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The problem is, people take offense at others turning it off. How do you deal with the social pressure to be instantly available and interruptable at all times?
by beat 8y ago
The problem is, people take offense at others turning it off. How do you deal with the social pressure to be instantly available and interruptable at all times?
- mindcrime 8y agoThe problem is, people take offense at others turning it off. How do you deal with the social pressure to be instantly available and interruptable at all times? Hand them a copy of Deep Work? Also, don't just turn it off... announce to the group "Hey guys, I'm going offline to do deep work for the next 3 hours. Only interrupt me if the building is on fire, OK?" or something like that. Set a status or "away message" that says "offline for focused deep work right now. Interrupt only for absolute emergencies." or something similar.
- beat 8y agoSure, technically it can be done. Socially, though... we have a hard time saying no to people. That's a lot to overcome. We have tools for interruption and social inhibitions against not using them.
- mindcrime 8y agoAgreed. That's why I find it easier if you announce ahead of time, "hey guys, I'm going offline for a while to focus on $SOME_SPECIFIC_THING". At least with the places I've worked, and the cultures I've worked in, I've found that people (usually) respect that.
- ssnistfajen 8y agoThat's a culture problem, not a Slack problem. I've interacted with people who expect me to read E-Mails within 30 minutes during off-work hours too. That doesn't mean E-Mails are inherently distracting.