4 ms·

This is very true. The proof is in the pudding. If someone messages you or calls you, you might dismiss them easily, but if someone stands next to you and asks

This is very true. The proof is in the pudding. If someone messages you or calls you, you might dismiss them easily, but if someone stands next to you and asks you “do you have a moment?” Will you dismiss them as easily? PS: Working with a largely distributed team, I trained myself to treat all of these requests the same. Even if someone walked from the other side of the building to ask me something. The priority assessment before I consider shifting my focus should be the same.

iateanapple 6y ago
> Working with a largely distributed team, I trained myself to treat all of these requests the same. Why?
- ryukafalz 6y ago
  If you prioritize the local coworker over your remote coworkers simply because they're nearby, that contributes to the idea that remote coworkers are less effective, because you're making them less effective.
  - iateanapple 6y ago
    > If you prioritize the local coworker over your remote coworkers simply because they're nearby So the right answer is to answer calls etc from remote colleagues promptly - not to ignore local coworkers who walk over. It’s not to make local communication less effective to prop up remote work.
    - DevKoala 6y ago
      You don’t ignore people who come to talk to you. You tell them politely that you are focused on a task, and to wait until you are free. Over time people learn to send you a message first to coordinate when you are free to talk. At the company I work for, the norm at the office is to always ask first “is this a good time to discuss X?”. Not even the CTO gets a free pass to interrupt engineers. Actually he was one of the people who coached me to prioritize my focus first and to learn to say “No”.
      - iateanapple 6y ago
        > You tell them politely that you are focused on a task, and to wait until you are free. If I’m coming to talk to you then I think it’s important enough to interrupt you. You are in effect gimping local communication.
        interactivecode 6y ago
        It is, you are putting your own issue in higher regard just because you don't know someone else’s situation. When working remotely think ahead and assume your issue/question isn’t as important as you think it is. Because most of the time questions for colleagues aren't as urgent for anyone except you.
        iateanapple 6y ago
        > It is, you are putting your own issue in higher regard just because you don't know someone else’s situation. Most of the time the communication is within the team and we do know the other team members situations (work wise). And we have decided it is important enough to interrupt them. And we are mostly knowledge workers who understand the cost of interruptions. Yes, there are bad eggs who waste everyone’s time, but they are in the small minority. What I find happens a lot is devs focus on their personal productivity ahead of the teams productivity.
        matthewowen 6y ago
        the bad eggs can be in the minority as members of the population, but still provide the majority of interruptions: the good eggs know to be judicious about it, but the bad eggs just interrupt and interrupt and interrupt.
        iateanapple 6y ago
        Agreed - so why not deal with the bad eggs individually? Because at the end of the day most managers aren’t really concerned with productivity - it’s far easier and less emotionally draining to just proscribe blanket bans. That’s one of the main reasons remote working hasn’t taken off more.
rodiger 6y ago
If there was no way to hang up the phone you wouldn't dismiss them as easily. I think this is likely a feature of ease of dismissal rather than one of remote vs local connections
- DevKoala 6y ago
  There is also an easy way to not prioritize people at the office. You tell them in a polite manner that what you are doing is a bigger priority and requires your attention. Over time people learn to coordinate discussions when you are free to talk. It is part of learning to say “No”.

iateanapple 6y ago

> Working with a largely distributed team, I trained myself to treat all of these requests the same. Why?

ryukafalz 6y ago
If you prioritize the local coworker over your remote coworkers simply because they're nearby, that contributes to the idea that remote coworkers are less effective, because you're making them less effective.
- iateanapple 6y ago
  > If you prioritize the local coworker over your remote coworkers simply because they're nearby So the right answer is to answer calls etc from remote colleagues promptly - not to ignore local coworkers who walk over. It’s not to make local communication less effective to prop up remote work.
  - DevKoala 6y ago
    You don’t ignore people who come to talk to you. You tell them politely that you are focused on a task, and to wait until you are free. Over time people learn to send you a message first to coordinate when you are free to talk. At the company I work for, the norm at the office is to always ask first “is this a good time to discuss X?”. Not even the CTO gets a free pass to interrupt engineers. Actually he was one of the people who coached me to prioritize my focus first and to learn to say “No”.
    - iateanapple 6y ago
      > You tell them politely that you are focused on a task, and to wait until you are free. If I’m coming to talk to you then I think it’s important enough to interrupt you. You are in effect gimping local communication.
      - interactivecode 6y ago
        It is, you are putting your own issue in higher regard just because you don't know someone else’s situation. When working remotely think ahead and assume your issue/question isn’t as important as you think it is. Because most of the time questions for colleagues aren't as urgent for anyone except you.
        iateanapple 6y ago
        > It is, you are putting your own issue in higher regard just because you don't know someone else’s situation. Most of the time the communication is within the team and we do know the other team members situations (work wise). And we have decided it is important enough to interrupt them. And we are mostly knowledge workers who understand the cost of interruptions. Yes, there are bad eggs who waste everyone’s time, but they are in the small minority. What I find happens a lot is devs focus on their personal productivity ahead of the teams productivity.
        matthewowen 6y ago
        the bad eggs can be in the minority as members of the population, but still provide the majority of interruptions: the good eggs know to be judicious about it, but the bad eggs just interrupt and interrupt and interrupt.
        iateanapple 6y ago
        Agreed - so why not deal with the bad eggs individually? Because at the end of the day most managers aren’t really concerned with productivity - it’s far easier and less emotionally draining to just proscribe blanket bans. That’s one of the main reasons remote working hasn’t taken off more.

rodiger 6y ago

If there was no way to hang up the phone you wouldn't dismiss them as easily. I think this is likely a feature of ease of dismissal rather than one of remote vs local connections

DevKoala 6y ago
There is also an easy way to not prioritize people at the office. You tell them in a polite manner that what you are doing is a bigger priority and requires your attention. Over time people learn to coordinate discussions when you are free to talk. It is part of learning to say “No”.