Ep. 255: The Failure of Cybernetic Productivity

Deep Questions with Cal Newport

Cal Newport

Technology, Self-improvement, Education

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 3 July 2023

⏱️ 72 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Over the past twenty years, “productivity” has come to be synonymous with using digital tools to speed up non-essential parts of knowledge work. As cal argues in this episode, this “cybernetic” approach has proven to be a complete failure. He explores why speeding up isn’t working and what this teaches us about what we need to do instead.

Below are the questions covered in today's episode (with their timestamps). Get your questions answered by Cal! Here’s the link: bit.ly/3U3sTvo

Video from today’s episode: youtube.com/calnewportmedia

Today’s Deep Question: Why doesn’t cybernetic productivity work? [8:40]

- What should I ask a potential hire about their time management habits? [31:55]

- How do I teach leaders how to work more deeply? [38:17]

- How did Cal become good at breaking things down into systems and processes? [48:06]

- How do I build task boards if I have many roles? [51:05]

- How do I find time to think in my busy job? [54:20]

Something Interesting: Taylor Sheridan’s “writing bunker” [1:02:48]

Links:

hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/taylor-sheridan-yellowstone-interview-1235519261/

Thanks to our Sponsors:

Thanks to Jesse Miller for production, Jay Kerstens for the intro music, and Mark Miles for mastering.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I'm Cal Newport and this is Deep Questions, the show about living and working deeply in
0:06.3	a distracted world.
0:08.0	I once again, I am joining the show from DeepWorkHQ North up in Hanover, New Hampshire.
0:18.7	My producer Jesse is joining us from the original DeepWorkHQ in Tacoma Park.
0:25.1	Jesse, hopefully, Tacoma Park is doing okay without me around.
0:29.2	I don't know if you see people wearing black arm bands, mourners, mourners in the streets.
0:35.5	Is doing great.
0:36.5	We're doing okay.
0:37.5	Jesse went to the coffee shop, I will say frequent earlier today and I asked him,
0:44.6	did they have to lay some people off because with me being gone for two weeks, that's roughly
0:48.3	and I'm just doing the math here, $700 worth of income that they're not getting per day.
0:54.1	So it's a big deal and I'm not there.
0:56.0	I drink a lot of coffee.
0:57.7	So hopefully, hopefully okay.
0:59.1	What's your coffee shop up there?
1:00.6	It's a carrot machine in my kitchen.
1:03.2	That's a...
1:04.2	Oh, really?
1:05.2	I do.
1:06.2	There's a carrot machine in my kitchen and I'm going to make a lot of coffee.
1:07.9	The actual coffee shop around here that I like is called the Dirt Cowboy, which was around
1:14.1	when I was here going to college at Dartmouth.
	...

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