What is slow productivity and how can it be applied? 17

I wish management understood this. I’m considered a “slow” developer…but when my work gets done it almost never needs revisited. My bug count is in the single digits vs in the hundreds that my “faster” coworkers have, and unlike my “faster” coworkers none of my projects ever had to be rewritten due to being built on delicate code (rewriting software is an enormous cost by the way). The technical debt of my projects is so minimal I have applications I’ve written over a decade ago that still run just fine and never had to be part of the yearly maintenance parade.

As this content states, often times slower is better.

I love the ideas behind “Deep Work / Slow Productivity,” but I have some concerns about its practicality and accessibility for most people. Here are a few thoughts:
1. Only for the privileged: slow productivity seems like a luxury that only the wealthy or upper-middle class can enjoy. People with stable jobs or their own businesses might have the flexibility to adopt this lifestyle, but for the average worker, it’s often out of reach.
2. Not for middle-class workers: Middle-class employees, like those in enterprises, nurses, or supermarket cashiers, can’t really apply Slow Productivity. Their jobs demand constant, high-paced work with little room to slow down.
3. Academic privilege: It’s easier to come up with these concepts when you’re a MIT professor and have income from books and speaking gigs. Most people don’t have that kind of financial security or freedom in their jobs.
4. Systemic pressure: The pressure to be highly productive usually comes from business owners and upper management, not individual workers. Suggesting that people should feel responsible for being too busy or not achieving slow productivity can make them feel guilty and even more stressed, overlooking the bigger systemic issues.

This advice is fantastic if you are self employed or applying it to other aspects of life like a hobby.

Applying this in a modern day workplace is a sure fire way to get yourself on an “improvement plan” and very swiftly removed from their roster. Maybe it’ll motivate you maybe it’ll make you homeless. But this method cannot work in a practical setting until pseudo-productivity culture is turned on its head. Hopefully this guy can help accomplish that.

I have been implementing seasons into my workflow, and it seems to be working very well. Work hard during the spring when the flowers are blooming and in the fall when it’s time to get ready for hibernation.

Work slow and enjoy the summer and the winter holiday season, reap the benefits of the hard work in the seasons prior, and spend time with family.

This is the way my brain naturally works. I’ve had to learn to try and do both fast work and this but it’s challenging. Thanks for making me feel a little better about myself.

This is great advice but only works if corporations/employers also take on this three principles. Otherwise you'll be seen as not being productive and not as profitable which, essentially, is only what companies care about.

Sadly, it has been my experience that just having the word "slow" in the title will cause most shareholders to reject the ideas outright without investigation.
The term "delayed gratification", a central principle in this post, is unknown to them.
They will not pause nor hesitate to leapfrog over ANY idea which might cause even a temporary loss of profits, which is a certainty here.
Only the most forward thinking of companies would adopt such strategies, of which there are very few.

Thank you for articulating this so well - we teach organisations to slow down and focus on value creation, yet something so logical feels scary to most management teams.

now show me a company that follows this.
whenever i do this as an employee i get punished. what boss wants to hear "slow productivity"?

the concept is lovely and idealistic Our society has not prepared us for this thought process or how to act upon it Certain people and what they aspire, will naturally escape to just 'being' and doing what they consider their gift I appreciate them...The content is very interesting and gives pause...

Love it. I’ve never heard it put that way but this is exactly the philosophy that I practice with my team.

This is a fantastic outlook, and great advice. Happy to hear this said out loud. Will be buying this book!

I've been following these principles for years. Can recommend wholly, 10/10 great work!

This is a refreshing take on productivity in the modern workplace as a knowledge worker.

So what I get from this content is that everything I’ve been with doing intuitively with my adhd is correct. What is wrong is the other people in my life thinking they know what’s best for me. My next instinct is to read this content repeatedly and to argue with or ignore everyone else until I get my work done

yeah I would've loved the 'do fewer things' to work at my old first job as a cadet in social housing. it instead got people, performance and culture to ask whether i was depressed and anxious and to get assessed and medicated, and the course managers I had for a qualification I was getting part of this program tell me to get assessed etc for adhd. it's workplaces that NEED to be slower for trainees and actually giving trainees time to do stuff... rather than giving them such an unworkable environment that they can NOT wait the get out of there.