My experience based on a not short career in several industries is that the worst focus killer is a manager who only knows how to put numbers in a spreadsheet.

My experience based on a not short career in several industries is that the worst focus killer is a manager who only knows how to put numbers in a spreadsheet. Those numbers have to come from somewhere and that is almost always from bugging their direct reports. These managers feel the need (and some of that is also pressure from their managers doing the same thing) to have a finger on the pulse of what's going on as they claim, but what is really happening is they feel that they have to show how hard they're working. So, they're constantly asking (basically), "is it done yet?". They best managers I have had are stealthy. They'll monitor from afar mostly (while getting their work done). They get updates during appropriate times. They respect their direct reports and understand that one can't get anything done with constant interruptions. They shield their direct reports from outside interruptions as well. They do, however, interrupt when they get a sense of something slowing down or blocking. They'll work with the individual or team to quickly get things moving again. Sadly, the former outnumbers the latter by like 9:1.