Wondering how deep work works for Product Development Managers? Read it out thoroughly.
A pharma product development manager (PDM) on Nepal should basically be a creative and innovative knowledge worker. One of the most valuable skills needed by these knowledge workers is critical thinking and great analytical abilities. This can be achieved only through deep work (DW), then PDM will be able to achieve astonishing results.
Deep work (DW) is the ability to focus on your tasks without disruption. Your tasks are cognitively demanding. It requires distraction-free time and focus. Deep work (DW) will help you to master complex information and produce better results in less time.
How to be in DW mode for at least two to three hours every day?
How deep work actually works? Find an undisturbed place where there is no distraction. Switch off your mobiles or keep on flight mode. The purpose of the DW mode is to allow for total focus and uninterrupted work flow in this distracted world.
DW will make you better at what you do. It will provide you the sense of true accomplishment.
Although DW is like a super-power in our super-competitive pharma industry, most of us have lost the ability to go deep into our subjects because we live in the zombie world of social media and the internet. They are the disruptors of DW.
Fragmented attention cannot accommodate DW which requires long periods of uninterrupted thinking. You get this time early in the morning if you commence work at 4.00 am. It happens during BramhaMuhurta – between 4.00 and 6.00 am (BramhaMuhurta)! it’s all your own time – no interruptions, no disturbances.
The converse to deep work(DW) is shallow work (SW).
Shallow work (SW) is non-cognitively demanding, often performed while distracted. SW doesn’t require uninterrupted concentration. This includes, for example, most administrative tasks like answering email or scheduling meetings or browsing through social media. If social media supports your work then go ahead.
Shallow efforts do not create much new value for a product development manager because they tend to look pedestrian and perhaps become easy to replicate.
In contrast, DW pushes your cognitive capabilities to their limit. DW creates new value and hard to replicate. This is because DW is performed free from distractions. Increasingly replace shallow work with deep work. You will then become so good no one can ignore you.
Deep work and deep thinking will set you apart and will be the differentiating USP of ‘Product Development Manager’.