Banu Şahin Canpolat // Allianz Türkiye - Agile Coach
The accelerating life and busy work tempo make it difficult for all of us to focus from time to time. Keeping in mind that focus is one of the five values of Scrum, I have compiled ways to make it easier from the book Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.
In addition to the intense pace of our work, developing communication technologies and constantly living social media make us feel as if one day is not enough. We need to manage our time effectively, and to do this, we need to focus, in this period when others' expectations of us and our expectations of ourselves are increasing.
One of the five values of Scrum, which is one of the methods applied by agile teams, is to focus. I wanted to share with you the similarities between Cal Newport's suggestions for adding more focus to our lives with agile methods in his book titled "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World", in which he describes the different methods successful people use.
In the book, Newport says that people who produce using their minds are expected to master difficult tasks quickly, while producing at an increasingly higher level, both in terms of quality and speed. However, he points out that increased email traffic and social media stimuli, co-working spaces, appreciation for being busy, and the absence of any metrics by which mental workers' contribution can be measured make it difficult to focus and time on meeting these expectations.
So he created a simple formula for efficiency:
Amount of high-quality work = Time spent x Intensity of focus
Happiness with focus
It will be very insufficient to consider the focus of attention only from the point of view of efficiency. It is a fact that we are happier if we focus on the things we enjoy or add value to us. Thus, we can deal with negative and unpleasant things more easily, our resilience increases. Above all, our work gives meaning to our lives when we are as deeply focused as an artisan. In short, we can say that as focus increases, so does happiness, efficiency, endurance and meaning in our lives.
Did you notice? When we go deeper, we have come to the point of adding meaning to our lives, from the need to manage our time while examining the importance of focusing.
What to do?
The suggestions of Newport in the book Deep Work are divided into two headings, "What to Do?" and “How to Do?” While leaving the “how” part to my next article, I will write the“ what” part in this article. I will focus on the part and talk about Deepening and Ritualization.
Deepening
There are several different focus approach alternatives to go deeper.
- Rhythmic approach: To determine a time interval that we will focus on each day.
- Dual-mode approach: Focusing on a certain number of days, e.g. 3 days a week.
- Journalist approach: Focusing whenever possible.
- Monk approach: Seclusion until the work is done.
We can determine one of these approaches according to what our work and private lives allow. It seems more appropriate to take a seclusion for a while, not answering e-mails for a few days, and to prefer the rhythmic approach as it is not yet feasible for corporate employees. The rhythmic approach is also much more effective than others in terms of adding focus to our lives as a habit. As the habit grows, both multipliers in Newport's formula will become stronger, increasing our volume of high-quality work. Let me remind you again about the increase in happiness, endurance and meaning…
Ritualization
After choosing our approach, he suggests we determine how to Ritualize:
- Choose a specific location. Do not exceed the time allocated and do not change your place so that you do not give up in time
When choosing a place, you can also consider a different place from the place where you do your daily work. For example, even differentiating the room in which we will work by focusing will help us to get the message about what we aim when we sit down to work as soon as we enter the room, as the habit becomes well established.
- Clarify what is needed to ensure continuity
For example, set achievable target output; restrict social media access, etc. Following the Pareto principle, you might even consider identifying social media distractors that only give you 20 percent benefit but steal 80 percent of your time, and eliminating them altogether, as it will save time.
- Prepare coffee, materials you will use in the study and similar supplements in advance
A short walk, exercise, stretching, or shower may be good beforehand to clear the mind. Mindfulness also came to my mind. You may want to read Emel's article on this subject.
- Don't forget to take a break
Remember that focus is a limited resource and the more we consume it, the harder it gets. Set your finish time and really finish there too. Incorporate a strictly disciplined switch-off ritual into your day. Let the ritual be: Assess where you are on the plan and plan the next step. Move the task to a safe place to reconsider when the time comes. With a phrase like “that's it for today” remind yourself that you will not think about it again that day.
Does the rhythmic approach and ritualization suggested by the habit sound familiar to you from Scrum? The way of logic is really the same...
See you in my next article, where I will explain action suggestions on how we can work focused and agile.
P.S. You can contact us by clicking here to share your experiences and ask questions about the agile working method.
Sources:: Pür Dikkat, Odaklanma becerisini nasıl yitirdik, nasıl geri kazanabiliriz? Stratejiler, Kurallar, Metotlar, Cal Newport, Metropolis Yayınları, 2017 (Özgün Adı: Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World, 2016, Çeviri: Onur Öztürk)
Cal Newport, Georgetown Üniversitesi (Washington, ABD) bilgisayar bilimleri bölümünde doçent ünvanıyla çalışmaktadır. Doktorasını MIT’de (Massachussets Institute of Technology) tamamlayan Newport, dağıtık algoritmalar teorisi alanındaki bilimsel çalışmalarının yanı sıra teknoloji-kültür ilişkisini irdelediği, yirmiyi aşkın kitaplarıyla tanınmaktadır. Dijital teknolojilerin toplumsal etkileri, verimli çalışma biçimleri ve kalıcı değer üretimi gibi konularda calnewport.com/blog adresinde yazmaya devam etmektedir.
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