I’ve been reading Rework by 37signals founders Jason Fried (@jasonfried) and David Heinemeier Hansson (@dhh) this month and they have a short section titled “Interruption is the enemy of productivity.” The entire premise of the section is the reason you don’t get enough done at work is because of interruptions, which is why we can accomplish so much at night, early in the morning, or on a plane. These interruptions break up the work day into work moments. Thirty minutes and then you have morning break. Fifteen minutes and then you have lunch. An hour later, you have an afternoon meeting. The next thing you know the day is over and you haven’t gotten much accomplished. It’s difficult to get key tasks done when you’re constantly starting and stopping.
In an office, these interruptions are easy to pick out. All those little impromptu get-togethers, chatting with colleagues, and phone calls break the flow of people’s work. But those are not the only interruptions: email, meetings, and instant messages distract people from their task at hand and cause them to shift focus to something else, then mind-shift back to their work. To increase productivity, we need to find a way to eliminate or minimize these interruptions.
In case you think this is just an office problem, it’s not. This is just as applicable to your team members who work on the shop floor as those who work in an office. When you have an assembler or machinist that has to stop working to go find the right material, get the correct tool, or replace a cutter or drill, they have to mind-shift between these tasks and you lose productivity. Not only does this slow them down, but then they often have to recheck or inspect the parts produced once they begin working again to ensure they are in tolerance.
To get the most accomplished, we need to find ways to eliminate all these interruptions. For those in the office, the guys at 37signals suggest instituting no-talk Thursdays instead of casual Fridays. Or set work rules that from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., people can’t talk to each other (except during lunch). Or make the first or last half of the day your alone-time period. Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishing (@MichaelHyatt), tweeted that they have “No Meeting Fridays.” One of the changes I made at the beginning of the year was to only check email twice a day at noon and 4 p.m. Most of my clients and colleagues know that if something is urgent and cannot wait until those times, they should call me. This helps me to not live in my inbox and stay focused on the project at hand.
What about the shop? What can you do to help your production team get more done in the day? Keep production meetings to the start or end of each shift. Talk with your team. Watch and understand the process. Do they have all the materials, tools, fixtures, gauges, and prints they need to finish the job at their work station? I once had a client that discovered out of the 7 hours and 15 minutes it took to change over one of his presses, 2 hours and 21 minutes were spent just going to find things and dealing with interruptions! Do you know what interruptions are costing your company?
Start eliminating interruptions today and see your productivity increase.
Have a great idea or are doing something to eliminate interruptions in your business, share it with us in the comments.
