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Slashdot Asks: How Do You Handle Interruptions At Work?
This question was inspired by this anonymous submission:
Analysis of programming sessions and surveys note that programmers take 10-15 minutes to resume editing code after being interrupted. Computer scientists and researchers from University of Zurich and ABB Inc. have designed the 'FlowLight' system which automatically determines a worker's interruptibility using a combination of keyboard/mouse usage, calendar information, and login state, and makes interruptibility visible to other employees using a red/yellow/green LED indicator placed near the desk... Knowledge workers in various locations found that interruptions were significantly reduced by 46%. [PDF]
NBC reports these researchers "also tested a more advanced version that uses biometric sensors to detect heart rate variability, pupil dilation, eye blinks or even brainwave activity," and of course one of the researchers tells the New Yorker that a commercial version "is 'in the works.'" But it'd be interesting to hear from Slashdot's readers about their own solutions -- and how interruptions affect their own productivity at work. So share your best answers in the comments. How do you feel about interrupt
NBC reports these researchers "also tested a more advanced version that uses biometric sensors to detect heart rate variability, pupil dilation, eye blinks or even brainwave activity," and of course one of the researchers tells the New Yorker that a commercial version "is 'in the works.'" But it'd be interesting to hear from Slashdot's readers about their own solutions -- and how interruptions affect their own productivity at work. So share your best answers in the comments. How do you feel about interrupt
"automatically determines a worker's interruptibility using a combination of keyboard/mouse usage, calendar information, and login state, and makes interruptibility visible"
I understand this is for coders, and how someone might think that when they don't tap away angrily they are available for interruption, but it would be safer to assume that when tapping slows or stops, there's a reason for that. And that reason might not always be that they have nothing more to do. Researching stuff, reading stuff, and just thinking about stuff might not be done in parallel with mighty mouse movements and constant tapping, but they are equally important. So my opinion about this is that it's a result based on research that just wasted money. The simplest way is generally better: just ask, or even better just agree on a time to discuss issues, it's really not rocket science.
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I find wearing headphones (something kind of large that covers the ear, not earbuds or anything) scares off a lot of interruptions. If i'm doing something light I might even have music playing on them but most of them time they're just for show.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
Looking at it from a manager's perspective:
Work in rooms, not an open-plan office. This way, if someone wants to interrupt you, they have to "pay" a higher price, like messaging you (you may not be available or the nature of the asynchronous conversation may not be convenient) or actually getting up and going to your room.
Cultivate a culture of empathy, wherein people learn to pick up signs that someone is busy working. Apply peer pressure when someone doesn't pick up the cues. Make it an "insult" to destroy someone's flow. Don't be a dick about it, though - there are ways of cultivating this slowly and discreetly.
"Programming is life, the rest is mere details"
I have a cash acceptor wired up outside my office, which dispenses sequential tickets. I won't talk to you unless you have a ticket.
It was kinda a stupid joke I setup one day because I got sick and tired of being constantly interrupted. People actually took it seriously, much to the amusement of my boss. The first day I made well over $120 in spare cash from all the interruptions. The next day, I only made $40, but got so much more work done. The day after that, it was around $10, and then finally people got the hint and it was $0.
Occasionally someone still comes and knocks on my door, and for the privilege of interrupting me, they get to pay $10 (in cash or coins). If I'm not too busy I'll drag the machine inside and leave it unhooked, but otherwise it's out there by my (closed) door and plugged in, ready to accept payment. I even landed up building an additional three units for our other developers (it's basically just a laser cut plexiglass chassis with an Atmel AVR development board, an OTS cash acceptor, and an OTS ticket printer). Our productivity has skyrocketed as a result, and management even lets us keep the cash we make. Most of the time, it gets reinvested back into the office as donuts or other treats though, so it's not like we're actually making a massive profit or anything.
Unzip pants, start masturbating.
I think I chose not to swap out and when interrupted I stay in the working state and just stare blankly at the interruption until it goes away.
I have pretty much given up trying to be 'productive' at work. As a team leader I am normally dealing with questions and interruptions the entire time I am in the office. Fortunately, our team decided on something we call Core Hours. If you are at work you need to be around between 10am and 3pm for collaboration. So you can start early and leave early, start late leave late or do what I do: spend time at work to deal with the team - go home early then do the 'real work' after the kids are in bed. Now if I can just deal with my wife asking me questions while trying to hack away...
Did you hear the whoosh as that joke went over your head then?
I am disappoint
How is the Riemann zeta function like Trump rallies? Both have an endless number of trivial zeros.
I compare the new interruptions IRQ to the current interruptions IRQ and will only begin working on the new interruption if it has a higher priority.
"His name was James Damore."
I usually tap my headset to indicate I'm listening to the 30+ voices in an all-day conference call — and return to posting on Slashdot.
After a few years of constant interruptions, I just gave up, and never attempted anything except under deadline pressure, which gave me the excuse required to push out interruptions.
I've never been productive since.
Prioritizing by Interruption-to-Reply-Questions is a good idea, but what if they have Direct Management Access?
#DeleteFacebook
I used to work in a test tools team and we'd get a lot of visitors wanting help interpreting test results and preferably fix their bugs for them. It was manageable until we got close to release. By that point our scrum master moved to the desk closest to the door and would intercept everyone coming into the room. He'd have them describe their issue to him and then he'd make the call whether to disturb anyone in the team. Still, there was almost constant talking in the room so headphones were a must.
I've found that one thing that causes a lot of unnecessary interruptions is a lack of documentation. One company I worked for kept almost no documentation since "this is a fun workplace and writing documentation is boring". I had to track down multiple people just to figure out how to set up a working build environment. Another problem is knowing who to ask. Spending some time to create a knowledge matrix and assigning a go-to person for each area helps limit the amount of people that get disturbed and also spread the load.
Code reviews are another thing that can cause a lot of interruptions. I don't have much experience with code ownership and automatically assigning reviewers so I can't say how well that works in practice.
Since interrupt is/was the fastest cast type, I try to leave 2 untapped islands at all times, so I can cast a counter-spell in response to their interrupt, thus negating it and allowing me to get back to coding before I was ever interrupted.
If somone complains about me not being available or that I haven't completed a task, I inform them that I have more tasks than time and I ask my boss to prioritize my assignments.
That's a nice theory, but the problem is that many managers will ding you on reviews for poor time management. I've known people who got fired for it, being told that part of what was expected out of them was the ability to judge conflicting workloads and prioritize them yourself.
I'm not saying that doing that -- even successfully -- doesn't result in complaints, or that people aren't legitimately given more work than they have the bandwidth to get done and that managers won't refuse to acknowledge this -- aka, manage poorly.
But these days, asking what your number 1 priority is almost always results in "they all are number 1" and nobody cares to fix this.
+1000 on kill voicemail. Our group unofficially does not answer voicemail - it started with just me, and soon spread to everyone - our voicemail lights are always on, and after 30 messages queue up the system sends emails nagging us about it. Every month or so we delete them all and have a day or two where we're not sure if our phones are working (since that is normally the only time the VM light is off). Some are so put off by the change that they leave one in the box to keep it lit.
If it's important, send an email. If it's super important, create a ticket - it gets all the right visibility and spams management when it's ignored. If it's a dodgy request they don't want a record of (i.e. help I fucked this up, divine miracle required), send a skype message (still logged but buries the needle in a bigger haystack).
I handle interruptions by petting whichever cats show up or giving the lady of the house the hugs she deserves when she ghosts by (one reason why she deserves them is that she carefully doesn't try to engage my attention verbally when I'm working.) Neither of which minor activities derail my train of thought. They just make my environment that much more conducive to doing what I am trying to do. Because, you know, happy.
Other than that, when I work, the social media is shut down, the phone is in "airplane mode", and the doorbell doesn't get answered. I am, as you might suspect, very productive under these conditions. I keep coding hours 100% separated from other types of work hours, such as jawing with those who have contracted my services, etc.
There is nothing better than working in your own lab, in your own home, with full control over the chaos that wants to intrude, choosing your own working hours, managing noise levels, doing breaks and feedings as desired instead of as permitted, etc. Nothing. Nothing comes even close.
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
while they could simply give me a red light controlled by a switch. Red=do not disturb...
A few years ago we used to have these little do not disturb flags to put on top of our cube when we were really busy. Naturally the top performers tended to be very busy and were often showing DND. Those with less things to do, or less productive almost never used it.
Management noticed, of course. But they didn't notice the right things. Instead of wondering why their average performers always had time to BS and their top performers didn't, they started letting it be known that having your DND flag up too much was kind of anti-social. Using it "too much" (not defined) was discouraged. Within three months the whole idea went kaput. Most of the top performers eventually moved on to other opportunities.
I'm not a programmer anymore but the best thing I ever did was start working remotely full time. If you're not physically there people tend to only bother you via IM/email when it's real work-related stuff. I think that's because it takes effort and it is logged (the joys of working in litigation), whereas plopping yourself in someone else's cube when you're out roaming the halls anyway does not. Thankfully no millennial knows how to use a telephone so I happily answer that when it rings.
Green LED's indicate my readyness to be interrupted; I have no need for them.
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try { DoWork(); } catch(InterruptedException) { DoWhine(); }
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra