The real challenge is attention management. Switching gears from an execution orientation (knocking off tasks) to a careful thinking orientation is hard. The hardest aspect of deep work (for people used to a structured form of productivity) is immersion in the task/topic without a concrete plan of "how" to tackle it. (The necessary immersion is what makes "deep" a good metaphor) Every such session is a risky investment where you don't know what you'll come up with. Unless you believe it's a risk worth taking, trying too hard to de-risk endeavors will rob you of opportunities for deep work.
Deep work involves situated thinking -- thinking while doing, making use of feedback.
OTOH, the structured approach biases towards separating the two closely knit parts into "planning" and "action" -- so much so that in our organizations the two are done by different people/teams!
Drucker said that a decision has been made only when it's clear what the actions are. Correspondingly, deep work is required to the extent that the analysis can't be front loaded in that manner.
Deep work involves situated thinking -- thinking while doing, making use of feedback.
OTOH, the structured approach biases towards separating the two closely knit parts into "planning" and "action" -- so much so that in our organizations the two are done by different people/teams!
Drucker said that a decision has been made only when it's clear what the actions are. Correspondingly, deep work is required to the extent that the analysis can't be front loaded in that manner.