Last time I wrote about the Beginning of a Tech Lead Journey and 3 months in, I find it fitting to continue with a part 2. I’d like to take you on a journey I feel isn’t well-trodden. I believe it is fair to say that already for a couple of decades we were, and still are, fascinated by the productivity, making sure we produce more in less time and for less money while keeping the elusive work-life balance. Recently I have started to read a book, which might sound quite counterproductive on a first glance: My new book: Slow Productivity by Cal Newport. Slow Productivity, what the hell I might hear? or mmm yeah, and?. Does it ring a bell for you based on your own experience or does the word “Slow” next to productivity make you jump from a chair and yell on the screen of the reading device of choice? 

My own experience from those 3 months shows my inability to be productive when you get more than 3 competing demands for your attention, and even 3 are quite a lot. To show you what I mean, here is on of the lists I was trying to finished the other day: 

• Fire fighting delays of delivery for one of the most important markets

• Figuring out the structure of and planning teams sharing calls

• Working on the definition of the company Jira backlogs

• Acting as a project manager for two teams as we have a shortage of those

• Doing 1 on 1s and other planned meetings.

• Advanced coaching coarse in the evening

What do you think? Does it look sustainable? Does it look familiar in the sense of what all you have to juggle in your work? As you can already guess, I don’t believe it is. Apart of that, I also get all those shiny instant messages to take care of, Microsoft Teams is the main communication stream in the company and also, the torture device of choice for new tech leaders. 

I can already hear some of the Advice Monsters rumbling, “wait man, wait, you really have to learn to prioritise” or “use this methodology”, “you should have a look on this system” or the one I love the most “I’ve got an excellent app that will surely help you”. You’ve gotta love the easy fixes, the lists of 5 things to do to instantly get on top of your list of tasks. I am not saying there won’t be something that is going to help you, but it is very unlikely that it will be specific enough for your own situation and your very own unique brain. 

The approach I’ve chosen to follow is the Slow Productivity introduced by Cal Newport, defined as:

A philosophy for organizing knowledge work efforts in a sustainable and meaningful manner, based on the following three principles:

1. Do fewer things.

2. Work at a natural pace.

3. Obsess over quality.

It is not my aim to go deep into the principles, I 100% recommend to have a read of the book and you can also listen to absolutely amazing podcast by Dr. Andrew D. Huberman and Dr. Cal Newport.

Before you return to the busy life, this is a list of questions I am trying to answer for myself and I can’t stop wondering, what would happen if you do the same?

• How many things am I working on in a day?

• What am I getting from being busy all the time? And what am I loosing?

• What do my co-workers, friends and family think about how busy I am? And what they think about the quality of work I do?

• What trade-offs do I make every day to be as productive as it is expected?

• Imagine the ideal world to live in, nothing is impossible. What would be my ideal pace of working? And what can I do to get there?