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Ask HN: How do you cope with being interupted?

• donpark 5y ago
  I use sticky notes and a pinboard like others with a twist: sticky notes are placed on paper, not directly on the board. Each sheet of paper works like a room, contextual frame for notes. Move paper to top to switch context. Doing the same in computer screen doesn't work as well.
• dexwiz 5y ago
  Go see a therapist.
  • beebmam 5y ago
    Seriously. If you're aware of a mental pattern that you have that is making you unhappy, therapy can very often help. The first two steps are awareness and a desire to change that mental pattern. I've personally learned to embrace the interruptions and find much value in them. Usually interruptions caused by other engineers are often quite useful to the company and sometimes even life enriching. Kind and respectful interactions with others can make the lives of the people around you so much more bearable, and many people suffer alone in their own heads, especially now in such a dark time.
• e3bc54b2 5y ago
  I just keep the 'busy' hours for other people. Thankfully WFH has made it easy. Basically 11AM-7PM are for other people to interrupt me, and for calls. I stay only half-engaged with chats and emails so it doesn't cost in me my cognitive budget and I get a lot of stuff done within the household. Either 7AM-11AM or 7PM-11PM, depending on circumstances, I do work. You know, the 15 minutes of real actual work mentioned in Office space. This is when other people are away and I get to focus. Thankfully my company culture is good and nature of my job allows me to only sit and mash keyboard couple hours a week or so, rest is thinking, or light research. Overall, I don't engage with $JOB more than 8 hours on any given day and never on a weekend. It works for me, and my boss nor team have complained so far. I'm not sure how long the party will last, though.
  • dijit 5y ago
    This is basically what I do too. It works fairly well, if I have an open day. Setting aside “helping” time and “focus” time is extremely useful if you can avoid meetings during your focus times; although it is also difficult for me to focus when I have something happening soon (meetings at end of focus time, etc)
  • rjh29 5y ago
    If nobody has noticed yet, chances are nobody will. Just be careful that your self-esteem isn't destroyed by the lack of engaging work.
• throwawaythrow1 5y ago
  There is no quick and easy solution to this. You just have to remember that the interruption is not aware of your state of mind, and also that a bad response (from you) will probably cause a greater degree of interruption. So be kind, handle the interruption politely and happily, remind the interrupter that you're working and then take measures so that it is more difficult for you to be interrupted in the future.
• barefeg 5y ago
  I would write the things that are in my mind which are blocking me from doing something else (like sleeping). When working on personal projects I try to plan all the steps I need to make and split them into very small tasks. Then if I’m interrupted during one task I can quickly come back by reading the description. If there’s something blocking my progress in a task, I write comments below the task’s card (using whatever kanban software). Then if I leave it to do something else, I’ll be able to replicate the last state in my head by reading the comments
  • JensRantil 5y ago
    I do this, too, but I tend to write a comment in the code where I'm at with what the next step is. Works great.
• orzig 5y ago
  It's very situation-dependent, so here are a few things I've done: 1. In a work situation where I'm relatively senior, I've proactively communicated that I like minimally-interrupting notifications (email>slack>IRL). Even when someone taps me on the shoulder, they're a little sheepish about it, and I can request 30 seconds to jot down a note about where I left off. I also just feel more in control of the situation. 2. At home, I keep a note of the interruptions and talk to my wife about the overall issue after the 'crisis' has passed. 3. When I feel like I can't get something out of my head, I use Siri to write a reminder. I use https://rememberthemilk.com/ https://rememberthemilk.com/ but almost anything will work. A poorly thought-out, awkward, run on sentence for the task title, and then if I have more thoughts bursting outof me, I can add those as notes over the course of the day. What's important to realize is that you'll have to 'groom' the task before you can actually do it, but getting it off your chest is priority #1, and if you're supposed to be mostly doing something els eyou won't have time for that in the moment. More generally, it's all about insisting on 30 seconds to record some placeholder, even if it feels impolite to whoever is interrupting you. I'm 99.9% sure this will not get you fired, and it's worth whatever tiny annoyance it might give them - they should share the annoyance burden of the situation after all! In all likelihood, just having that shred of control will help you feel a ton better and potentially make people think twice about whether they need to tap you on the shoulder in the first place
  • ChrisMarshallNY 5y ago
    > minimally-interrupting notifications (email>slack>IRL). I am not a fan of IM communication, if it’s required that I respond immediately, all the time. Most IM methods, these days, have a “go away and leave me alone” feature, but it has been my experience that many folks resent it, if you actually have the nerve to use them. I use Slack in “bursts,” for technical communication. I’ll ignore it for hours, or even days (if I’m in The Zone on a tough issue), then have a half hour or so of intense communication. I mostly prefer email.
  • Fiahil 5y ago
    > I'm 99.9% sure this will not get you fired Of course, as the opposite situation would be absolutely completely insane...
• wombatmobile 5y ago
  Good question. Before you consider the various answers offered here, consider that attention is the key executive function of consciousness, and the ability to marshall it is a core aspect of what we call “self”. Everyone is different, in ways that we cannot always control, or even perceive. When you consider other people’s methods, be aware that your attention mechanisms may work differently and respond differently, whether you like it and want it that way or not. “Attention” is a hardware module that comes with no instruction booklet.
• DantesKite 5y ago
  I write.
• 123pie123 5y ago
  for work I can do alone, I sometimes create dedicated no interupption periods. typically no longer than a hour I will sometimes, depending on the level of concentration, close all communication apps, phone on silent and lock doors. for diffcult work with other people, that gets complex, I'll keep meetings to one or two attendees. I also do a brain dump and write down in notepad, my problems and to do stuff, then prioritise the list
• tomcam 5y ago
  I'm sincerely sorry if this answer doesn't help and it's not meant to be arch or sarcastic. But I have found that the more I like the work I am doing, the less interruptions bother me. I am fortunate to work from home, but it means many more such incidents than an office job. Obviously I would like to be left alone while working, but I have handicapped and mentally ill people to care for my life is acutely interrupt-driven. My work is immensely enjoyable so I can recover pretty fast most of the time. In the days I did work in an office, I found that I got an enormous amount of work done on evenings, weekends, or very early mornings. This required having a spouse who understood that work was important because it supported both of us.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    No offense taken! Thanks for your input. My question was not related solely to my work, in fact I enjoy my work quite a lot. It is more that in my life (and I assume almost everybody's) I have to multitask. Chores, Family, Friends, Work, Personal projects... I don't like to let stuff in an unfinished state because it tends to pile up afterwards AND it stays in my mind as long as I'm not happy with it
  • rightbyte 5y ago
    Maybe you enjoy work that does not require long interruption free thinking and concentration?
    • tomcam 5y ago
      Quite the opposite. I love that kind of work more than any other. I just have to reach for less than ideal times to do it. Taught myself many musical instruments in the wee hours after family and other troubled people were in bed.
• jv_dh 5y ago
  One thing that helps me to focus on the task at hand is using Promodoro timers: 25 minutes focussed work, then 5 minutes break. More generally, if distractions are bothering you or are making you nervous, I would recommend meditation. Meditation is the practice of focussing on the present. Try the waking up app (https://wakingup.com/ https://wakingup.com/), it is a good reason-based introduction to the practice and theory of meditation.
  • beermonster 5y ago
    Seconded. I have found the Pomodoro method is a great way to stay focussed. I even use the pomodoro mode in Spacemacs and there are simple apps available for iOS/Android. For being interrupted by apps I generally invert control E.g. - Disable notifications and decide to check a few times a day instead - Close apps when I’m focussing. For being interrupted by humans - Make good use of a calendar and let people know my availability - Use calendar to block of focussing time for tasks requiring periods of longer concentration - Not be afraid to say I’m in the middle of something I’ll come find you in a bit unless it’s urgent when prodded physically. - Changing my status message on instant messaging apps/web meeting apps to let people know I’m not always monitoring them (e.g. “I check for DM’s multiple times a day”) to set a level of expectation.
• zerop 5y ago
  Plan the work and environment very well to avoid interruptions. Still if it comes, welcome the interruption, postpone addressing it if you can, address it if can't be missed. But most important thing is to don't react to it happening, so you can switch back to your tasks again with same rigor.
  • tudorw 5y ago
    this was key for me, my reaction to being interrupted was impacting me more than the actual interruption.
• adontz 5y ago
  Therapy. For real. In some cultures it's not welcome, but it affects personal development enormously. It's the best investment in your life. Not that you'll solve all your problems, however you'll learn to analyze your problems and learn to find root causes to fight with, instead of symptoms. Being here and now is not easy. You may be anxious, tired, may have some mild disorders, obsessions you don't even know about.
  • diegoperini 5y ago
    I upvoted and have nothing else to add but this is so true I want this advice to stay on top :)
  • artemonster 5y ago
    Therapy is not a silver bullet. While it can be helpful, I found it incredibly awful and frustrating when therapist tries to describe and justify things that are happening to you by trying to tie something from your past. You can always do that with any person and any circumstance. Client: „I am annoyed by the interuruptions“ Therapist: „Maybe you dont like loosing control because your mother havent given you a titty when you were little and cried for couple of hours“ Something like that…
    • faichai 5y ago
      My experience with CBT was that it eschewed chasing down causal issues from your past, and rather worked more towards understanding how you’ve ended up, and to give you the tools to counteract your automatic thoughts and behaviours. I found it incredibly helpful, what I thought were my issues turned out to be symptoms of a more foundational issue and understanding that gave great insight into why I do things the way I do. Run a mile from anyone practicing Freudian nonsense.
      • artemonster 5y ago
        I am hearing this several times now that I should try cognitive-behavioural therapy and get away from Freudian crap. Thanks!
• rchaves 5y ago
  Yes, I do also feel very frustrated when I have to stop working on something before it is finished, specially if it's that long debugging session and you have all in your head, but you just have to stop and go do something else. Talking specifically about code, TDD really helped me, seriously, the red-green loop makes me comfortable to stop any time the tests are green, then I commit, which means that I also have very small commits which also help me with the interruptions once I'm back. To not miss what I was thinking ahead, I always to keep a todo list (I just use Notes) of everything that comes to mind that I still need to fix or code which I postponed from the current commit, so I don't loose track while at the same time it frees me to focus on a specific thing at a time. Now sometimes this does not apply, sometimes you just need long, deep and uninterrupted focus, like thinking about the perfect abstraction for something, or those long debugging sessions I mentioned. For those, I try to be sure to block some time or I don't even start it on that day
• wruza 5y ago
  It seems like an anxiety, especially this part: “events coming up that make me nervous”. I successfully let go of huge parts of it with CBT. And additionally… without loosing progress? I always write down both the plan and the progress. For strategic plans and sudden realizations I’m using personal Trello. For at-the-moment tactics I just have a piece of paper and few pens on my desk. Circles and text and arrows and notes, you know. And somewhere in the middle there is always TODO.txt or a variant of `grep -r "TODO\|FIXME\|XXX" .`. Which of the latter two I’m using depends on whether I want to draw a map and navigate it (research-mode) or to set a short-term plan (do-it-mode). For upcoming events that depend on my action, I make sure to plan beforehand with the ios builtin reminder app and then fully rely on it. If these don’t depend on me (someone to arrive in a hour or maybe four), I just learned to not give a fuck until it happens with CBT, and then I spend a minute to write down all the relevant progress/action/situation info to pick up later. If I don’t write it down, it’s not worth it, and vice versa.
• dave_sullivan 5y ago
  I organize my life around not being interrupted. Work from home, respond to messages when I get to it. When I have an idea or thought that might interrupt, I write it down quickly on an ideas board or my notes for later and discard the thought. When I get tired I sleep. When I'm working on something I am in a flow state. When I feel myself leaving a flow state (or bored?) I take a break. Progress is unpredictable. There is no such thing as finished, only ongoing or back burner or dead.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    Thanks! I'll keep in mind to write down more. Also you are right about the fact that for some tasks/projects "finished" is not a real state.
• MattGaiser 5y ago
  I work remotely, so I just live my life and hang around online during business hours (and sometimes nap) and then use the late evening hours to churn out work. I do not like the split between work and life at all. Better to weave it all together as I see fit. 3 days of work can easily be 3 hours if I get those 3 hours uninterrupted rather than every hour punctuated by meetings or some other dev or even just needing to check that ping. Either that or just ignore the interruptions. Slack can be silenced, as can phones. No need to always tolerate them.
  • St_Alfonzo 5y ago
    Sounds familiar. I often do the 'real work' in the late evening hours, when the world is quiet. So, you allow work to happen in your free time - are there limitations what types of personal activities you allow yourself in your normal work time (the time where you have to be reachable). I'm just curious because erasing the split between work and life is often in favor of work.
• z3t4 5y ago
  I used to think of tasks/todos as burning buildings and I had to prioritize which family to save. Now I instead think of tasks as balls, where most balls are made of rubber, so i can just drop them as needed, it no longer feels like someone is dying just because i dropped something, then several weeks later when i go through the todo list i relentlessly remove tasks that are not a must have, all nice to have are removed, and i often find that the tasks i dropped was not really important and many are no longer needed So the tasks/todos are rubber balls and its ok to drop them. And do not worry about losing them. If they are important they will bounce back at you. There are only a few balls that are made of glass.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    Very nice analogies, thanks! => Write down stuff in todos and delete them if they stay for too long without any progress
• foxhop 5y ago
• daniel-thompson 5y ago
  This has become a huge part of my life since having kids. They're wonderful, and they need a lot of attention, which I'm usually happy to give them. But they do often interrupt me, and that makes it hard to get into anything deep or technical while they're around. I cope by waking up very early each morning (5 AM) so I can pursue my own interests for a few hours without the threat of interruption.
  • stef25 5y ago
    Same. Those hours between 4:30 - 8:00AM are magic. The rest of the day is lost, even without kids. Errands, messages, meetings ...
    • thobiasse 5y ago
      Even if I think the same, for you the rest of the day is really "lost" meaning you'd rather work on/do the stuff you were doing between 4:30 - 8 AM all day?
      • stef25 5y ago
        Yes and no ... Being an introvert I need a certain number of hours alone for "projects" :) I'm responsible for my young kids and my ageing parents need more support as well and those are things I don't want to not do, they just take up time. And unfortunately the relationship with my partner probably doesn't get the attention it deserves either. Luckily she's KO until 8AM anyway. I do also love being outdoors going for run / hike / mtb ride or spending meaningful time with my kids, weather / seasons permitting. They're still a bit young so I'm looking forward to the future wrt to that. You?
        • thobiasse 5y ago
          Apart from my parents who are healthy and can take care of themselves we are in the same boat :)
  • thobiasse 5y ago
• tyronehed 5y ago
• genezeta 5y ago
  I think you got two different things mixed there. One is being interrupted, the other is being distracted. Being interrupted is external, while being distracted is internal. So which one is it you're having problems with? Personally, I have come to accept that there will be interruptions. Colleagues asking for help, someone asking a question, some boss calling an unexpected meeting, my mother phoning or whatever. Some of these you can avoid; like you could have a rule to always communicate meetings in advance. But at least a part of these will be unavoidable. How many depends on particular circumstances; e.g. being a senior engineer in a mostly junior group means you were specifically hired to be interrupted to a considerable extent. One thing that sometimes helps me with interruptions is using 5-10 seconds. That is, when someone comes I just ask for 10 seconds, I make a gesture or simply say "10 seconds" or whatever, and then proceed to sort of "unload". I write down the precise point I am at and the exact upcoming action I was going to take. On the matter of distractions, it depends a lot more on yourself and the success of anything you try will be very dependent on how you are. In this front, one thing I do is scheduling. I want/need to do X... but I have to do Y now. So, I slot it into an appropriate time. e.g. "This weekend I want to make progress on that personal project". So "this weekend". This means: a. not now, and b. I have sort of secured a time for it, I don't have to worry about it because it has an assigned place. Again, in this area what works for others may not work for you. But also, as someone has already mentioned, if you can't manage to learn how to do this on your own, reaching out to a therapist or other professional help is a valid solution. They may provide more specific tools and techniques.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    Thank you! The problem is more being interrupted than distracted. I like the the 5-10 seconds unload time. Like some others said, it will help me write down where I was!
  • scruple 5y ago
    > One thing that sometimes helps me with interruptions is using 5-10 seconds. That is, when someone comes I just ask for 10 seconds, I make a gesture or simply say "10 seconds" or whatever, and then proceed to sort of "unload". I write down the precise point I am at and the exact upcoming action I was going to take. This is what I do, as well. Interruptions used to frustrate me to no end. I found it very rude to be interrupted, especially when I was so obviously busy with my very important things. Now I have 3 children under 3 years of age. Interruptions are the name of this game. And I've come to realize that the work or whatever really isn't that damned important, either. So, as long as there isn't an emergency, I acknowledge the person/people doing the interrupting and then take notes in a pocket notebook.
• ankit219 5y ago
  Journal keeping. For me, the key is letting those thoughts out. It may just be something eating away at me, sometimes it's just a confusing behavior. Journaling helps you think. It makes you feel like someone is listening (I write those in a way that I am talking to someone, who is just there to listen, and not give feedback). I let everything out, it just feels better, and then I am able to focus more on the work. I am good at patterns, so I identify what makes me tick, what makes me focus, and then it's a matter of doing things which help you and avoid those which don't. Possibly a lot of iteration involved. P.S. I have tried therapy, but the thing they tried to tell me was that everyone loves me, and people want me and value me in their life. My frustrations were never coming from that unresolved issue. I just felt helpless or nervous about lack of control over my activities, and journaling helped me get to that point, while therapy was useless.
• forinti 5y ago
  Hardly any projects can be finished in a single sitting. You should have a plan and focus on individual tasks, then you'll always have something to finish and be happy about. I find it really annoying to be interrupted at work, and remote work has enabled me to regain my focus.
• mrwnmonm 5y ago
  I try to focus on the reason, write it down, test it for a while, if knowing it is effective I add it to a list. After a few months, you will have like 20 reasons that summarizes why you get stuck in this period in your life.
• cik 5y ago
  I organize my day around my work - where work means professional and personal objectives. I list them, I prioritize them, and then I ensure I cut time out to at least tackle something. I put myself in the best environment (for me) to complete the task at hand. For example - I have important (personal) conversations away from my workspace and computers, I work only in my 'working space'. When I focus on an objective, I ensure my phone cannot be found. I turn off slack and the like - and I generally make it impossible to distract myself. I fight myself as much as I can, to live in the moment. As for my works: I have permanently disabled notifications on my desktop. I read e-mail during specific windows, and the same with slack and the like. In office, with people is more difficult. But I generally work on getting teams to agree to 'zone time', ensuring that it's not my idea, but our shared goal.
• kyriakos 5y ago
  Work from home has basically fixed this for me. Disable your works preferred messenger notifications and set a few times during the day that you will check them. Same goes for email.
  • mattowen_uk 5y ago
    I tried this, but my work uses MS Teams, which doesn't honour do-not-disturb. When you set DnD on, the app STILL flashes it's taskbar icon, creating a distraction. The only way around it is to mute all the noisy teams channels, and to remember to unmute them later. Also, being @-ed in a chat totally overrides DnD as well, and the sales guys have worked this out, and @ people constantly all day long. I even tried not having Teams running when I was 'in the zone' only to end up being called on the phone to check 'whether I was working today'... :(
    • kyriakos 5y ago
      I looked this up, check https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/how-to-stop-teams-from-blinking-in-taskbars-when/decc661a-7c4a-4f7e-a729-afdee2f14824 https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msteams/forum/all/how-to... You can at least set it to flash only once (better than constant blinking). People calling you on the phone is another story and part of the company culture I believe. In my case I don't get phone calls from work, only teams calls and those are always scheduled in advance.
• drdunce 5y ago
  I cry a single tear of joy, then shuffle back to the black and green glow!
• simonw 5y ago
  Any time I'm working on some code I open a GitHub issue for it. I then make comments on that issue as I go, recording decisions I make and things I try and "next steps" I need to take and links to API documentation or example code that I need. I try to ensure there's as little relevant information as possible that's exclusively in my head. This means I can recover from an interruption - "get back in flow" - much faster than if I kept everything in my head. More importantly, it means I can have an order of magnitude more projects on the go at once. I sometimes return to an issue I first opened more than a year ago and can productively start working on it with just a few minutes of review of the previous comments.
• throwawayvibes 5y ago
  As someone said, you confuse interrupted with distracted. I medicate my distraction away by microdosing lsd. 10 microgram every 3 days. There is now quiet in my head. Look into it.
• mkl95 5y ago
  When the pandemic restrictions were lifted in my country, I took an on site gig as a consultant for a large corporation. My boss interrupted people all the time to spout nonsense that usually was not related to work. I quickly found out there was an extreme productivity differential when compared to my previous job. The way I cope with being interrupted is by making it clear I don't want to be interrupted for no reason. If the issue persists, I tell my boss about my small network of recruiters. If the interruptions persist, I reach out to some of those recruiters, and get a contract somewhere else. Over the years I have found that some corporate types are so far removed from reality, that they don't understand how many engineers actually want to get things done. Working remotely has been a blessing for my career.
• peakaboo 5y ago
  I work from home and the Gnome desktop has a simple toggle to turn off all notifications. I check slack when I feel like it and if there are messages, I answer them. I feel very little stress compared to when I was in the office and people were talking, walking and laughing around me constantly. It was impossible to focus for 5 minutes.
• cletus 5y ago
  Have you tried time boxing? Reading what you said, it may work for you. The principle is simple: instead of trying to tell yourself "I'm going to focus on X until it's done", instead say "I'm going to work on X for Y minutes". You can experiment with what Y works for you. 20-30 minutes is a reasonable starting point. During that time, remove potential distractions. No notifications, phone on silent, no distracting websites open (eg HN, reddit, whatever), no Discord, etc. Use a timer if that helps. I'd actually get a physical timer as this seems to be more tangible and removes the temptation of getting distracted by your phone. After that time, give yourself 5 minutes to do whatever. HN, reddit, email, Twitter, it doesn't matter. There's really no point in self-flagellation when it comes to distraction. Just try and work with it.
• mooreds 5y ago
  When I am interrupted, I almost always ask "Hey, can I talk to you in 5 min?" Unless it is an emergency, the answer is "yes". Then I spend those 5 minute capturing context. This makes it easier (not easy, but easier) to return to the task after the discussion. Another good thing to do is limit chances to be interrupted. Sign out of slack, close your email. Check these once every few hours. Oftentimes someone will ping you then solve their own issue with further research. The above answer the headline question, but the deeper one comes in your text. "How can I live in the present" is how I interpret that. I don't know how to answer that, but focusing on the shortness of time you have on this planet has helped me be more present.
• sebow 5y ago
  I used to think about it and then i realized it's useless to reflect upon that fact.It's just waste of time.Meditation helps if you interrupted something massively and you were set back(which is more rare), but on small things i don't contemplate on them.Working out, running, physical exercises help in this regard a lot, because with them you train your psyche to stay on the goal, and then you can apply this to whatever you're working on or doing. As primers, pomodoro helps(especially when you're 'too much' in the zone and you lose sense of time), and there are a lot other ways.I would also say WHM(Wim Hof Method) helps to relax you if you get anxious/nervous about being interrupted, but WHM helps in general so yea, you can do it when waking up/going to bed.Taking notes helps(especially if you never did it or don't have a habit).In general there's no universal solution, it's all about knowing yourself. Usually the main problem about being interrupted is that you're not aiming very precisely towards your goal.Once you have that goal in your crosshair and you want it, everything becomes irrelevant.But most importantly realize that there's no growth without pain, and i'm not saying to should hurt yourself.I'm saying whenever there's hardship in whatever you do, the best way for growth is to conquer that pain and even use it as experience for updating your goal.As smaller advice, do the obvious:cut everything related to social media, or internet in general(unless it's a requirement).
• xchaotic 5y ago
  When we had little kids and working in noisy open office spaces was normal I figured it’s best not to fight it and went for work that is more suited to being disrupted often. I still spend a small portion of my day coding but if the expectation is not huge, it’s not hard to find 30 minutes of focus time. I’d really struggle if I had to produce a days worth of code everyday as I simply don’t have enough uninterrupted hours every day.
• factorialboy 5y ago
  Improv showed the way. Yes, and..
• lmilcin 5y ago
  Write down. Make a system which you can trust you can come back to that thing and think about it. When I drive and listen to an audiobook, I sometimes have to stop, make a note, and only then I can keep driving. If I don't stop to make a note I am going to miss either the rest of the audiobook or the idea I just had. Writing the idea down lets me safely "park it" for later and focus on the rest of the audiobook. This only works when you can trust the idea comes back when you can do something about it. I am using a compromise/modified GTD (Getting Things Done) system. I have a bunch of folders for my projects and each has special NOTES document where I write down anything pertaining to the project. So the next time I come back to think about that project the idea/task/whatever I just wrote will come back to me and I will be able to do something about it.
• gboone 5y ago
  I also experience it as an interruption, versus a distraction. I'm an ideas guy, and ideation is my biggest strength. This causes a flow of internal conversation with my best self and it matters a ton that I handle this properly. My approach is to choose to not let these conversations slip. I do this by writing down whatever I need to on a piece of paper next to me. I find that because I'm working alone I don't get the feedback I need. By writing it down I can switch back, and this serves a purpose other than to simply not forget it. It allows the thought to continue and I don't get stuck. Maybe I write a list, maybe I write a task, maybe a diagram. Many times it's a question. Because the internal dialogue flows better my other present at-hand work can resume sooner after the interruption. In the meantime, I'm having a debate on the side about whether it really is a better idea than what I'm doing, and it gives me room to consider things in a more reasonable way, without the pressure of mental logjamming. I switch back and forth. Each time I am giving the proper focus needed. Also, these are generally for me not troubling or repeatedly negative thoughts because in moments when those kind of thoughts are present I stop everything and it gets full attention to get resolved. The situation then is it's not so much a logjam but the river itself has run dry. Gotta get that figured out asap because it not only affects present ability to work but future as well.
• sys_64738 5y ago
  Update your JIRA ticket.
• smoe 5y ago
  Couple of suggestions that have worked for me ymmv: - Disable all notifications by default. Emails, chats, phone, apps, services turn them all off. Very few things in life actually require immediate response. Try to setup, that only notifications for those come trough. - Timebox everything. Instead of just starting doing something, define how much time you are going to spent on doing x (might be a task, fixing a bug, preparing an event, solution exploration, etc.). When the time is up, take a step back, revise your work and decide whether it is done. If not, define what is missing, its importance and the corresponding time box. This really helped me getting lost in rabbit holes. - Try to work in a way that is more resilient to interruption, so that it can more easily be left aside and picked up later. E.g. only doing one thing at a time, breaking up tasks, planning the day in advance in the morning so scheduled meetings don't come as surprise, etc. - Communicate and manage expectations. Whether co-workers, family, partner, if they interrupt you, they usually don't do so maliciously. But if their interactions with you bother you, you need to talk to them to find a solution. Just being grumpy about it won't help. Also, efficiency is not everything. We are not computers that can just chug away on tasks infinitely. Any non trivial work, you won't be able to finish in one sitting. Some interruptions are inevitable and healthy and whatever methodology, you will lose some progress on the way and have to rework things. And it's also about priorities in life. Is the work-related, unfinished task really important / interesting enough to get stuck in your head outside of work hours? Maybe the problem is not getting interrupted, but ability to interrupt yourself and separate different aspects of life.
  • alexpetralia 5y ago
    Reminds me of some sage advice my dad had given me years ago: "you must learn to tolerate inefficiency."
    • deleted 5y ago
      [deleted]
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    > Also, efficiency is not everything. We are not computers that can just chug away on tasks infinitely. Any non trivial work, you won't be able to finish in one sitting. Some interruptions are inevitable and healthy and whatever methodology, you will lose some progress on the way and have to rework things. And it's also about priorities in life. Is the work-related, unfinished task really important / interesting enough to get stuck in your head outside of work hours? Maybe the problem is not getting interrupted, but ability to interrupt yourself and separate different aspects of life. Very sound advice thank you so much
• ur-whale 5y ago
  From a HN thread a couple of days back [1]: Coworker who sees me looking at something in a browser: "Glad you're not busy; I need you to do this, this, this..." Coworker who sees me staring intently at a command prompt: Backs away, slowly... [1] https://github.com/donnemartin/haxor-news https://github.com/donnemartin/haxor-news
• geocrasher 5y ago
  Yes. I learned that I had ADHD and began to understand that my hyperfocusing on things was a result of my ADHD. Knowing that helps me cope. My main coping mechanism is to set a goal for the project that can be obtained now and then meet the goal, then move on.
• sovietmudkipz 5y ago
  I don’t do them well, but I’m practicing. I remember reading advice for students to study in a distracting environment so it doesn’t throw them for the real thing. Interesting as it signifies human adaption. TLDR; I utilize TDD, the Pomodoro time technique, and I have crafted an internal story that I deal with distraction well. I love my wife and want her to feel free to bug me anytime. I have set boundaries where something ideally should be a level more important to warrant an interruption, but I love her so she can interrupt whenever. I don’t want to be a curmudgeon about it, so I choose not to be. I do let her know that when I am deep in thought, it takes me some dozens of seconds to come back to reality. She gives me some time and is patient enough to repeat what she said. I use tests and notes as a way of exporting my deep thought into world artifacts. Developing testing as a skill is actually rather difficult as it brings to the surface software design, which I think many novice programmers miss. Once you have it, you can rerun your test/suite to reorient where you were once the distraction is complete. Notes let me write down nagging or otherwise unrelated to task thoughts. We live in an age of distraction and we must adapt. I write down/tally when I have an impulse to distract myself to remind myself to stay on task. Finally, I use the pomodoro time technique for time management. I usually do 30 minutes on, 10 minutes break. It is very freeing to know there will be time in the very near future to handle distractions and I personally find myself in focus mode faster using the technique. And that’s what I’ve done to try and adapt. I used to be someone who told myself I don’t handle distractions well and therefore requires huge blocks of uninterrupted time, but it didn’t work out for me and how I want to be. YMMV. Hope this helps OP!
• SkipperCat 5y ago
  I schedule meetings with just myself. I'll put descriptions on them so co-workers know not to bother me. I'll also disable slack sometimes. I don't do this very often because I don't want to abuse it and I also want to be available for my co-workers. But at work, one need's balance and boundaries and it's OK to set them yourself.
• tomcooks 5y ago
  Outbursts of anger, smashing keyboards, hitting furniture, shouting, smashing smartphones. Helps create a company culture based on respect of other people's time, out of sheer terror.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    I'll suggest the creation of a rage room tomorrow in my company!
• jwr 5y ago
  I don't cope with being interrupted. In fact, it affects me so much that even if there is a possibility of being interrupted (home, kids, family, etc), I can't focus, because I fear the moment when that house of cards will inevitably fall down in my head. Also interested in advice from others.
  • rightbyte 5y ago
    Oh so much this. I need to look my home office to not have the lingering 'fear' of some kid or wife opening the door. It is fine yelling through the door, but not opening it ...
• petecooper 5y ago
  I don't cope well with interruptions, especially since I work from home and the person I live with is very ADHD. I take some pre-emptive measures to limit the impact: me wearing headphones is a visual sign that I am focussing. I have Sony WH-1000XM3 which are a game-changer for me: I can enable the noise cancelling when I need quiet, have music when I need it, and my housemate can see I am focussing. "Headphones on" is a verbal phrase we both use that means "only urgent or important stuff, please". Next step up from that is ear defenders (3M Peltor in black and red), which is simply "leave me be". I can't do too much in the Peltors since my tinnitus kicks off…and it's a bit disconcerting listening to your own pulse with a background "EeEeeEeeeEEEEeee" for too long. Edit: and if I'm "headphones on" this time of year, my office is quite dark. Housemate flashes the main light on and off once to indicate they want to talk non-urgently, and I will raise my first finger to respectfully acknowledge with "1 minute, please", get to a point where I've made enough notes to be able to carry on, then take my headphones off, and then have the conversation. Some of this may come across as being a bit pompous, but it works for both of us equally well. Edit #2: if you're young and out at live gigs, get ear plugs. Tinnitus is no fun _at all_.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    Thanks a lot for the explanations and also for the technical details! Implementing visual cues with people who interrupt you often seems very effective.
• xena 5y ago
  Badly.
• cliffwarden 5y ago
  When you do allow yourself to be interrupted (answering a question, or whatever) just fully embrace the interruption. Nothing is worse (on either side) than only half paying attention. It's very obvious to the other party and can feel very rude. For me, being able to handle interruptions and then refocus is something that can be strengthened with practice like many other skills. I used to be very much in the camp of trying to avoid distractions and interruptions, but over the years my strategy has changed. My pov now is that it will happen and it will happen at the most inconvenient time, so i try to keep my work in a state that it can retrace my steps easily and make it easier to "load my context" when I resume. Sometimes this is a unit test, a random comment or whatever notes i'm taking at the moment. I'm really not a multi-tasker and i have horrible short-term memory, so I've pretty much always relied on leaving a trail of breadcrumbs for myself. Also take advantage of being pulled away and coming back to a work in progress (finished or not). Sometimes, just a few minutes break and change your perspective slightly.
  • thobiasse 5y ago
    Thanks thinking back I can see situations where I was half paying attention to the other. May I ask how you keep track of your context? Strategies, tools (digital or not) ?
• jerome-jh 5y ago
  I tend to write everything in a TODO list. I use the one from Office 365. In the morning, after checking my mail, I select 2-3 items of this list that I target to be done this day. After an interruption, if I lost my saved PC, I check those items and usually I find my thread back. [edit] Since a year I am in a position where I just have to assume I will be interrupted (not developer). So I just try to cope with it.
• pmarreck 5y ago
  Bad mood sounds like a separate issue. Getting enough sleep? Are your... physical needs being satisfied? Also, what genezeta said about "interruption" vs. "distracted" is true. Interruptions come from others; distractions come from you. iOS and macOS (and now Windows I think) have "focus mode" now, where you can silence notifications for some period of time, which I have found helpful.
• satisfice 5y ago
  I don’t fight it. I accept that I will think about what my brain wants to think about. If I am really desperate to meet some deadline, I recruit a friend to work on it with me. That seems to help me focus.
• hnbear 5y ago
  The best approach to warning off interrupters I’ve seen was an engineer at a previous gig. He built a little literal interior counter with an LED display and button to increment that sat on his desk. He reset it to zero each day. For every person who came up to ask a question he hit the button, then answered. He used it as a metric for his manager, and as a gentle passive-aggressive way of pointing out you’re interrupting him. The button pushing had a flourish to it. That said, he was always very gracious about answering questions. One of the best infra engineers out there, I’d must-hire him again, interrupt counter and all. Pretty quickly people learnt to stick to important questions, or chat during downtime, not focus time.