3 ms·

Just asking this as a talking point. Does a quick interruption that unblocks me and allows me to continue working outweigh allowing you to finish your thing fi

Just asking this as a talking point. Does a quick interruption that unblocks me and allows me to continue working outweigh allowing you to finish your thing first? Because maybe you're unblocked but I'm blocked by you now, and the thing that's actually blocking me. So only 1 person is able to work.

sokoloff 6y ago
Are specifically they blocking you, or are you stuck in general and they're the closest SWE? In the first case, it does seem a lot more reasonable to interrupt and trade-off the productivity of the blocker in favor of the blockee. At worst, that's an even trade and at best it incentivizes not being a blocker. In the second case, I'd rather not create a distributed denial of concentration scenario for SWEs who are rarely stuck to optimize for those who are more frequently stuck.
- mulmen 6y ago
  Disagree. Unless the world is on fire there's no reason to interrupt someone to unblock yourself. Contact them asynchronously or opportunistically. If you see them in the kitchenette getting coffee then sure, ask. If they are walking back from the bathroom, sure, grab them before they resume work. But do not delude yourself into thinking you know more about prioritizing their time than they do.
  - polymeris 6y ago
    I agree in principle, but also find myself often doing my best thinking when making coffee or just "idly" staring out of a window, and would find it annoying to be interrupted just because I'm not at my desk. Luckily I work from home.
    - mulmen 6y ago
      Yeah this is fair. I was considering the classic wave a hand in my face because I'm wearing headphones at my desk type of disruption but there's so many more variants. There's another angle here which is that ad-hoc in-person conversations tend to be low value because there's no record. The process of simply writing down a question before asking it goes a long way toward finding a solution. It's one of the things I really appreciate about working from home. There are no unwelcome interruptions because everyone controls their own time and interactions I do have are higher value because they have been more thoroughly considered.
mulmen 6y ago
> Does a quick interruption that unblocks me and allows me to continue working outweigh allowing you to finish your thing first? No, absolutely not. As my coworker you have no right to my time, at all. Certainly not on-demand. You are in no position to prioritize my time, especially in the context of you finishing your task. > Because maybe you're unblocked but I'm blocked by you now, and the thing that's actually blocking me. No, you are blocked by whatever you are blocked by. Solving your problems is your problem. Not mine. > So only 1 person is able to work. If you can't do your job without also consuming my time in parallel what exactly are you contributing? If you are blocked and need input then go work on something else until you can get the input. This is elementary time management and respect for your coworkers.
- benbristow 6y ago
  I'm talking more about if I've got a story where something isn't clarified properly. The project I'm on at the minute, the stories really aren't well refined at-all so I need to talk to a project manager/architect-style character for something that I can't answer myself because I simply don't know. I've said things about doing refinement sessions etc. but they've never surfaced. What you say sounds pretty selfish though. If someone came to me and asked for help with something I'd be happy to drop tools and come and help as I'm not just a 'colleague', I'm a team member.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    It's not selfish at all. I treat other people the same way. I am eager to help teammates with their problems and frequently do. If they have a question they can send me an IM or email and I will respond when I have time to answer. Interrupting other people to solve your problems is selfish. If you need clarification then send an email, add a comment in your issue tracker or set up a meeting. There's no reason to interrupt someone doing productive work to get clarification on a story. You should be able to manage parallel stories and make progress as you get clarification.
    - mym1990 6y ago
mym1990 6y ago
Somewhat anecdotal I guess, but at any given point I have 5-10 things that I could be working on. So if I come across something that I am truly blocked on and need more information, then I ask for that info through appropriate channels and move on to priority thing 2. Understandably this can lead to a lot of context switching, but so can someone swiveling in a chair to ask a question or go down a rabbit hole. You can optimize the process a bit by shifting perspective and having a path to follow if you get blocked, rather than lamenting on how you're blocked(not you in particular, but people in general). *I feel like it is somewhat rare that a person only ever has 1 specific thing to work on.
MattGaiser 6y ago
My preference is still Slack, even in this case. Send a message prefixed "URGENT" and I will write down where I stopped in the next 30 seconds and then get to you nearly right away. I can skim the first few words of a Slack message without losing context and if those first few words demand an immediate response, I can "save" what I am doing to my notes. I had a co-worker who did this in a past job, even though he sat behind me. It was quite helpful.
thrower123 6y ago
Yes, because it trains you to unblock yourself, rather than stop and come running to me every time your wheels slip.
MisterBastahrd 6y ago
If I'm working on something central to our business model and you're working on some widget that won't be released for two months? Absolutely.

sokoloff 6y ago

Are specifically they blocking you, or are you stuck in general and they're the closest SWE? In the first case, it does seem a lot more reasonable to interrupt and trade-off the productivity of the blocker in favor of the blockee. At worst, that's an even trade and at best it incentivizes not being a blocker. In the second case, I'd rather not create a distributed denial of concentration scenario for SWEs who are rarely stuck to optimize for those who are more frequently stuck.

mulmen 6y ago
Disagree. Unless the world is on fire there's no reason to interrupt someone to unblock yourself. Contact them asynchronously or opportunistically. If you see them in the kitchenette getting coffee then sure, ask. If they are walking back from the bathroom, sure, grab them before they resume work. But do not delude yourself into thinking you know more about prioritizing their time than they do.
- polymeris 6y ago
  I agree in principle, but also find myself often doing my best thinking when making coffee or just "idly" staring out of a window, and would find it annoying to be interrupted just because I'm not at my desk. Luckily I work from home.
  - mulmen 6y ago
    Yeah this is fair. I was considering the classic wave a hand in my face because I'm wearing headphones at my desk type of disruption but there's so many more variants. There's another angle here which is that ad-hoc in-person conversations tend to be low value because there's no record. The process of simply writing down a question before asking it goes a long way toward finding a solution. It's one of the things I really appreciate about working from home. There are no unwelcome interruptions because everyone controls their own time and interactions I do have are higher value because they have been more thoroughly considered.

mulmen 6y ago

> Does a quick interruption that unblocks me and allows me to continue working outweigh allowing you to finish your thing first? No, absolutely not. As my coworker you have no right to my time, at all. Certainly not on-demand. You are in no position to prioritize my time, especially in the context of you finishing your task. > Because maybe you're unblocked but I'm blocked by you now, and the thing that's actually blocking me. No, you are blocked by whatever you are blocked by. Solving your problems is your problem. Not mine. > So only 1 person is able to work. If you can't do your job without also consuming my time in parallel what exactly are you contributing? If you are blocked and need input then go work on something else until you can get the input. This is elementary time management and respect for your coworkers.

benbristow 6y ago
I'm talking more about if I've got a story where something isn't clarified properly. The project I'm on at the minute, the stories really aren't well refined at-all so I need to talk to a project manager/architect-style character for something that I can't answer myself because I simply don't know. I've said things about doing refinement sessions etc. but they've never surfaced. What you say sounds pretty selfish though. If someone came to me and asked for help with something I'd be happy to drop tools and come and help as I'm not just a 'colleague', I'm a team member.
- mulmen 6y ago
  It's not selfish at all. I treat other people the same way. I am eager to help teammates with their problems and frequently do. If they have a question they can send me an IM or email and I will respond when I have time to answer. Interrupting other people to solve your problems is selfish. If you need clarification then send an email, add a comment in your issue tracker or set up a meeting. There's no reason to interrupt someone doing productive work to get clarification on a story. You should be able to manage parallel stories and make progress as you get clarification.
  - mym1990 6y ago

mym1990 6y ago

Somewhat anecdotal I guess, but at any given point I have 5-10 things that I could be working on. So if I come across something that I am truly blocked on and need more information, then I ask for that info through appropriate channels and move on to priority thing 2. Understandably this can lead to a lot of context switching, but so can someone swiveling in a chair to ask a question or go down a rabbit hole. You can optimize the process a bit by shifting perspective and having a path to follow if you get blocked, rather than lamenting on how you're blocked(not you in particular, but people in general). *I feel like it is somewhat rare that a person only ever has 1 specific thing to work on.

MattGaiser 6y ago

My preference is still Slack, even in this case. Send a message prefixed "URGENT" and I will write down where I stopped in the next 30 seconds and then get to you nearly right away. I can skim the first few words of a Slack message without losing context and if those first few words demand an immediate response, I can "save" what I am doing to my notes. I had a co-worker who did this in a past job, even though he sat behind me. It was quite helpful.

thrower123 6y ago

Yes, because it trains you to unblock yourself, rather than stop and come running to me every time your wheels slip.

MisterBastahrd 6y ago

If I'm working on something central to our business model and you're working on some widget that won't be released for two months? Absolutely.