Why work doesn't happen at work | Jason Fried

譯者: Adrienne Lin 審譯者: Joyce Chou

我要來談工作

So I'm going to talk about work;

specifically, why people can't seem to get work done at work,

精確的說，為什麼上班時

沒辦法完成工作

which is a problem we all kind of have.

這情形大家應該都遇過

But let's sort of start at the beginning.

我們從頭開始

So, we have companies and non-profits and charities

很多公司、非營利企業、慈善機構

and all these groups that have employees or volunteers of some sort.

等等公司行號

都有員工

或是志工之類的

And they expect these people who work for them

主管們會希望員工

好好工作

to do great work --

I would hope, at least.

至少努力工作

At least good work, hopefully, at least it's good work --

這是基本要求，能拿出優秀的成績

hopefully great work.

是最好的

And so what they typically do is they decide

所以他們通常會決定

that all these people need to come together in one place to do that work.

員工通通要到同一地點

上班工作

So a company, or a charity, or an organization of any kind,

所以公司行號、各大機構

unless you're working in Africa, if you're really lucky to do that --

除非你住非洲，會比較幸運

否則通常都會被要求

most people have to go to an office every day.

每天進辦公室

And so these companies,

所以這些公司

they build offices.

需要辦公室存在

They go out and they buy a building, or they rent a building,

用買的或租下辦公大樓

or they lease some space,

或是租個地方

and they fill this space with stuff.

放滿東西，將就著用

They fill it with tables, or desks,

辦公室放滿桌椅、

chairs, computer equipment,

電腦設備、

軟體、

software, Internet access,

網路連線

maybe a fridge, maybe a few other things,

或許加個冰箱等等東西

and they expect their employees, or their volunteers,

老闆們希望員工，或志工們

能每天上班，做出一番成果

to come to that location every day to do great work.

It seems like it's perfectly reasonable to ask that.

聽起來是個合理要求

However, if you actually talk to people

但如果你親自訪問這些人

甚至問問自己

and even question yourself, and you ask yourself,

問自己：

where do you really want to go when you really need to get something done?

你真想把事情做好的時候，會去哪裡？

You'll find out that people don't say what businesses think they would say.

通常你會聽到的回答

都不是這些公司們所想的

If you ask people the question:

你如果問：你真想把事情做好的時候，

Where do you need to go when you need to get something done?

會去哪裡？

Typically, you get three different kinds of answers.

通常有三類答案

One is kind of a place or a location or a room.

第一：地點

Another one is a moving object,

第二：移動的物體

and a third is a time.

第三：時間

So here are some examples.

我舉例一下

I've been asking people this question for about 10 years:

這問題我已經問十幾年了

"Where do you go when you really need to get something done?"

我問：你想把事情做好的時候，會去哪裡？

我得到的答案有：門廊、桌前、

I'll hear things like, the porch, the deck, the kitchen.

廚房、

I'll hear things like an extra room in the house,

房子裡額外的小房間、

地下室、

the basement,

the coffee shop, the library.

咖啡店、圖書館

And then you'll hear things like the train,

還有像是火車、

a plane, a car -- so, the commute.

飛機上、車裡，關於交通的答案

And then you'll hear people say,

也有人回答

"Well, it doesn't really matter where I am,

「其實跟地點沒關係，」

as long as it's early in the morning or late at night or on the weekends."

「只要是在清晨、深夜、週末的時候就可以」

幾乎沒人講辦公室

You almost never hear someone say, "The office."

但公司花大錢設置辦公室

But businesses are spending all this money on this place called the office,

還要求大家一定要進辦公室

and they're making people go to it all the time,

但員工卻無法在辦公室內完成工作

yet people don't do work in the office.

搞什麼？

What is that about?

(Laughter)

為什麼？

Why is that? Why is that happening?

為什麼會這樣？

And what you find out is,

如果你深究的話

if you dig a little bit deeper, you find out that people --

會發現

通常

this is what happens:

People go to work,

大家上班時

and they're basically trading in their work day

一個工作天其實

for a series of "work moments" -- that's what happens at the office.

是分很多片段的

這就是辦公室的情況

You don't have a work day anymore. You have work moments.

已經不是工作「天」，而是工作「片刻」

進辦公室好像走進榨汁機一樣

It's like the front door of the office is like a Cuisinart,

and you walk in and your day is shredded to bits,

一天就這樣被榨成片段

這邊15分鐘，那邊30分鐘的拼湊

because you have 15 minutes here, 30 minutes there,

and something else happens, you're pulled off your work,

常常有什麼事，就得分神去處理

跑去做別的事之後，再專心個20分鐘，就中餐時間了

then you have 20 minutes, then it's lunch, then you have something else to do ...

然後又有別的事要做，

Then you've got 15 minutes, and someone pulls you aside and asks you a question,

再專心15分鐘，然後有人跑來問你的問題

等你回神，就五點下班時間了

and before you know it, it's 5 p.m.,

and you look back on the day,

然後回顧一整天

and you realize that you didn't get anything done.

發現你根本什麼也沒做

我們應該都遇過這種情況

We've all been through this.

We probably went through it yesterday or the day before, or the day before that.

也許昨天就是這樣

前天也是、大前天也是

You look back on your day,

每天回顧，恍然發現什麼事也沒做

and you're like, "I got nothing done today.

I was at work. I sat at my desk. I used my expensive computer.

我進了辦公室

我坐在電腦前，打著昂貴電腦

I used the software they told me to use.

用著他們裝的軟體

I went to these meetings I was asked to go to.

開上頭要我參加的會議

I did these conference calls. I did all this stuff.

打打電話之類的事

But I didn't actually do anything.

但其實什麼都沒做

I just did tasks.

我做「瑣事」而已

I didn't actually get meaningful work done."

其實正經事都沒做

And what you find is that, especially with creative people --

尤其你會發現，有創意的人--

designers, programmers, writers, engineers, thinkers --

設計師、程式設計師、

作家、工程師、

工作必須思考的人

that people really need long stretches of uninterrupted time

都需要

連續、不被打擾的時間才能將事情做好

to get something done.

You cannot ask somebody to be creative in 15 minutes

你不能要求一個人，用15分鐘時間想創意

and really think about a problem.

或想出辦法解決問題

You might have a quick idea,

可能會有很快的一個想法

but to be in deep thought about a problem and really consider a problem carefully,

但真想要徹底想出解決方案

you need long stretches of uninterrupted time.

就一定需要長時間、不被打擾的時間

And even though the work day is typically eight hours,

正常一個工作天是八小時

how many people here have ever had eight hours to themselves at the office?

你們有多少人在辦公室，八小時都是自己的時間？

七小時？

How about seven hours?

Six? Five? Four?

六？五？四？

When's the last time you had three hours to yourself at the office?

你什麼時候真的在辦公室獨處過完整3小時？

Two hours? One, maybe?

兩小時？或許一小時？

Very, very few people actually have

很少人在辦公室真的有

long stretches of uninterrupted time at an office.

長時間、不被打擾的時間

And this is why people choose to do work at home,

這就是為什麼大家選擇在家工作

or they might go to the office,

他們也許可能會進辦公室

but they might go to the office really early in the day,

但都是在很早的時候

或是很晚，大家都離開時

or late at night when no one's around,

or they stick around after everyone's left,

等到沒人，或是周末進辦公室

or go in on the weekends,

又或是在飛機上把工作做完

or they get work done on the plane, in the car or in the train,

或是在車上、火車上

because there are no distractions.

因為這樣才不會被打擾

Now there are different kinds of distractions,

干擾有很多種

but not the really bad distractions, which I'll talk about in a minute.

但有些並非不好

我們等會兒再談

And this whole phenomenon of having short bursts of time to get things done

這種短暫工作時刻的

整個現象

reminds me of another thing that doesn't work when you're interrupted,

讓我想到另一件事

當你做這件事的時候也不能被打擾

and that is sleep.

就是睡覺

I think that sleep and work are very closely related --

睡覺跟工作習習相關

不是因為睡覺時無法工作

not because you can work while you're sleeping and sleep while you're working.

工作時不能睡覺

That's not really what I mean.

我不是要講這個

I'm talking specifically about the fact that sleep and work are phase-based,

我要講的是

睡覺和工作

都是階段性的

or stage-based, events.

或稱做時期性的

Sleep is about sleep phases, or stages -- some people call them different things.

所以睡覺也是很多階段、時期 --

說法有很多種

There are five of them, and in order to get to the really deep ones,

總共有五個階段

為了進到最深沉的階段

the meaningful ones, you have to go through the early ones.

就必須從最初那一階開始

If you're interrupted while you're going through the early ones --

如果你第一階段就被打擾

可能有人翻身碰到你

if someone bumps you in bed, or there's a sound, or whatever happens --

或許是有什麼聲音之類的

you don't just pick up where you left off.

你沒辦法回到原本階段繼續睡

If you're interrupted and woken up,

如果被打擾後醒來

you have to start again.

就必須重頭開始

So you have to go back a few phases and start again.

就得回到前幾個階段重來

And what ends up happening -- you might have days like this

很常發生的情況是 -- 有時候你會發現

當你八點起床，或七點起床

where you wake up at eight or seven in the morning, or whenever you get up,

隨便幾點

and you're like, "I didn't sleep very well.

起床後就想，天哪，我沒睡好

I did the sleep thing -- I went to bed, I laid down,

我有睡阿 -- 我爬上床、躺下

but I didn't really sleep."

但沒有真的睡著

People say you go "to" sleep,

我們說去睡覺

but you don't go to sleep, you go towards sleep; it takes a while.

其實不是一倒下就睡著，而是進入夢鄉

是需要時間的，一階一階慢慢來

You've got to go through phases and stuff,

and if you're interrupted, you don't sleep well.

如果被干擾，當然就睡不好

So does anyone here expect someone to sleep well

整夜一直被打擾

能睡的好嗎？

if they're interrupted all night?

I don't think anyone would say yes.

應該不行吧

Why do we expect people to work well

在辦公室裡不斷被打擾

if they're being interrupted all day at the office?

是要怎麼把工作做好啊？

在辦公室裡一直被打擾

How can we possibly expect people to do their job

if they go to the office and are interrupted?

要員工怎麼把事情做好？

That doesn't really seem like it makes a lot of sense, to me.

對我來說，一點也不合理

So what are the interruptions that happen at the office but not at other places?

那這些干擾只發生在辦公室

其他地方不會發生嗎？

Because in other places, you can have interruptions like the TV,

其他地方也是會有干擾

或許會跑去看電視

or you could go for a walk, or there's a fridge downstairs,

或是散個步

到樓下冰箱拿個飲料

or you've got your own couch, or whatever you want to do.

躺一下沙發等等

If you talk to certain managers, they'll tell you

如果你和一些主管談過

他們會說，他們不喜歡員工在家工作的原因

that they don't want their employees to work at home

because of these distractions.

是因為容易受干擾

They'll sometimes also say,

他們也說

偶爾會這樣說

"If I can't see the person, how do I know they're working?"

"如果我看不到人影，怎麼知道他在工作?"

which is ridiculous, but that's one of the excuses that managers give.

這理由很荒繆，但他們都用這藉口

And I'm one of these managers. I understand. I know how this goes.

我也是經理

所以我懂

We all have to improve on this sort of thing.

但我們要改善這情形

可是他們常會舉例

But oftentimes they'll cite distractions:

"我不能讓員工在家工作"

"I can't let someone work at home.

They'll watch TV, or do this other thing."

"因為他們會看電視、做別的事"

It turns out those aren't the things that are distracting,

但其實這些讓你分心的事，並不是真的干擾

Because those are voluntary distractions.

因為這些干擾是自願性的

You decide when you want to be distracted by the TV,

你自己決定什麼時候看電視

when you want to turn something on,

開什麼、關什麼、用什麼

or when you want to go downstairs or go for a walk.

決定什麼時候下樓、散步

At the office,

而辦公室裡的大多數干擾

most of the interruptions and distractions

讓人們無法好好工作的

that really cause people not to get work done are involuntary.

都是非自願的

So let's go through a couple of those.

我來解釋一下

Now, managers and bosses will often have you think

所以，上司、老闆們

常會告訴你，工作時真正會讓你分心的是

that the real distractions at work

are things like Facebook and Twitter

Facebook和Twitter

and YouTube and other websites,

還有Youtube等其他網站

and in fact, they'll go so far as to actually ban these sites at work.

他們甚至會完全禁止

上班瀏覽這些網站

Some of you may work at places where you can't get to certain sites.

你們有些人的公司可能會擋某些網站

這是中國嗎? 搞什麼?

I mean, is this China? What the hell is going on here?

You can't go to a website at work, and that's the problem?

上班時候不能逛某些網站

因為逛了之後員工會不想工作？

That's why people aren't getting work done,

是因為他們玩Facebook或Twitter?

because they're on Facebook and Twitter?

大瞎了吧，根本是胡扯

That's kind of ridiculous. It's a total decoy.

Today's Facebook and Twitter and YouTube,

今日的Facebook、Twitter、YouTube

these things are just modern-day smoke breaks.

等於是以前的抽菸時間而已

No one cared about letting people take a smoke break for 15 minutes 10 years ago,

十年前，上班時間溜出去15分鐘抽個菸

根本沒人管

so why does anyone care if someone goes to Facebook

現在為什麼偶爾上個Facebook、Twitter、YouTube

or Twitter or YouTube here and there?

就意見一大堆？

這些根本不是真正的問題

Those aren't the real problems in the office.

The real problems are what I like to call the M&Ms,

真正的問題我稱做是

M&M's

the Managers and the Meetings.

經理(managers)和會議(meetings)

Those are the real problems in the modern office today.

這才是現今辦公室裡最大的問題

員工沒辦法順利完成工作

And this is why things don't get done at work,

it's because of the M&Ms.

就是因為M&M's

Now what's interesting is,

有趣的事來了

if you listen to all the places that people talk about doing work,

很多人說他們工作的地方--

like at home, in the car, on a plane, late at night, or early in the morning,

在家、車上、飛機上、

深夜、清晨

you don't find managers and meetings.

通常都沒有經理和會議

You find a lot of other distractions, but not managers and meetings.

也許有很多其他干擾，但沒有經理和會議

這兩樣其他地方沒有

So these are the things that you don't find elsewhere,

唯有辦公室裡會出現

but you do find at the office.

And managers are basically people whose job it is to interrupt people.

經理的工作基本上

就是去打擾別人

That's pretty much what managers are for. They're for interrupting people.

他們的工作大概就這樣，打擾別人

They don't really do the work, so they make sure everyone else is doing work,

沒有真正要做的事

所以只好確保大家都在做事，變成干擾

which is an interruption.

現在世上很多經理

We have lots of managers in the world now, and a lot of people in the world,

世界上也很多人

and a lot of interruptions by these managers.

因為這些經理，所以很多干擾

They have to check in: "Hey, how's it going?

他們很愛跑來「嘿，還好嗎？」

Show me what's up." This sort of thing.

「報告你的進度」等等

They keep interrupting you at the wrong time,

而且都會在錯誤時機來打擾

正當你要好好做正事時

while you're actually trying to do something they're paying you to do,

他們就會跑來煩你

they tend to interrupt you.

That's kind of bad.

蠻糟的吧

But what's even worse is the thing that managers do most of all,

經理們會做的另一件更糟的事

which is call meetings.

就是會議

And meetings are just toxic,

會議根本就有毒

terrible, poisonous things

很糟、劇毒的東西

during the day at work.

會在工作時毒死你

(Laughter)

我們心知肚明

We all know this to be true,

and you would never see a spontaneous meeting called by employees.

會議不會是員工隨意召開

不可能的

It doesn't work that way.

The manager calls the meeting

所以經理召開會議

so the employees can all come together,

讓員工聚在一起

and it's an incredibly disruptive thing to do to people --

然後無敵煩的事情發生了

"嘿，聽著"

to say, "Hey look,

we're going to bring 10 people together right now and have a meeting.

"馬上找十個人來開會"

I don't care what you're doing,

"我不管你在幹麻"

you've got to stop doing it, so you can have this meeting."

"放下手邊工作開會就是了"

I mean, what are the chances that all 10 people are ready to stop?

有可能剛好十個人都有空開會嗎？

What if they're thinking about something important, or doing important work?

如果他們在想重要的事呢？

或者在做重要的事呢？

All of a sudden you tell them they have to stop doing that to do something else.

突然間你就叫他們停下手邊工作

改做其他事

So they go into a meeting room, they get together,

被叫到會議室，坐下來

and they talk about stuff that doesn't really matter, usually.

討論無關緊要的事

Because meetings aren't work.

開會是行不通的

Meetings are places to go to talk about things

開會通常都是要討論之後做的事

you're supposed to be doing later.

不只如此，會議還會繁殖

But meetings also procreate.

一個會開完再衍生出另一個會議

So one meeting tends to lead to another meeting,

然後沒完沒了

which leads to another meeting.

There's often too many people in the meetings,

而且開會的人多

對公司成本來說是個損失

and they're very, very expensive to the organization.

Companies often think of a one-hour meeting as a one-hour meeting,

我們通常覺得一小時的會議就是一小時

但這是錯的，因為會議不只有一個人

but that's not true, unless there's only one person.

If there are 10 people, it's a 10-hour meeting, not a one-hour meeting.

如果有十個人去開會，加起來就十小時了，而非一小時

十小時的生產力就這樣沒了

It's 10 hours of productivity taken from the rest of the organization

就為這一小時的會議

to have this one-hour meeting, which probably should have been handled

而開會本來就可以兩三個人用幾分鐘時間

by two or three people talking for a few minutes.

就能完成的

But instead, there's a long scheduled meeting,

取而代之的是又臭又長的會

because meetings are scheduled the way software works,

因為會議安排就像軟體一樣

which is in increments of 15 minutes, or 30 minutes, or an hour.

以15、30、60分增加

You don't schedule an eight-hour meeting with Outlook; you can't.

你不會跟Outlook開八小時的會吧

根本不可能

You can go 15 minutes or 30 minutes or 45 minutes or an hour.

大概就以15、30、45、60分鐘

And so we tend to fill these times up

我們會將這些時間填滿

when things should go really quickly.

但其實事情很快就能解決

So meetings and managers are two major problems in businesses today,

所以經理和會議是現今公司的兩大問題

特別是在辦公室裡

especially at offices.

These things don't exist outside of the office.

他們不存在於辦公室外

So I have some suggestions to remedy the situation.

所以我有個建議

可以解決這問題

What can managers do --

經理們可以--

enlightened managers, hopefully --

希望是理智的經理--

what can they do to make the office a better place for people to work,

他們可以替員工創造好一點的工作環境

so it's not the last resort, but it's the first resort,

成為他們工作的第一選擇

so that people start to say,

讓員工說

"When I really want to get stuff done, I go to the office."

"我想把工作做好時，我會進辦公室"

Because the offices are well-equipped;

因為辦公室設備充足

everything is there for them to do the work.

需要用到的東西都有了

But they don't want to go there right now, so how do we change that?

可是他們還不這麼想，要怎麼改變呢？

我有三個建議，與各位分享

I have three suggestions to share with you.

大概還剩三分鐘，很剛好

I have about three minutes, so that'll fit perfectly.

大家都聽過"週五便服日"吧

We've all heard of the Casual Friday thing.

I don't know if people still do that.

不曉得還有沒有公司採用

But how about "No-talk Thursdays?"

那各位覺得"無言星期四"如何？

(Laughter)

就這樣好了

Pick one Thursday once a month,

隨便挑一個月裡的星期四

and cut it in half, just the afternoon -- I'll make it easy for you.

再簡單一點，那個星期四下午就好

So just the afternoon, one Thursday.

就那星期四的下午

First Thursday of the month, just the afternoon,

假設就第一個週四的下午

nobody in the office can talk to each other.

大家在辦公室都不要講話

完全靜默

Just silence, that's it.

And what you'll find

你會發現

is that a tremendous amount of work gets done

完成的工作量有多驚人

when no one talks to each other.

因為沒有人聊天講話

This is when people actually get stuff done,

要真的把事情做好

is when no one's bothering them or interrupting them.

就不能有人隨時來煩、叨擾

Giving someone four hours of uninterrupted time

當你可以給人四小時不受打擾的上班時間

is the best gift you can give anybody at work.

會是最好的禮物

比電腦還棒

It's better than a computer,

better than a new monitor, better than new software,

比新的螢幕、新的軟體還好

or whatever people typically use.

總之比什麼都好

Giving them four hours of quiet time at the office

給他們安靜的四小時上班時間

is going to be incredibly valuable.

會是十分寶貴的

If you try that, I think you'll agree, and hopefully you can do it more often.

試過就知道

然後，或許可以多增加點安靜時間

So maybe it's every other week,

也許是每兩週、

or every week, once a week,

或每週、一週一次

afternoons no one can talk to each other.

整個下午都不講話

That's something that you'll find will really, really work.

你會發現這真的很有效

Another thing you can try,

你可以試的另一件事

is switching from active communication and collaboration,

就是將主動的

通訊與合作

which is like face-to-face stuff -- tapping people on the shoulder,

像是面對面、

拍肩、打招呼、開會等等

saying hi to them, having meetings,

and replace that with more passive models of communication,

改為被動的通訊

像是email或即時通

using things like email and instant messaging,

or collaboration products, things like that.

這些合作通訊工具之類的

Now some people might say email is really distracting,

有人可能會覺得email很煩

I.M. is really distracting, and these other things are really distracting,

即時通很煩

還有其他雜七雜八很煩的東西

but they're distracting at a time of your own choice and your own choosing.

但這些東西都可以自己決定什麼時候做

你可以關掉email，但你關不掉老闆

You can quit the email app; you can't quit your boss.

You can quit I.M.;

你可以關掉即時通

you can't hide your manager.

但你躲不了你的上司

You can put these things away,

你可以把東西收起來

and then you can be interrupted on your own schedule, at your own time,

等到行程空出來、有時間了

when you're available, when you're ready to go again.

再做這些事

因為工作，如睡覺，都是階段式的

Because work, like sleep, happens in phases.

So you'll be going up, doing some work,

所以，進辦公室先開始專心工作

and then you'll come down from that work,

把工作完成之後

and then maybe it's time to check that email or I.M.

再收發email、開個即時通

There are very, very few things that are that urgent,

因為很少有事情是緊急到

that need to happen, that need to be answered right this second.

需要馬上得到回覆的

So if you're a manager,

如果你的經理

start encouraging people to use more things like I.M. and email

開始鼓勵員工多用即時通或email

and other things that someone can put away

讓另一個人可以先專心作手邊的事

and then get back to you on their own schedule.

等到有時間在回覆你

And the last suggestion I have is that,

我的最後一個建議是

如果你正巧有個會議要開

if you do have a meeting coming up,

if you have the power, just cancel it.

而你權力夠大

就取消這場會議吧

Just cancel that next meeting.

(Laughter)

Today's Friday, usually people have meetings on Monday.

今天是週五，那就把下星期一的會議

取消吧

Just don't have it.

I don't mean move it;

我不是說調時間

I mean just erase it from memory, it's gone.

而是直接從記憶刪除

And you'll find out that everything will be just fine.

你發現事情還是一切安好

All these discussions and decisions you thought you had to make

這些你本來計畫週一早上九點

要做的決定、討論

at this one time at 9 a.m. on Monday,

just forget about them, and things will be fine.

就忘掉吧，事情一樣會好好的

讓員工有個自由的早晨，可以思考

People will have a more open morning, they can actually think.

你會發現你本來打算做的事

You'll find out all these things you thought you had to do,

根本沒這個必要

you don't actually have to do.

以上就是我的三個小建議

So those are just three quick suggestions I wanted to give you guys to think about.

讓各位想想

我希望我所分享的一些點子

I hope that some of these ideas were at least provocative enough

足夠煽動

for managers and bosses and business owners

能讓經理、老闆、

and organizers and people who are in charge of other people,

頂頭上司、主管等等

to think about laying off a little bit,

試著稍微放手

and giving people more time to get work done.

給員工多一點空間來完成工作

I think it'll all pay off in the end.

我想最終會是值得的

So, thanks for listening.

謝謝各位

(Applause)

(掌聲)