Why work doesn’t happen “at work”

This is a very provocative video from the good folks at TED. The speaker, Jason Fried, makes the case that most workplaces are antithetical to what’s supposed to be happening, namely, work. Highly recommended for showing at the next meeting at the office. Just make sure the manager is not in the room or there will never again be a video shown at a meeting if he/she has anything to do with it.

Fried’s premise is that truly valuable work can take place only if there aren’t a lot of interruptions. Interruptions happen in formal workplaces far more often than they do at home or away from “work.” So work at home. He answers the objections made by managers that work at home is interrupted too often, and that workers won’t have the discipline to use their time well. He calls the two things that are most destructive to real work the M&Ms: Managers and Meetings.

In our own experience, in the past 30 years at our business, we had exactly two meetings of the staff. Nothing came of either meeting.