an immediate
response. Just shut up and get to work."

http://gettingreal.37signals.com/ch07_Alone_Time.php

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