Jason Fried - It Doesnt Have to be Crazy at Work

How often have you heard someone say Its crazy at work? Maybe youve even said it yourself. For many, Its crazy at work has become their normal. But why so crazy?

There are two primary reasons: (1) The workday is being sliced into tiny, fleeting work moments by an onslaught of physical and virtual distractions. And (2) an unhealthy obsession with growth at any cost sets towering, unrealistic expectations that stress people out.

Its no wonder people are working longer, earlier, later, on weekends, and whenever they have a spare moment. People cant get work done at work anymore. That turns life into works leftovers. The doggie bag.

Whats worse is that long hours, excessive busyness, and lack of sleep have become a badge of honor for many people these days. Sustained exhaustion is not a badge of honor, its a mark of stupidity.

And its not just about organizations individuals, contractors, and solopreneurs are burning themselves out in the very same way.

Youd think that with all the hours people are putting in, and all the promises of new technologies, the load would be lessening. Its not. Its getting heavier.

But the thing is, theres not more work to be done all of a sudden. The problem is that theres hardly any uninterrupted, dedicated time to do it. People are working more but getting less done. It doesnt add upuntil you account for the majority of time being wasted on things that dont matter.

Out of the 60, 70, or 80 hours a week many people are expected to pour into work, how many of those hours are really spent on the work itself? And how many are tossed away in meetings, lost to distraction, and withered away by inefficient business practices? The bulk of them.

The answer isnt more hours, its less bullshit. Less waste, not more production. And far fewer distractions, less always-on anxiety, and avoiding stress.

Stress is passed from organization to employee, from employee to employee, and then from employee to customer. Stress never stops at the border of work, either. It bleeds into life. It infects your relationships with your friends, your family, your kids.

The promises keep coming. More time-management hacks. More ways to communicate. And new demands keep piling up. To pay attention to more conversations in more places, to respond within minutes. Faster and faster, for what?

If its constantly crazy at work, we have two words for you: Fuck that. And two more: Enough already.

Its time for companies to stop asking their employees to breathlessly chase ever-higher, ever-more-artificial targets set by ego. Its time to give people the uninterrupted time that great work demands. Its time to stop celebrating crazy at work.

For nearly 20 years weve been working at making Basecamp a calm company. One that isnt fueled by stress, or ASAP, or rushing, or late nights, or all-nighter crunches, or impossible promises, or high turnover, or consistently missed deadlines, or projects that never seem to end.

No growth-at-all-costs. No false busyness. No ego-driven goals. No keeping up with the Joneses Corporation. No hair on fire. And yet weve been profitable every year weve been in business.

Were in one of the most competitive industries in the world. In addition to tech giants, the software industry is dominated by startups backed by hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. Weve taken zero. Where does our money come from? Customers. Call us old-fashioned.

As a software company, were supposed to be playing the hustle game in Silicon Valley, but we dont have a single employee in the Valley. In fact, our staff of 54 is spread out across about 30 different cities around the world.

We put in about 40 hours a week most of the year and just 32 in the summer. We send people on month-long sabbaticals every three years. We not only pay for peoples vacation time, we pay for the actual vacation, too.

No, not 9 p.m. Wednesday night. It can wait until 9 a.m. Thursday morning. No, not Sunday. Monday.

Are there occasionally stressful moments? Suresuch is life. Is every day peachy? Of course not wed be lying if we said it was. But we do our best to make sure those are the exceptions. On balance were calm by choice, by practice. Were intentional about it. Weve made different decisions from the rest.

Weve designed our company differently. Were here to tell you about the choices weve made and why weve made many of them. Theres a path for any company willing to make similar choices. Youve got to want it, but if you do youll realize its much nicer over here. You can have a calm company, too.

The modern workplace is sick. Chaos should not be the natural state at work. Anxiety isnt a prerequisite for progress. Sitting in meetings all day isnt required for success. These are all perversions of work side effects of broken models and follow-the-lemming-off-the-cliff worst practices. Step aside and let the suckers jump.

Calm is protecting peoples time and attention.

Calm is about 40 hours of work a week.

Calm is reasonable expectations.

Calm is ample time off.

Calm is smaller.

Calm is a visible horizon.

Calm is meetings as a last resort.

Calm is asynchronous first, real-time second.

Calm is more independence, less interdependence.

Calm is sustainable practices for the long term.

Calm is profitability.