Modern day tech work wasn't made for humans.
We're more isolated and sedentary than ever before.
Last night, I started ‘Part 2: The Agricultural Revolution’ of Sapiens1.
I haven’t gotten very far. But a few pages in, I got kind of upset.
What got me going? The shift from foraging to farming, of course:
Rather than heralding a new era of easy living, the Agricultural Revolution left farmers with lives generally more difficult and less satisfying than those of foragers. … The Agricultural Revolution certainly enlarged the sum of food at the disposal of humankind, but the extra food did not translate into a better diet or more leisure. Rather, it translated into population explosions and pampered elites. The average farmer worked harder than the average forager, and got a worse diet in return. The Agricultural Revolution was history’s biggest fraud.
The gist
The shift from a life of hunting and gathering, one of adaptation and movement, was replaced with a more limited life2 that created harmful political, social and health structures. I found myself simultaneously mad at our ancestors for making this shift away from a happier lifestyle and relieved that our modern tech-enabled ways weren’t completely responsible for the state of the world3.
So, why am I talking about the Agricultural Revolution?
Today was an unproductive day.
I was meant to crank on work this morning before a networking lunch. Following that I was to head into my co-working space to keep jamming in the afternoon.
Short of my lunch, I didn’t feel like doing anything before or after.
I’ve been hustling to launch a new framework for PMs.
And I’m on the cusp of launching a new group program but I felt completely unmotivated to tackle my to do list.
Why? Because I’m human.
Working for myself, I have the absolute luxury of making my own schedule and deciding my own deadlines. It’s a gift and, of course, a challenge that I’ve written about.
But what about everyone else in tech4?
For the majority of people who need to report to a job every day - whether they feel motivated, healthy, capable..what happens when they don’t have that luxury? Do 10 vacation days and 2 sick days give them enough coverage to get through the days they just can’t show up, because they’re human?
At my networking lunch today, I dined with 3 other intelligent, independent women all who had left corporate tech because of the constraints work has on life, family, motivation, passion, mental health, etc. We shared war stories and determined so many of us went solo because corporate tech wasn’t designed for us. Especially for women in their child-bearing years.
It got me thinking, too, about the limitations so many of my clients, most 10+ years of corporate tech experience, feel. Their relationship to work, the tradeoffs, the constraints, the NDAs.
Most folks in tech today sit isolated behind a screen all day, shuffling projects around to move business metrics to make a good salary. So that they can enjoy the little time they have outside of work.
And it reminded me of the Agricultural Revolution.
That we weren’t made for this kind of life.
And that this kind of work isn’t designed for humans.
What do you think? Am I being naive or am I preaching to the choir? How have you made work work for you?
Hi - I’m Jori and I’m a Product Coach. Here’s how to work with me ↩️
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Yes I know I’m about a decade behind on reading this. Please reserve your judgement.
Limited in terms of movement, perspective, climate, etc.
Ok, but yes our tech-enabled ways aren’t really helping.
Limiting this topic to my former world because I don’t have experience nor can speak to other industries with firsthand experience.