# Ep. 248 — Decoding Overload  URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/9e53c755-269d-4c9b-badd-ba7d1b9ca8ad Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Overload for knowledge workers often comes from the coordination and collaboration component, rather than the execution demand. > 2. Microsoft app users spend almost half of their workweek on emails and digital meetings and it can lead to overhead saturation and constant interruptions. > 3. Efficiency can be improved by limiting workload to two things at a time and smarter workload management systems are needed for optimal productivity. > 4. Lowering obligations may be a better solution than hiring a personal assistant to manage overload. > 5. Real-time synchronous communication should happen through face-to-face office hours and regularly scheduled docket-clearing meetings are helpful for productive team collaboration. > 6. Workload management is key to preventing the burnout crisis in the knowledge work sector. ([View Highlight](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/6eb18522-d1f3-4a09-aa81-d6a07bd9f770)) > Understanding Overload in Knowledge Work Settings > Key takeaways: > - A work commitment can be broken into execution and overhead components > - Execution is doing the work required by the commitment, while overhead refers to the coordination and collaboration activities surrounding it > - Overload, or feeling overwhelmed, is usually associated with too much execution, but for knowledge workers, it often comes from the overhead component > - The nature of knowledge work often requires coordination or collaboration with other people, which can fragment schedules much quicker than the actual execution > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > When you get a work commitment that you agree to, it's broken into or we can break it into two different parts, execution and overhead. So execution is actually executing the work required by that commitment. So if we take an article that you're writing as an example, the execution is actually writing the article. You're at the word processor. You're, you're, you're putting the words there. The overhead is everything that goes around it. The back and forth communication to set up the interview with someone. I'm trying to arrange a time with my editor to go over these changes. The fact checker and I need to get on the same page. So it's the collaboration and coordination that surrounds the actual execution of the work. Now, when most people think about being overloaded, they think about execution. The total amount of things I actually have to do has piled it up to a point where I don't even think I have enough time to get it done. This is the classic understanding of overload. This is what students suffer from. When they realize tomorrow, I have to get this paper done and I have this test and I have to finish this problem set. And if they look at the actual work to have to execute the writing, the studying and the solving of the problems, the amount of time required to do that is more than they really have hours between now and when these things are due. So execution, if you have too much total execution to do for the time you have available, can create a sense of overload. In most knowledge work settings, however, we don't get anywhere near the execution demands being too large. The source of overload for a lot of knowledge workers actually comes from the overhead component. The coordination and collaboration activities that surround the work we do can fragment up, can muck up, can make hard to pass your schedule much quicker than the actual execution can. And the reason why this is partially the nature of the work and not the time required by it. Overhead often requires coordination or collaborations with other people. ([Time 0:04:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e563ead7-6b0a-4a44-950f-61994af6cc10)) - Note: [[Overhead]] is work that occurs as a byproduct of doing something. Overhead is necessary to complete a task, but is not, in itself, intended. > Microsoft app users spend majority of work week on emails and meetings > Key takeaways: > - Users of Microsoft software spend an average of 8.8 hours per week reading and writing emails and 7.5 hours logged into digital meetings. > - Two fifths of all time during the work week is spent reading emails and being in meetings. > - Consolidating those tasks into two days may be appealing, but they are typically spread out throughout the week. > - This can lead to overhead saturation and constant interruptions throughout the work week. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > So if we look on the people that actually use mainly Microsoft software, what they found as hinted by the headline is that these users spent an average of 8.8 hours a week reading and writing emails and 7.5 hours logged into meetings. So that's going to be digital meetings because that's what Microsoft would know about. That's two full days out of five. Two fifths of all of your time during the work week is spent reading emails and being in meetings. Now, if you could guarantee that you would consolidate those into two actual days, I'll do that on Monday and Tuesday and to be completely uninterrupted for Wednesday through Friday, maybe I would take that deal. But of course, that is not how that time is distributed throughout your landscape of work. That 8.8 hours of reading email is spread throughout the 40 hours of your week in such a way that you always have to come back. And there's you never far from having more emails to read. Same thing with that 7.5 hours of meetings. It's two hours of meetings spread out over four meetings today, five hours of meetings this day, it gets sprinkled and peppered throughout your schedule. So you can get to that point of overhead saturation. ([Time 0:11:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e3a8bb79-b7c7-4028-888c-99b5ec84c424)) > Efficient Workload Management for Productivity > Key takeaways: > - Reduce overhead by focusing on less things at a time > - Efficiency can be achieved by limiting workload to two things at a time > - Smarter workload management systems are needed for optimal productivity > - Focus on coordination and collaboration to reduce schedule impact > - Faster completion of tasks can be achieved by limiting the number of things on the plate at the same time > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > A lot of overhead is unavoidable. The secret is do less things at a time. I only have two things on my plate at a time. Now, the overhead does not destroy my schedule, so I can actually execute pretty efficiently. And then those things are done and I can do two other things. And the overhead is small, so I can execute that efficiently and I get it done faster. And you know what? Those four things got done much faster than if you put all four things on my plate at the same time. Workload management has to be a critical part of this solution. And that's something that's going to require systems. That's going to require organizational buy-in. So I think this is where our focus should be. Not how do we do our work faster? But instead, how do we make coordination collaboration that surrounds tasks have less of a spread out footprint on our schedule? And B, how can we have smarter workload management systems that keep less on their plate at the same time? This is not about doing less work. This is not a dichotomy between workers and management where they both have their own interests. And it's in the management's interest for us to have more on our plate and in our interest to have less. And everyone's interest for us to hold things back and only give people one thing to do at a time or two things to do at a time because it gets done faster. ([Time 0:16:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/63f1937b-05b4-4dc6-8f6c-80904cb3be11)) > Do You Need a Personal Assistant? > Key takeaways: > - Lowering obligations may be a better solution than hiring an assistant to manage overload > - Reducing the load can help solve the problem of overload > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > The right solution is if possible, lower the obligations in your life to the point where you wouldn't even need an assistant, that's probably the better way to solve the problem of overload is reduce the load as opposed to trying to introduce another person into helping you manage to load. ([Time 0:32:22](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a0a4593a-94be-4a62-87d6-efa98272ed09)) > Establishing Office Hours and Docket-Clearing Meetings for Effective Team Communication > Key takeaways: > - Back and forth interactions should be done synchronously in real time > - Office hours are a good option for synchronous interactions > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Anything that requires back and forth interaction, so beyond just answering a single question, this should be done synchronously real time, or we can just talk back and forth to each other in real time. Where should these interactions occur? One option number one should be office hours. ([Time 0:38:33](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d8c354f8-dbfe-445c-8e10-3174f7e84bfb)) > Ways to conduct real-time synchronous communication and regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings for productive team collaboration > Key takeaways: > - Regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings should be held twice a week with a shared document accompanying them > - Add items that need to be discussed by the group to the shared document throughout the week > - Tackle each item on the shared document piece by piece during the next docket clearing meeting > - Wait until the next regularly scheduled meeting to discuss items that require multiple back and forths > - Automated processes for setting up meetings should be established > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > If the interaction requires multiple people, so you're about to use that CC button, you should have regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings for your team probably twice a week. There should be a shared document that accompanies these meetings. Throughout the week in between the docket clearing, as something comes up that needs to be discussed as a group, you add it to the shared document. When you get to the next docket clearing meeting, you look at the shared document as a group and you go through it piece by piece and try to tackle each of the items. This could be a big discussion. We need to figure out a new strategy or it could be a scheduling decision. We need to set up a strategy offsite meeting when it's good. Let me type that in our shared document at the next docket clearing meeting. There will be a point where we get to that. We say, okay, everyone, open up your calendars. Let's find a time right now. If you would have used a CC message for that has multiple back and forth, wait till the next regularly scheduled docket clearing meeting, if all else fails, then you can go to the custom scheduled meeting. All right, you and I have to just set up a meeting to talk about this. We can't do it in office hours for whatever reason. We can't do it in docket clearing. Only then do you fall back on a normally scheduled meeting. You need some sort of automated process for setting up meetings. ([Time 0:39:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/61679007-a509-48c3-b97c-10542f6d536d)) > Effective Workload Management in Knowledge Work Sector & Core of Burnout Crisis > Key takeaways: > - Deploying cognitive resources ineffectively reduces productivity > - Piling work on knowledge workers is an ineffective economic strategy > - Central holding tank for obligations with one task at a time improves efficiency > - Workload management is key in preventing burnout crisis in knowledge work > - Different types of stress tolerance affect career choices > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > The management is at the core of the burnout crisis. ([Time 0:47:57](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6f7a10c8-a8d7-4ed2-b49c-2659fa407bc4)) --- Title: Ep. 248 — Decoding Overload Author: Deep Questions with Cal Newport Tags: readwise, podcasts date: 2024-01-30 --- # Ep. 248 — Decoding Overload  URL:: https://share.snipd.com/episode/9e53c755-269d-4c9b-badd-ba7d1b9ca8ad Author:: Deep Questions with Cal Newport ## AI-Generated Summary None ## Highlights > Episode AI notes > 1. Overload for knowledge workers often comes from the coordination and collaboration component, rather than the execution demand. > 2. Microsoft app users spend almost half of their workweek on emails and digital meetings and it can lead to overhead saturation and constant interruptions. > 3. Efficiency can be improved by limiting workload to two things at a time and smarter workload management systems are needed for optimal productivity. > 4. Lowering obligations may be a better solution than hiring a personal assistant to manage overload. > 5. Real-time synchronous communication should happen through face-to-face office hours and regularly scheduled docket-clearing meetings are helpful for productive team collaboration. > 6. Workload management is key to preventing the burnout crisis in the knowledge work sector. ([View Highlight](https://share.snipd.com/episode-takeaways/6eb18522-d1f3-4a09-aa81-d6a07bd9f770)) > Understanding Overload in Knowledge Work Settings > Summary: > Work commitments are divided into execution and overhead. Execution is the actual work while overhead is the coordination and collaboration surrounding it. Overload usually comes from overhead rather than execution demand. Knowledge workers suffer more from coordination and collaboration activities than actual execution. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > When you get a work commitment that you agree to, it's broken into or we can break it into two different parts, execution and overhead. So execution is actually executing the work required by that commitment. So if we take an article that you're writing as an example, the execution is actually writing the article. You're at the word processor. You're, you're, you're putting the words there. The overhead is everything that goes around it. The back and forth communication to set up the interview with someone. I'm trying to arrange a time with my editor to go over these changes. The fact checker and I need to get on the same page. So it's the collaboration and coordination that surrounds the actual execution of the work. Now, when most people think about being overloaded, they think about execution. The total amount of things I actually have to do has piled it up to a point where I don't even think I have enough time to get it done. This is the classic understanding of overload. This is what students suffer from. When they realize tomorrow, I have to get this paper done and I have this test and I have to finish this problem set. And if they look at the actual work to have to execute the writing, the studying and the solving of the problems, the amount of time required to do that is more than they really have hours Between now and when these things are due. So execution, if you have too much total execution to do for the time you have available, can create a sense of overload. In most knowledge work settings, however, we don't get anywhere near the execution demands being too large. The source of overload for a lot of knowledge workers actually comes from the overhead component. The coordination and collaboration activities that surround the work we do can fragment up, can muck up, can make hard to pass your schedule much quicker than the actual execution Can. And the reason why this is partially the nature of the work and not the time required by it. Overhead often requires coordination or collaborations with other people. ([Time 0:04:08](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e563ead7-6b0a-4a44-950f-61994af6cc10)) Note: [[Overhead]] is work that occurs as a byproduct of doing something. Overhead is necessary to complete a task, but is not, in itself, intended. > Microsoft app users spend majority of work week on emails and meetings > Summary: > Microsoft software users spend 2 full days a week reading emails and in digital meetings, according to a study. Consolidating it to Monday and Tuesday for uninterrupted days sounds appealing, but the time is spread throughout the week, leading to overhead saturation. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > So if we look on the people that actually use mainly Microsoft software, what they found as hinted by the headline is that these users spent an average of 8.8 hours a week reading and writing Emails and 7.5 hours logged into meetings. So that's going to be digital meetings because that's what Microsoft would know about. That's two full days out of five. Two fifths of all of your time during the work week is spent reading emails and being in meetings. Now, if you could guarantee that you would consolidate those into two actual days, I'll do that on Monday and Tuesday and to be completely uninterrupted for Wednesday through Friday, Maybe I would take that deal. But of course, that is not how that time is distributed throughout your landscape of work. That 8.8 hours of reading email is spread throughout the 40 hours of your week in such a way that you always have to come back. And there's you never far from having more emails to read. Same thing with that 7.5 hours of meetings. It's two hours of meetings spread out over four meetings today, five hours of meetings this day, it gets sprinkled and peppered throughout your schedule. So you can get to that point of overhead saturation. ([Time 0:11:14](https://share.snipd.com/snip/e3a8bb79-b7c7-4028-888c-99b5ec84c424)) > Efficient Workload Management for Productivity > Summary: > To improve efficiency, focus on workload management and only take on a few tasks at a time. This approach requires organizational buy-in and smarter systems. It's not about doing less work, but about coordinating and collaborating more effectively. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > A lot of overhead is unavoidable. The secret is do less things at a time. I only have two things on my plate at a time. Now, the overhead does not destroy my schedule, so I can actually execute pretty efficiently. And then those things are done and I can do two other things. And the overhead is small, so I can execute that efficiently and I get it done faster. And you know what? Those four things got done much faster than if you put all four things on my plate at the same time. Workload management has to be a critical part of this solution. And that's something that's going to require systems. That's going to require organizational buy-in. So I think this is where our focus should be. Not how do we do our work faster? But instead, how do we make coordination collaboration that surrounds tasks have less of a spread out footprint on our schedule? And B, how can we have smarter workload management systems that keep less on their plate at the same time? This is not about doing less work. This is not a dichotomy between workers and management where they both have their own interests. And it's in the management's interest for us to have more on our plate and in our interest to have less. And everyone's interest for us to hold things back and only give people one thing to do at a time or two things to do at a time because it gets done faster. ([Time 0:16:34](https://share.snipd.com/snip/63f1937b-05b4-4dc6-8f6c-80904cb3be11)) > Do You Need a Personal Assistant? > Summary: > Simplify your life instead of hiring an assistant to manage your overwhelming load. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > The right solution is if possible, lower the obligations in your life to the point where you wouldn't even need an assistant, that's probably the better way to solve the problem of overload Is reduce the load as opposed to trying to introduce another person into helping you manage to load. ([Time 0:32:22](https://share.snipd.com/snip/a0a4593a-94be-4a62-87d6-efa98272ed09)) > Establishing Office Hours and Docket-Clearing Meetings for Effective Team Communication > Summary: > Real time, interactive conversations should happen synchronously through face-to-face office hours. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > Anything that requires back and forth interaction, so beyond just answering a single question, this should be done synchronously real time, or we can just talk back and forth to each Other in real time. Where should these interactions occur? One option number one should be office hours. ([Time 0:38:33](https://share.snipd.com/snip/d8c354f8-dbfe-445c-8e10-3174f7e84bfb)) > Ways to conduct real-time synchronous communication and regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings for productive team collaboration > Summary: > To avoid endless back and forth conversations, have regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings twice a week for group discussions, and use a shared document to add any necessary topics before tackling them together. Only use CC messages for urgent matters, otherwise, schedule a meeting in advance. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > If the interaction requires multiple people, so you're about to use that CC button, you should have regularly scheduled docket clearing meetings for your team probably twice a week. There should be a shared document that accompanies these meetings. Throughout the week in between the docket clearing, as something comes up that needs to be discussed as a group, you add it to the shared document. When you get to the next docket clearing meeting, you look at the shared document as a group and you go through it piece by piece and try to tackle each of the items. This could be a big discussion. We need to figure out a new strategy or it could be a scheduling decision. We need to set up a strategy offsite meeting when it's good. Let me type that in our shared document at the next docket clearing meeting. There will be a point where we get to that. We say, okay, everyone, open up your calendars. Let's find a time right now. If you would have used a CC message for that has multiple back and forth, wait till the next regularly scheduled docket clearing meeting, if all else fails, then you can go to the custom Scheduled meeting. All right, you and I have to just set up a meeting to talk about this. We can't do it in office hours for whatever reason. We can't do it in docket clearing. Only then do you fall back on a normally scheduled meeting. You need some sort of automated process for setting up meetings. ([Time 0:39:35](https://share.snipd.com/snip/61679007-a509-48c3-b97c-10542f6d536d)) > Effective Workload Management in Knowledge Work Sector & Core of Burnout Crisis > Summary: > The burnout crisis is primarily caused by management. > Transcript: > Speaker 1 > The management is at the core of the burnout crisis. ([Time 0:47:57](https://share.snipd.com/snip/6f7a10c8-a8d7-4ed2-b49c-2659fa407bc4))