“Docket-clearing meetings” are regularly scheduled team meetings designed to efficiently address pending tasks that require collaboration or clarification. They aim to reduce the need for constant back-and-forth communication throughout the week. Docket-clearing meetings help teams stay aligned and prevent small issues from snowballing into larger problems.

The “Great Resignation” describes the widespread trend of employees voluntarily leaving their jobs in large numbers, particularly during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Newport mentions this phenomenon as evidence of growing dissatisfaction among knowledge workers with current work practices and expectations. It reflects a significant shift in workforce dynamics and employee attitudes towards work.

Newport defines “knowledge work” as “the economic activity in which knowledge is transformed into an artifact with market value through the application of cognitive effort” (38). This broader definition encompasses not only conventional office jobs but also traditional cognitive professions such as writing, philosophy, science, and the arts. It allows for insights to be drawn from a wider range of historical and contemporary examples of productive cognitive work.