A New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller
From New York Times bestselling author Cal Newport comes a bold vision
for liberating workers from the tyranny of the inbox--and unleashing a
new era of productivity.
Modern knowledge workers communicate constantly. Their days are defined
by a relentless barrage of incoming messages and back-and-forth digital
conversations--a state of constant, anxious chatter in which nobody can
disconnect, and so nobody has the cognitive bandwidth to perform
substantive work. There was a time when tools like email felt cutting
edge, but a thorough review of current evidence reveals that the
"hyperactive hive mind" workflow they helped create has become a
productivity disaster, reducing profitability and perhaps even slowing
overall economic growth. Equally worrisome, it makes us miserable.
Humans are simply not wired for constant digital communication.
We have become so used to an inbox-driven workday that it's hard to
imagine alternatives. But they do exist. Drawing on years of
investigative reporting, author and computer science professor Cal
Newport makes the case that our current approach to work is broken, then
lays out a series of principles and concrete instructions for fixing it.
In A World without Email, he argues for a workplace in which clear
processes--not haphazard messaging--define how tasks are identified,
assigned and reviewed. Each person works on fewer things (but does them
better), and aggressive investment in support reduces the
ever-increasing burden of administrative tasks. Above all else,
important communication is streamlined, and inboxes and chat channels
are no longer central to how work unfolds.
The knowledge sector's evolution beyond the hyperactive hive mind is
inevitable. The question is not whether a world without email is coming
(it is), but whether you'll be ahead of this trend. If you're a CEO
seeking a competitive edge, an entrepreneur convinced your productivity
could be higher, or an employee exhausted by your inbox, A World
Without Email will convince you that the time has come for bold
changes, and will walk you through exactly how to make them happen.
