What are the laws of work?

This comment by JP on my post 10 GTD "holes" (and How To Plug Them) got me thinking about whether there's a set of laws (JP more correctly called them postulates) of how we (i.e., "knowledge workers") manage ourselves (i.e., "work") in our CrazyBusy (i.e., "insane") lives.

Here I'd like to play with the idea and to ask you: Is there a small set of axioms that fully describe the challenges we face? Huge question, but my hope is we can reason from first principles to create (or validate) methods for metawork [1]. Stimulated by JP's comment I started with four categories: Time, Attention, and Environment, and tossed in some ideas for each.

What do you think? I'm shooting for something here that's good enough to criticize.

Time

Time has special properties. For example, it is irreversible, it can't be invested, and is limited in supply. The article 169 Time Management Tips has a nice section on this: 12 Important Characteristics of Time:

1. It is an economic resource

2. It cannot be expanded or contracted
3. It is irrecoverable and irreplaceable
4. It is expensive and precious
5. It is highly perishable
6. Most of what is called 'cost' is the cost of time
7. It is a flow from past to present to future in the context of experience
8. It is a flow from future to present to past in the context of planning
9. The flow is one way and irreversible
10. It is quantifiable (seconds, days, years)
11. All processes that we manage are time processes
12. Time is the dimension in which change takes place (space is the dimension in which motion takes place)

Attention

As a function of how our brains work, we should be able to tap into brain research to infer some axioms. For example, attention seems to have a fragile quality, and it can be very sensitive to attention requests (internal and external). Other aspects of mind: They risk perfectionism, avoid fear, and form habits (or not).

The Secret Pulse of Time has some useful thoughts, including:

• Experimental evidence that our attention is automatically directed inward when there is little else to occupy. The author calls it Banal Banter.

• Attention is porous.
• The three main stages of the executive function are working memory, attention and self control.
• Fear and anxiety [themes] grab people's attention.

Another possibility: Does the Yerkes-Dodson Law apply? From Aiming for the Brain's Sweet Spot:

The Yerkes-Dodson Law pieces together two distinct dynamics: The downward curve of the inverted U shows the negative effects of stress on thinking and learning, or performance in general. The upward part reflects the energizing effect of arousal and interest.

Environment

Our modern environments overlay constraints. What are they? A few thoughts:

• Interruptions are unpredictable, frequent, and central. Two types: internal (see attention above) and external (e.g., email, people). (Question: Is it all about attention requests?)

• There will always be more work to do than is possible (at least for most of us).
• Work arrives disorganized.
• Not all work is important (the Trivial Many vs. Vital Few).
• What's the role of Parkinson's law and productivity?
• Artifacts naturally spread themselves out.

Future

I'd like to develop this to a point where we can create a methodology (or adapt current ones) that are consistent with it. Questions:

How do goals and values fit in?

How can we structure our environments for success? Fritz's Path of Least Resistance should play a big role here.

How can we use our perception of time? (See Perception of Time & Priorities: Polychronic vs. Monochronic, and the extensive entry in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.)

Can we apply work like Maeda's The Laws of Simplicity? Summary: 7 Tips to Manage and Use Your Attention Wisely:

• Law 1: Reduce - The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.

• Law 2: Organize - Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
• Law 3: Time - Savings in time feel like simplicity.
• Law 4: Learn - Knowledge makes everything simpler.
• Law 5: Differences - Simplicity and complexity need each other.
• Law 6: Context - What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
• Law 7: Emotion - More emotions are better than less.
• Law 8: Trust - In simplicity we trust.
• Law 9: Failure - Some things can never be made simple.
• Law 10: The one - Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

References

• [1] This comes from Constant, Constant, Multi-tasking Craziness, a paper by González and Mark at University of California, Irvine:
  

  Individuals spend part of their day on a set of activities that is not connected with any specific working sphere but rather related to the management of all of them. We call these activities metawork. People periodically conduct metawork throughout the day, which involves coordination, checking activities, organizing email, organizing their desk at the start or end of a working day, and catching up with teammates on what they have missed.