This week we welcome Dr. Shamsi Iqbal. A Principal Researcher in the Modern Work Transformation Org in Microsoft, Shamsi is on the frontline of research, investigating productivity, attention and the future of work.

Most recently her work has focused on redefining productivity in the new future of work, introducing novel ways of being productive through leveraging micromoments, and balancing productivity and well-being in interaction design to empower individuals and help organizations thrive.

In this episode we explore the future of work with Shamsi, through the eyes of a productivity research. We discuss:

- Micromoments
- The Triple Peaks of Productivity
- Where AI does (and doesn't belong)
- Technology for Hybrid Work
- The Role of Technology in the Future of Work

Shamsi's research has been covered in the New York Times, MIT Tech Review among others, and also featured in the King 5 News (NBC affiliate in the Seattle area). Shamsi has served on many organizing and program committees for Human-Computer Interaction conferences, is currently serving as an ACM TOCHI Associate Editor, was a guest Editor for IEEE Pervasive Special Issue on Future of Work and was the General Co-chair for UIST 2020. She is one of the co-authors of the document Microsoft released on the Future of Remote Work in 2021.

Shamsi received her Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008 and received a Bachelor's in Computer Science and Engineering from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology in 2001.

Find Shamsi's work at:

The New Future of Work - Microsoft Research [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/] - a wealth of information on remote and hybrid work based on research conducted by Microsoft researchers on topics such as personal productivity and wellbeing, hybrid meetings, thriving organizations and so on.

Shamsi Iqbal at Microsoft Research - [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/shamsi/]

Or read:

The Rise of the Triple Peak Day [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/triple-peak-day]

The Ways We Disconnect [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/ways-we-disconnect-work-life-balance]

How to Focus in the Always-on Economy [https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/always-on-economy-focus]

This episode is part of our mini-series on the Future of Work. Listen to episodes with Chase Warrington, Alex Pang and forthcoming with Rebecca Seal to hear more.

Host and Producer: Georgie Powell https://www.sentientdigitalconsulting.com/

Music and audio production: Toccare https://spoti.fi/3bN4eqO

Four Thousand Weeks – Oliver Burkeman