Chapter 3, Deep Work is Meaningful completes Part 1 of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport. If you are reading this chapter for the first time, my interpretation of the author’s intent is not to prove that deep work is meaningful but rather to argue that it is more meaningful than shallow work. If that ethical dichotomy is true, spending more time on deep work is better than less. Note, that later chapters will show that a simple tradeoff is not straightforward. 

As with the first two chapters during this re-read, I thought more deeply about several concepts. The first simple-to-define v hard-to-execute imbalance is highlighted in the parable in the chapter. Newport points out that in a craft, like blacksmithing, what is being created can be easily defined but requires a lot of concentration and skill to execute. Knowledge work rarely begins with that level of clarity about what is being developed. Over my career, I have observed an incredible level of thought and expertise brought to bear on imagining ways to create a requirement. The output of knowledge work is mushy. The industry goes out of its way to gloss over the problem of ambiguity calling developers engineers or craftspeople. An artist’s role might be closer. The more ambiguous the more deep work (and feedback – which is interrupt-prone) is required on both ends of the spectrum. If we compare the ambiguity of the “what” of deep work for a knowledge worker we can see the seductiveness of shallow work which is far easier to define and complete. The focus of deep work is required to wrestle the ambiguity of knowledge work into submission. 

One of the issues I have had with some of the most absolutists in the Agile movement has been how they implement fast feedback mechanisms. Team rooms (aka open offices) are just one instance of a feedback approach that results in interruption hell (or at least purgatory). MS Teams and Slack have become the post-COVID team room. As the author points out, “Another issue muddying the connection between depth and meaning in knowledge work is the cacophony of voices attempting to convince knowledge workers to spend more time engaged in shallow activities.” During a retrospective, a team member asked if they could shut MS Teams down for several hours daily. The answer was no, the corporate policy was that during working hours, clinicians were to have access to the entire staff. The implementation of the tool combined with the policy meant that everyone had to parse every message to the team at all hours. The person stated, “When the F— am I supposed to think.” Note compromise was found a few months later, after several meetings with Personnel and the organization’s Leadership committee. By then the original speaker was employed (happily, I hear) elsewhere. Deep work might be meaningful, but shallow work is often built into the structure.

A second topic was the idea that “what we choose to focus on and what we choose to ignore—plays in defining the quality of our life.” As I have noted, every time you read a book you are a different person and are at a different point in life. As I was re-reading this chapter my family was going through a sticky patch with an older relative. The idea that our brain can generate a worldview based on what we are focusing on isn’t shocking;, however, it is easy to overlook as we get bombarded by messages designed to manipulate our emotions. Being able to step back and observe others makes the problem visible. Managing our attention by increasing focus and finding tools to filter or reflect the noise around us helps us to re-wire our minds without changing any externalities. Over my career, I have observed that in my experience, I can be sucked down into a negative worldview by people that have the juiciest (usually negative) gossip about corporate intrigue and machinations. Newport quotes Gallagher (author, researcher, and cancer survivor) summarizes: “Who you are, what you think, feel, and do, what you love—is the sum of what you focus on.” My experience supports this statement, which means we need the discipline to control as much of our environment and thoughts as possible to generate positive focus. The advice I hear in my mind’s eye is to turn off as much of the negative through focus.

One final topic that caught my attention is that flow activities encourage you to concentrate and lose yourself. We all had those moments when we looked up and wondered where the morning went because we were engrossed in an activity. That is never going to be weeding the garden for me. Free time, doesn’t have the same goals or feedback mechanisms makes it “harder to shape into something that can be enjoyed.” The final statement threw me when I originally read it until I started observing my free time. I noticed that after I turned my computer off and shouted “mischief managed” (my completion phrase — later in the book) I began to search for a focus for my free time so I could enjoy it. I am not sure this relegation has made me happier…more truthful to myself…but maybe not happier.

Experiment Update. I am still working on carving out time for focus. This week I had to relearn humility. There is a saying “Man plans and God laughs.” Plumbing, holidays, and other interruptions are where real life and experiments get real. Assuming it doesn’t rain and the plumbing problems are rectified for the time being, this week will be spent removing the discipline. 

Remember to buy a copy of Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World and read along.

Week 1: Logistics and Introduction – https://bit.ly/43fGAMX 

Week 2: Deep Work Is Valuable – https://bit.ly/3TznAVd 

Week 3: Deep Work Is Rare – https://bit.ly/4afglsG