Book Review: Slow Productivity

A practical way to obsess over quality.

“Slow productivity” sounds like a phrase one uses to be intentionally provocative but not too provocative. You are meant to stop and think and chew. It does its job of generating curiosity.

I found Newport’s book Deep Work to be helpful, and Slow Productivity feels like a natural evolution. The book applies most to knowledge workers. Writers, developers, academics, researchers, and more.

What is knowledge work, according to Newport?

The economic activity in which knowledge is transformed into an artifact with market value thorugh application of cognitive effort.

That’s a pretty good definition. In fact, Newport excels at defining his terms. He’s not trying to pull a bait and switch, nor trying to overpromise with bombastic claims.

I’ll share exactly what he recommends under his banner of “slow productivity,” but first, let’s talk about productivity and its poisonous expectations.