Did you know that the BBC has a website called Intelligent Time Wasting? Someone told me about it. So in the middle of writing a paper (see below) I learned what the first office computer was like. The 4 minutes I spent on this topic, that might be useful at some point – rather like a tangled piece of string might be useful at some point - was a distraction from the task in hand and we all know how much distractions cost. Fortunately I managed to stop myself learning about keeping prize sheep in winter (although that could seem an attractive alternative to commuting to London).
Then I realized that the work environment has a similar form of intelligent time wasting stuff that stand in the way of getting work done. They sound a sensible thing to focus on but they're not. Sadly most of the intelligent time wasters in organisations take far longer than the 4 minutes of each BBC nugget. During the week at work I collected a list of seven. See if you recognize any of them.