3 ms·
> "can I ask you a question?" .. doesn't seem to serve any purpose I think of it as a request for a context switch. If you're mentally occupied - writing a tri
by fenomas 10y ago
> "can I ask you a question?" .. doesn't seem to serve any purpose
I think of it as a request for a context switch. If you're mentally occupied - writing a tricky recursive function, say - and somebody walks up and says, "Hey, what's the time complexity of inserts into a red-black tree", it's likely that just parsing the question will kick you out of your current context so you lose track of what you're doing.
- ehnto 10y agoThat is how it works for our team. Normally if someone skips that step it's more urgent and I temd to answer (they have already asked and distracted me so why not). I don't really mind pleasantries, they remind me I am working with humans.
- astine 10y agoI find that for me, "Hey are you busy?" is enough to drag me out of my focus. At that point you may as well ask me about the time complexity of red-black tree inserts. That way I get the request over with and back to what I was doing.