Cal Newport’s term for cognitively demanding work done without distraction — the opposite of shallow work like email, status updates, and meeting attendance.
The claim that pulled me in: deep work is becoming rarer and more valuable at the same time. That intersection is what makes it a leverage skill — not just nice to have, but a genuine multiplier on whatever else you’re doing.
Still to write
What deep work actually looks like in my own week — which blocks I protect, where I lose them, and the realistic ceiling for a PM-shaped role.
Threads to dig into:
- How much deep work is realistic for a PM, given the role’s natural fragmentation — see Product managers juggle context constantly
- Whether the pomodoro technique is enough scaffolding, or if longer (60-90 min) blocks are necessary for the deepest kind of work
- The relationship between deep work and activation energy — long blocks have higher cost to start