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> The solution should be office hours. You should be able to say say “I’m free for meetings from 2-5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and if you want to talk to me

> The solution should be office hours. You should be able to say say “I’m free for meetings from 2-5pm on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and if you want to talk to me then that’s when you can.” In most companies, doing that would make you an annoyance. Those companies don’t respect Deep Work. No, the main reason would be that it becomes impossible to schedule meetings when everyone only has that few arbitrarily selected office hours. It might work when everyone in the team agrees to the same office hours, but even then, how do you schedule meetings to align between teams with different office hours?

CydeWeys 6y ago
I guess the "office hours" have to be for 1-on-1s only, and then large meetings with many participants can be scheduled whenever.
rsj_hn 6y ago
I permanently block off time for focused work, at least half a day each day, alternating mornings and afternoons, and one full day a week, meaning I have 4*4 = 16 hours available for meetings each week, and 24 hours available for work. In those situations -- which happen maybe twice a year -- when a team meeting happens in the time blocked off, I flip it. So, if I have the morning blocked off for work and a meeting that I have to attend is in the morning, I block off the afternoon for work and cancel existing appointments, of course with apologies. That's pretty rare. For anyone else outside my team or group that I work with normally, I tell them my calendar is open and they can book a time whenever I'm free. I also urge people to use email when they think it's possible, since a lot things can be handled more efficiently async via email than via a meeting. A meeting is sometimes required, but it shouldn't be the automatic first choice. I went over this plan with my manager and he thought it a great idea. Personally, I've found it significantly increases my productivity. All of this is a function of the corporate culture where you work, and I am not suggesting that you adopt practices that go against your company's culture, but the fact of the matter is that long periods of focused work are required to make big contributions, and if your corporate culture doesn't allow it, you may want to look elsewhere to make a big impact.

CydeWeys 6y ago

I guess the "office hours" have to be for 1-on-1s only, and then large meetings with many participants can be scheduled whenever.

rsj_hn 6y ago

I permanently block off time for focused work, at least half a day each day, alternating mornings and afternoons, and one full day a week, meaning I have 4*4 = 16 hours available for meetings each week, and 24 hours available for work. In those situations -- which happen maybe twice a year -- when a team meeting happens in the time blocked off, I flip it. So, if I have the morning blocked off for work and a meeting that I have to attend is in the morning, I block off the afternoon for work and cancel existing appointments, of course with apologies. That's pretty rare. For anyone else outside my team or group that I work with normally, I tell them my calendar is open and they can book a time whenever I'm free. I also urge people to use email when they think it's possible, since a lot things can be handled more efficiently async via email than via a meeting. A meeting is sometimes required, but it shouldn't be the automatic first choice. I went over this plan with my manager and he thought it a great idea. Personally, I've found it significantly increases my productivity. All of this is a function of the corporate culture where you work, and I am not suggesting that you adopt practices that go against your company's culture, but the fact of the matter is that long periods of focused work are required to make big contributions, and if your corporate culture doesn't allow it, you may want to look elsewhere to make a big impact.