为什么长时间工作并不能让你成为一名“优秀”建筑师？
Why Working Long Hours Won't Make You A "Better" Architect

由专筑网李韧，杨帆编译

这篇文章最初发表于Brandon Hubbard的博客“建筑师指南”上。

在前面的文章中“你应该成为一个建筑师吗？”我谈到了行业内长时间工作的问题。因为这是建筑师们经常谈论的话题，所以我决定重新来聊一下这个话题。

首先，让我们来定义什么是“更好的建筑师”，是否更有效率？定期晋升吗？高薪吗？是否具有优秀的设计方案能力？

通常，所有这些问题都有共同的特性。如果你是一个熟练的建筑师，那么你也许会有相应的补偿和提升。因此，如果你的工作为你带来优越的名声和财富，那么生产力是其中的关键因素吗？

一般来说，生产力与设计能力成反比，这里的“生产力”的含义是尽可能快地出图。

这是生产的基本定义：adjective1，生产或有能力生产大量货物、作物或其他商品。

嗯，听起来真的像是一份理想的工作吗？

正如你看到的基本定义以及一般大众对于生产力的固有观念，这个词主要关于数量，而非质量。显然，建筑等各行业都有最后期限的说法，而学生们在学校里也受到这样的教育，应当提高出图的效率。

This article was originally published on Brandon Hubbard's blog, The Architect's Guide.
In a previous article, Should You Become An Architect?, I touched on the issue of long working hours within the profession. Since this is such a common talking point for architects, I decided to expand on the topic.
First, let's define what is a "better architect." Is it being more productive? Regularly promoted? Highly paid? Someone who produces excellent design solutions?
Usually, all of these characteristics tend to flow together. If you are a skilled designer you are likely to be compensated and promoted accordingly. So if being good at your job leads to fame and fortune, is productivity the key to excellence?
Often the idea of productivity contrasts with the design world. The word "productive" congers up images of a production line stamping out widgets as fast as possible.
Here is the basic definition of productive:adjective1. producing or able to produce large amounts of goods, crops, or other commodities.
Hmmm, doesn't really sound like a dream job does it?
As you can see the definition and the general public view of being productive revolve around the idea of production. It is all about quantity over quality. Obviously, architecture has deadlines like every profession. However, the architecture school culture leans toward the idea that if there is an hour left, it should be used.

最后期限

最后一分钟能够创造出更好的产品吗？

熬夜能够设计出更加细致的成果吗？

工作到最后一刻只会带来更多的心理安慰而已。“好吧，我不能再做了，因为我的时间用完了”，这种心态只是用来安慰自己，因为没有时间了，所以并没有很多遗憾。

从个人经验来看，长时间连续工作，无论在身体上还是精神上都很折磨人。因为你的时间成本并不一定能完全转化为工作效益。


已经是周末了吗？

在集中的8个小时或断断续续的12个小时当中，你可以做更多的工作吗？你了解一天6小时的工作时间吗？

瑞典最近宣布，将工作日规定为每天6个小时。CEO Linus Feldt解释了其中的原因。

“我认为，每天8小时的工作效率并不高。8小时专注于特定的工作任务是一个巨大的挑战。为了应对这些挑战，我们把各项任务都结合在一起，让工作日更加轻松。同时，我们也很难管理员工们工作之外的私人生活。”

为了应付工作时间显著减少的问题，Feldt说，公司不允许工作人员使用社交媒体和其他会导致分心的生活物品，并且尽量少开会。“我认为，这样更容易集中精力在需要完成的工作上，并且你有足够的精力去完成任务，甚至到了下班时也不会头昏脑涨。”

虽然我可以继续讨论健康的影响或工作与生活的平衡问题，但这篇文章的重点是在于最后期限的工作质量。


办公室文化

在“大师事务所”工作的许多员工常常对于自己通宵熬夜的成果十分自豪。虽然这可能是一种办公室文化，但工作到午夜真的能取得良好的结果吗？我不是说偶尔的长时间工作，而是持续几个星期的60个小时以上的连续工作时间。

就我个人而言，我所能完成的工作量，也许并不需要传统的8个小时。当你疲劳和精神枯竭时，创作过程则显得更为艰辛。

这就形成了恶性循环。因为我疲劳，所以我工作比较慢，也导致工作成果减少，所以我不得不花更多时间去工作，这让我变得更加疲劳。


“建筑师是艺术家”

没有人能明确说出艺术家应当怎么做。建筑设计无疑是一项复杂的任务，由不同的部分组成，而且和其他行业一样，时常效率低下。

Salary.com的调查显示，69%的受访者表示，他们感到每一天的工作时间都十分浪费。

“大多数人（34%）说他们每天所浪费的时间在半个小时以内，近1/4（24%）说他们每天浪费的时间约为30-60分钟，有11%的人们声称他们每天会在非工作相关的事务上浪费几个小时。”

近年来，长时间工作似乎成为了一种趋势。我认为这不是因为工作量的增加，而是因为各种应用程序、网站和社交媒体分散了人们的注意力。这与绘图完全无关。

我这一代的建筑师似乎就工作分心的问题受到了众多的批判。然而，我的同事们相信，我们的工作和个人生活正变得越来越紧密。这一概念在最近的一篇文章中提到，“工作是否将成为一种新宗教？”

“他们把工作看作是自己和生活的延伸。他们更倾向于与同事建立社交关系，把工作当做自己的家庭，然而这些人却不怎么注意管理自己的实际生活。”

人们的工作时间似乎在增加，当代白领更如此（包括建筑师）。虽然我们还处于这个问题之中，但实际问题却是我们应当提高工作效率，而不是一味地考虑工作量是否太多。


为什么建筑师的工作时间特别长？

回顾我在建筑学院的经历，当代的教育确实都有这样一个通病。学生们通过合作来完成工作，虽然这样的工作时间充满乐趣，但人与人之间的沟通时间却减少了。

实际的工作中却都是这种模式。有些人可能认为只是没有足够的时间，然而，这背后的问题却在于缺乏有效的项目规划。


设计天赋是其中的关键因素吗？

有些人天生有设计的天赋，这并不无道理，然而，这种才能却是一种可以发展的思维方式，只是，这需要付出努力。

我不认为伟大的建筑师是与生俱来的优势，但通过多年一贯的、专注的努力也能够培养出优越的思维能力。这就是年轻建筑师常常需要长时间工作的原因。他们不仅觉得有必要“证明自己”，并且有许多的设计问题在他们之前的职业生涯中并没有出现过。因此，他们需要花费时间去了解每个解决方案。


我们应该怎么做？

如果暂时无法提高工作效率(也许以后会有专门的文章描述这个问题)，你可以做一些事情来尽量减少你的工作时间。


1、尽快进入状态

这听起来可能与直觉相违背，但包括我自己在内的大多数人，可以在办公室的其他地方完成更多工作。同时，提前一个小时和你的上司一起出发也是非常理想的选项。


2、关闭电子邮件弹出窗口

这非常分散注意力。停止你当下的工作来回复电子邮件会对你的工作效率产生很大的影响。我通常会尽可能地少查看电子邮件。


3、远离你的手机

你可以在午饭或下班后查阅手机信息，也可以在那些时间查看电子邮件，因为这些即时的消息弹出，很容易浪费你的时间。


4、列工作计划表

每天上午为自己列一个当天工作计划表，这样你将有的放矢，在你完成一个任务时，也会产生相应的成就感。

Deadlines
Does rushing to the last minute create a better product?
Does pulling all nighters result in a more refined design?
There is the psychological benefit to working up to the last minute. "Well, I couldn't do anymore since I ran out of time." The belief is that you will have fewer regrets in the future when you know there was nothing more to be done.
Speaking from personal experience, working long hours for years on end can be very draining, both physically and mentally. Just because you are logging the hours does not necessarily translate to a superior final design.

Is it Friday yet?
Can you get more done in a focused 8-hour day versus a meandering 12-hour day? What about a 6-hour day?
Sweden recently announced that they are shifting to a 6-hour work day. Linus Feldt, CEO of Stockholm-based app developer Filimundus explained the reasoning.
"I think the 8-hour work day is not as effective as one would think. To stay focused on a specific work task for 8 hours is a huge challenge. In order to cope, we mix in things and pauses to make the work day more endurable. At the same time, we are having it hard to manage our private life outside of work."
To cope with the significant cut in working hours, Feldt says staff are asked to stay off social media and other distractions while at work and meetings are kept to a minimum. "My impression now is that it is easier to focus more intensely on the work that needs to be done and you have the stamina to do it and still have energy left when leaving the office."
While I could go on to debate the health effects or lack of work life balance, the purpose of my article is to focus on the quality of the final work.

Office Culture
Many employees at "starchitect" offices often pride themselves on putting in all nighters and late nights for years on end. While this may be the culture, does staying until midnight achieve consistent results? I am not speaking about the occasional long day but rather the consistent 60+ hour weeks.
Personally, I found that while I was able to get work done, it wasn't really much more than I could have done in a traditional 8-hour day. When you are tired and mentally exhausted the creative process is much more labor intensive.
This creates a vicious cycle. I am tired so I work slower, so I get less done, so I have to work more which makes me tired.

"We architects are artists"
No one can tell an artist how something should be done. Architecture design is certainly a complex task with many moving parts and is filled with inefficiencies like any other profession.
According to a Salary.com survey, 69% of the people surveyed said they waste time at work every single day.
“Most people (34%) said they routinely waste 30 minutes or less each day while on the clock. Nearly one-quarter (24%) said they waste between 30-60 minutes daily, with 11% claiming they spend several hours per day wasting time on non work-related items on a daily basis. ”
The trend in recent years seems to be longer hours, especially for salaried workers. I believe this is not because of an increase in workload but rather the increase in distracting apps, websites, and social media sites. This was obviously not an issue back in the days of drawing boards and drafting chairs.
My generation of "millennials" seems to get the most criticism for this distracted work ethic. However, there is a belief among my peers that our work and personal lives are becoming one. This concept was covered in a recent article, Is Work Becoming The New Church?
“They see work as an extension of themselves and their lives in general. They are much more likely to socialise and build relationships with their colleagues – seeing them as part of their family, often when family can live hundreds or thousands of miles away.”
Working hours seem to be increasing, this is especially true for white collar workers (architects included). While we are still in the early stages of research on the topic, the issue seems to be more about staying focused than a result of increased workload.

Why does architecture have long hours?
Looking back on my architecture school experience, it really created a model for time-wasting. An open, collaborative space with a group of mostly friends. While this is great and is a fun time, chatting for hours rarely gets much done.
This culture ultimately carries on into the professional world. Some may argue that there just isn't enough hours in the day, usually, it is a case of misdirected focus and lack of planning.

Is pure design talent the key?
There is some truth to the fact that some people have a natural eye for design. However, it is a muscle that can be developed, it just takes more "effort" for some than others.
I don't believe great architects are born but rather through years of consistent, focused work can develop the skills and connections required to succeed. This is why long hours are often associated with younger architects. Not only do they feel the need to "prove themselves" but also they haven't seen many of the design problems before. Therefore they need to learn each solution for the first time.

What can be done?
Without getting into too much detail on how to be more productive (perhaps for a future article) there are a few things you can do to try and minimize your hours.

1. Come in early
This may sound completely counter-intuitive but many people, myself included, can get more done before the rest of the office is in and the phone starts ringing. Also, working out an hour early departure time with your supervisor would be ideal for this situation.

2. Turn off email pop ups
This can be very distracting. Having the urge to stop what you are doing to answer emails can be quite unproductive. I usually try to only check email once an hour or less if possible.

3. Put your phone away
You can check it at lunch or after work. Just like the email pop ups, the countless notifications on your phone will easily eat up your day.

4. Make a to-do list
Create a list of tasks for yourself each morning. This will help keep you on track and give you a sense of accomplishment when you can check each one off.

最后的建议

根据你的办公室文化，改变工作时间几乎不可能。然而，你要时刻记住你在工作。办公室不是俱乐部，也不是你的起居室，过于放松地对待你的事业并不会带来多少益处。

在需要的时候努力工作，但工作不是你唯一的生活。

Final thoughts
Depending on your office culture it may be near impossible to change your working hours. However, a simple rule to keep in mind is to work while you are at work. The office isn't a country club or your living room, treating it as such will only hurt your career in the long term.
There is nothing wrong with working hard when required, just don't make it your lifestyle.


出处：本文译自www.archdaily.com/，转载请注明出处。