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This gives me PTSD to a consulting job I had as a web developer where every 15-30 minutes the project manager would come up to my desk to ask what I've been up

This gives me PTSD to a consulting job I had as a web developer where every 15-30 minutes the project manager would come up to my desk to ask what I've been up to and what I had achieved (in the last 15 minutes). He'd also get upset when the feature I was working on wasn't finished yet since the last meeting.

matte_black 9y ago
With an interruption every 15 minutes, sounds like you would never reach a state of flow.
- ImSkeptical 9y ago
  My own strategy with such people is to bore them into never speaking with me. Every such question, I'll take a moment to compose my thoughts, and then begin explaining, as thoroughly as possible, in a monotonous cadence, exactly what's been going on. I'm also sure to always add that reporting on progress is consuming a significant amount of time, especially because it is an interruption. I also repeat any instruction given to me in different words, and describe what I'm currently working on, what I think the priority of the new thing should be relative to current tasks, and ask if they agree with me. In my experience, people simply lack the will to repeatedly endure lengthy and dull interactions. I can tell they zone out soon after I start talking, and I keep lashing them with boredom until they learn to not interrupt me. I'd suspect the kind of person who asks for an update every fifteen minutes is doing so out of a minor sadistic impulse, rather than for any legitimate reason. If so, the important thing would be never to appear bothered by it. That would be my strategy at least.
EKLM-ZK88 9y ago
I've personally witnessed the VP of product stand over our senior engineer's shoulder while he tried to debug some serious bug that we couldn't reproduce in dev/stage for hours until it was done. That same engineer also had the CEO stand over his shoulder and actually ask "You don't mind if I stand here and watch do you?" The same CEO constantly brags about his "10 years of experience building companies with successful exits"(10 years of experience vs 1 year of experience ten times), and calls his company the "Amazon of the south". Reading this article gave me flashbacks, but it does help to know that it wasn't just that company.

matte_black 9y ago

With an interruption every 15 minutes, sounds like you would never reach a state of flow.

ImSkeptical 9y ago
My own strategy with such people is to bore them into never speaking with me. Every such question, I'll take a moment to compose my thoughts, and then begin explaining, as thoroughly as possible, in a monotonous cadence, exactly what's been going on. I'm also sure to always add that reporting on progress is consuming a significant amount of time, especially because it is an interruption. I also repeat any instruction given to me in different words, and describe what I'm currently working on, what I think the priority of the new thing should be relative to current tasks, and ask if they agree with me. In my experience, people simply lack the will to repeatedly endure lengthy and dull interactions. I can tell they zone out soon after I start talking, and I keep lashing them with boredom until they learn to not interrupt me. I'd suspect the kind of person who asks for an update every fifteen minutes is doing so out of a minor sadistic impulse, rather than for any legitimate reason. If so, the important thing would be never to appear bothered by it. That would be my strategy at least.

EKLM-ZK88 9y ago

I've personally witnessed the VP of product stand over our senior engineer's shoulder while he tried to debug some serious bug that we couldn't reproduce in dev/stage for hours until it was done. That same engineer also had the CEO stand over his shoulder and actually ask "You don't mind if I stand here and watch do you?" The same CEO constantly brags about his "10 years of experience building companies with successful exits"(10 years of experience vs 1 year of experience ten times), and calls his company the "Amazon of the south". Reading this article gave me flashbacks, but it does help to know that it wasn't just that company.