If you’ve ever left the office after a full day at work and realized you got precisely nothing done, you can probably identify with Fried’s argument.
According to Fried, the author of “Rework,” modern offices just aren’t conducive to optimal performance. That’s because we’re constantly getting distracted — by our boss checking in on us, by pointless meetings, by coworkers with urgent requests, etc.
“You don’t have a work day anymore,” Fried says in his talk. “You have work moments. It’s like the front door of the office is like a Cuisinart, and you walk in and your day is shredded to bits, because you have 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there.”
To remedy this problem, Fried advises organizations to implement half-days (or more) of complete silence, during which employees can work uninterrupted. Moreover, he recommends doing away with most meetings entirely so that people have time to actually think.
